Robbie Deans will breathe a temporary sigh of relief this week as he will be able to pick a close to full-strength side when his Wallabies play the Springboks in this weekend’s Rugby World Cup quarter final.
Injuries to Digby Ioane, Pat McCabe, Rob Horne, Anthony Fainga’a, Kurtley Beale and Drew Mitchell have left the backline stocks heavily depleted.
Australia’s problems were so bad that Radike Samo, normally a loose forward, was forced to play on the wing against Russia, something he has not done in over a decade.
However, the return of Ioane and Beale to the starting line-up along with an in-form Berrick Barnes at inside centre, presents a Wallabies back line that could possibly run riot against any team.
However that is the problem. It is only a possibility.
Names such as Genia, Cooper, O’Connor, and Ashley-Cooper, alongside Ioane, Beale and Barnes have had great success in Super Rugby, but results in the Wallabies jersey have been mixed.
The high of beating New Zealand in the Tri Nations has been slightly soured with embarrassing losses to Samoa and Ireland.
There is no doubting the attacking flair that this weekend’s line-up possesses, with many of them being match-winners for their club and Super Rugby sides.
When playing together though, the problem is an inability to play at a high intensity consistently.
This lack of consistency could probably be drawn back to the Wallabies’ sometimes complacent attitude, towards their opposition. However, Robbie Deans would strongly argue against that view, as he did after the loss to Samoa.
“I don’t know what other people were thinking, but we certainly weren’t (complacent) and we talked about that, internally and externally,” Deans said after he and his team were widely criticised.
One player who is criticised for this is Quade Cooper, who seems to be on the wrong side of all those in the game at the moment.
His Queensland Reds’ form has not translated into the Wallabies gold, which was most evident in the World Cup match against Ireland, where nothing seemed to go right for the New Zealand-born fly half.
Away from the negatives though, this team has beaten South Africa twice this year and New Zealand in the most important game this year so far.
Espcially when they played New Zealand in Brisbane, the young Wallabies showed the explosiveness in the backs that can win them the World Cup.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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