Ewen McKenzie has recognised Liam Gill, one of Super Rugby’s best pilferers, for the clash with the Italians in Turin at the weekend.
Better on the bench than sitting in the grandstand twiddling his thumbs, and hopefully the 21-year-old will get plenty of game time.
Had Gill been on the bench last weekend for the last 30 minutes when Scott Fardy was carted off with concussion, the result at Twickenham may well have been different.
We will never know.
Fardy’s out for Italy, giving McKenzie a chance to experiment with long-term lock Rob Simmons returning from injury to wear Fardy’s number six jersey.
Simmons has only played at six for part of one international among his 33 caps, but there’s some shrewd thinking in McKenzie’s thinking.
He will have four big men up front, which will add punch to the lineouts where Stephen Moore has vastly improved his lineout feeding accuracy, and Simmons will add weight and experience to the scrum, where the Italians eat opposition packs for breakfast.
Simmons and Horwill are both 200cm and 115kgs, Ben Mowen, who remains skipper, is 195 and 107, while the biggest of the quartet Sitaleki Timani is at 203cm and 120kg.
That’s a lot of manpower to throw around, and providing they do just that, the Wallabies will be very competitive up front.
Competitive with quick, and controlled ball, thank you.
That could make the difference to half-back Will Genia returning to form, a vital part of the Wallabies’ overall performance.
Genia in command and the Wallabies are in command out the back, especially Quade Cooper, who relishes room to move to dictate.
Give him space and the entire backline will lift.
So far inside centre Matt Toomua and his outside support Tevita Kuridrani have been choked with the defence and the ball arriving together.
That leaves precious little time or room for wingers Adam Ashley-Cooper and Nick Cummins, and even less for Israel Folau.
If he can find some space, the Italians will be dizzy with the speed of the full-back, and how difficult he is to tackle.
We haven’t seen the best of Folau yet, he has plenty up his sleeve, and the more he feels at home with the 15-man code, the more we’ll see what is up that sleeve.
I rate this backline as it is, with Toomua settling in nicely, and Kuridrani starting to recognise that he too has a fair bit of muscle to throw around in both attack and defence,
The Wallabies are fortunate to have a winger-centre like Joe Tomane on the bench replacing Bernard Foley who can count himself a tad unlucky to be back in the stand.
Now the Grand Slam door has been slammed shut, the Wallabies can work on their attacking positives and give it a good solid crack.
Kiwi Glen Jackson will be the referee, and he’s far keener on open play than the entertainment-killer George Clancy last week.
It’s time for some real Wallaby rugby starting from the front tow of James Slipper, Moore, and Ben Alexander, right the way through to Folau.
And in between let’s have Michael Hooper getting dirty in the tight stuff and very little, if any, of him seagulling among the backs.
I still believe in these Wallabies, but it’s high time they believed in themselves.
Let Turin decide that.
D
Guest
No he didn't. He was 3rd.
D
Guest
No he didn't. He was 3rd.
CHT
Guest
I think a lot of the criticism of Hooper is criticism from people who think they know rugby, but in actual fact, have a fairly mediocre understanding of the game. Someone in this comment thread made the remark that you can't just measure pilfers, but in fact need to consider penalties won. Hooper excels in our defensive half when we are on the back foot, I have seen a large number of penalties won from his efforts there. Gill and Hoops are the virtually the same weight, with Gill 1kg lighter. Both of the boys are young and will develop in the offseason this summer and next. If I were Wallaby coach, my instructions for each player would be to play to their strengths, I wouldn't want Hoops playing the South African style niggle at the breakdown as interference, he is far better utilized as a running, tackling presence, which often sees him at the breakdown first. The Hooper-haters seem to be rather oddly, unaware of this, but I guess that's why they post on a forum and don't coach or play professional rugby. These people fall into the trap of creating archetypes for the ideal play for each position, indeed there are a few central tenets, but there is variance around this based on the particular individual's talent. My main question is why the big blindside? I don't see much value in Fardy, Simmons, MMM over playing Gill on the blindside. Gill, Hoops and Hoops, Pocock would both be far better balanced than Waugh, Smith ever were. There's no point having a big blindside if he can't match up against our peers: Luatua, Louw (wears 7 but is the SA equivalent). Toomua is a talented player but definitely not a back rower, that suggestion is just ludicrous. In addition he will always be a second choice Wallaby, as will Lealiifano, because Kyle Godwin has them both on toast. Give me a back row of Hoops Pocock and Higginbotham/Palu any day. Sincerely, CHT PS. Ben Mowen sucks!
Simon_Sez
Roar Guru
I too like Kuridrani, but he seems to drop a lot of ball.
Combesy
Roar Guru
Hey tane, this the pilfer stats for this years super rugby. i like hooper but i think we all know he doesnt play the traditional 7 game. which is fine if thats what the coach is after. i rate both as future captains and leaders within the wallabies Most Pilfers 1. Liam Gill (Reds) 11 2. George Smith (Brumbies) 10 3. Rene Ranger (Blues) 9
Kane
Roar Guru
Is that the same reason why he doesn't credit for being the JRWC Player of The Year?
Carl
Guest
@Spongy I agree. This year has really shown how important Pocock is to the Wallabies being competitive. Winning the JE medal doesn't make someone an amazing player, it just means they were voted the best Wallaby. There's probably half a dozen All Blacks who would have won the medal ahead of Hooper.
Carl
Guest
Haha I love that someone brought big Beau into this. He's still sitting at home watching replays of his 2011 games every night. He's got a lot of heart (and mongrel) but really fell off the radar in 2012.
Carl
Guest
Have to agree here, saying Toomua could play 7 because he's the same size as Hooper doesn't add up in my opinion because Hooper is still too small (last I saw he was 96kg). His speed gives him a bit of extra time to cause trouble at the breakdown but he's a lot easier to clean out than players like McCaw, Warburton and Pocock who are around the 105-108kg mark. That extra weight/strength, especially in the lower back is why those guys are so hard for the opposition to clean out and usually force penalties, or at the very least effectively slow down the play. Give Hoops and Gill a couple more preseasons full of squats and deadlifts and they'll get bigger and stronger, they're both still very young and still developing physically.
Tipene Roar
Roar Rookie
rubbish team but.Pocock will take it back[the 7]
Tipene Roar
Roar Rookie
enough said...ha not enough done.
Tipene Roar
Roar Rookie
yea theres the truth to this
engine mechanic
Guest
Honestly, whenever someone says anything about Gill, all I can see is that sumputuous line-out win vs the lions.
Tane Mahuta
Guest
Yes Hooper failed all the way to being voted the best player in the team. *sigh* Hooper has not failed. He has been a massive success and has the awards (for the best player in the team!!!) to prove it.
Chivas
Guest
Actually Pyes you are wrong Nd Squirrel is right. Jonah played in the possible and probables in the backrow. I imagine he may have also played a couple of games for counties there. He never played a test match in that position.
chann wee
Guest
@ Pyes : as i said , i cant remember the game but i am 200% sure Jonah was BSF in one game. whether it was a 1st class, test, tribute, i cant remember. now the game u talk of , was it on telly, 'coz i saw it on tv. also there may be a record of it , simply becoz of the fact Jonah was BSF :) (just like i remember seeing SBW's first game in union, on tv. I dont remember which game it was but i remember SBW at 12 :) )
TrueBlue
Guest
The trouble is that Hooper is too small for that position and once Pocock is back he will lose his spot. Why would Toomua want to replicate what Hooper has failed at? He'd be better off trying to nail down 1st or 2nd five, which he has the ability to do. If you want to run the opposition ragged, why not just feed the backs more? Oh, because that doesn't work. You need physical loosies to win. Better to upskill the loosies you have so they can run and pass like Read
Pyes
Guest
Jonah never played any first class rugby in the forward except for john kirwins tribute game and the big difference between Jonah and toomua is that Jonah was actually the size of a flanker. Hooper and toomua...too small.
Pyes
Guest
Ryan, I appreciate your positivity especially in light of some of the trolls on the web but I really thought you were having a joke when you suggested toomua at 7. This is international rugby not school boys. The Australian back row is undersized as it is, let alone putting a back in who has no idea of the running lines or positional play. Link would be fired if he every tried anything as crazy as that.
ThelmaWrites
Guest
I have the impression (so this is just an impression and said with no great certainty) that Folau does not pass the ball because he can't time the pass, especially when he's on the run. I don't know if it's a training thing. I have to watch him more.