- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
If Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie had to name his first Test team on form today to meet the French at Suncorp on June 7, it would be very different from the side that beat Wales 30-26 at the Millennium Stadium last November.
That team was James Slipper, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu, Rob Simmons, James Horwill, Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, Ben Mowen, Will Genia, Quade Cooper, Nick Cummins, Christian Lealiifano, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Joe Tomane and Israel Folau.
The bench – Tatafa Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson, Ben Alexander, Kane Douglas, Dave Dennis, Nic White, Michael Harris and Bernard Foley.
For starters, Mowen, the captain on the day, Robinson, Douglas, Dennis, Cooper, Tomane and Harris aren’t in the Wallaby squad named last Thursday.
And just this weekend the Waratahs set AAMI Stadium alight with their 41-19 thumping of the Rebels, scoring six tries, the Force dominated the Lions 29-19, while the Brumbies were walloped 44-23 by the Bulls,
The Reds had a bye which hopefully will allow deep wounds to heal.
Those results would have made McKenzie even more aware there’s some rethinking about the squad he named, and the specific positional selections.
The Waratahs were a revelation. Not only did their on-fire forwards win 74 per cent of the ball, but their backs made a statement that they could, and probably should, be the bulk of the Wallaby backline.
Nick Phipps has thrown out a genuine challenge to Genia, Foley and Beale are the very best 10-12 combination in Australian rugby, Ashley-Cooper has the most claims on the outside centre spot, Rob Horne has been reborn as a winger of import and Folau picks himself.
So that only leaves the second wing position and that belongs to Nick Cummins, without a shadow of a doubt.
Matt Toomua?
On the bench where he can cover – 10, 12, and 15 – but not to start to break up that Foley, Beale, Folau electricity.
Then it gets interesting up front – on form.
How can McKenzie ignore the consistent non-stop efforts of Force skipper Matt Hodgson, he’s virtual man of the match material every game. On form he’s the first choice number six, Hooper picks himself at seven and then it gets really interesting.
At number eight – Wycliff Palu, Scott Higginbotham, or Ben McCalman?
As I’ve said many times before, Higginbotham is a loose-cannon liability, and with so many hot-shot goal-kickers around he’s likely to cost the Wallabies anything up to 15 points.
So that leaves Palu and McCalman, and there’s not a struck match between them, which means both must be in the 23,
Locks?
Rebel Luke Jones was a tower of strength in a badly beaten side at the weekend, he’s heading for his Wallaby debut, as is the behemoth Will Skelton. What a dynamic duo they will turn out to be.
That leaves the front row. Hooker Moore picks himself, but there are any number of combinations McKenzie can select on either side.
Scott Sio, and Slipper, loom large, with Kepu the senior prop on the bench.
All that looks good, but let’s see how close to fact those selections are.