You may think the best thing about Australian rugby this year has been the continued improvement of Israel Folau, Michael Hooper and Matt Toomua. Or perhaps Scott Sio and Will Skelton’s development into probable Wallaby starters.
But, no. The best news story for Australian rugby is ‘The Other Guys’.
Within the Wallaby squad there is a bunch of guys against whose name every armchair critic in the land would have marked in bold red ink “Never to play for Australia again”.
They were failed Robbie Deans experiments or guys considered not really capable of that step up to national honours, due to be shunted back to Super Rugby and never to return to the international stage.
Ben McCalman
Debuted for the Wallabies in 2010. Has 29 caps and was considered a Deans project that ended up back on the drawing board.
Let’s face it, the big dog was more like a big puppy, considered to lack the physical presence to make it in the Test arena. But before this season started he shed the puppy fat, munched down a bunch of dog biscuits, bumped on five kilos of muscle and has become a mongrel.
Everybody thought that with a fit Wycliff Palu and Scott Higginbotham on the scene that McCalman would be back in the kennel on the chain, but he has demanded release with a bunch of tough, intimidating performances for the Force.
Great news for Australian rugby.
Pek Cowan
Wallaby selection in 2009. One of many selected in Australia’s continual search for ‘the’ prop.
Not unfair to say he was consigned to the scrapheap, making his the most remarkable resurgence of all of these selections.
One thing the Australian front row needs is consistency. Our props play at a different level week to week, inflating our hopes with one performance and deflating them with the next. This can even happen within the course of a game.
But Cowan has been plying his trade week in, week out, scrummaging well, tackling hard and running the ball into contact making yards. What more can you ask of a prop? A deserved recall.
Matt Hodgson
Again debuted in 2009, he was too old, too slow, not big enough.
A trier but with David Pocock, Michael Hooper and Liam Gill around, Hodgson was not what Australian needed.
Wrong! He is exactly what the Wallabies need.
Most tackles in Super Rugby. Most consistent Australian player. An inspirational leader. Probably just outpointed ‘Sir Ruchie’ against the Crusaders this week.
Fantastic player to come off the bench for those vital final stages of a Test match.
Rob Horne
I like Rob Horne – four words I was certain I was never going to utter in my life.
A Deans favourite and also the favourite photo on the armchair-critic dartboard. A poor man’s Nathan Grey, his 15 caps for the Wallabies were considered by nearly everyone as 15 too many.
Yet he has reinvented himself as a hard-running, hard-tackling winger who is honest, dependable and consistent.
A ‘Honey Badger’ clone if you will, but now a deserved selection for the squad.
Pat McCabe
From Australian rugby’s punching bag to national hero and legend, Chuck’s transformation from villain to hero has only been topped by his transformation as a rugby player.
‘Runs straight, tackles hard’ are the only four words that could be used to describe his play.
Highly courageous yet ultimately a resounding NO with the Australian public in the role Robbie Deans wanted him to play for the Wallabies. Well, the man they couldn’t root, shoot or electrocute and with with more broken bones than Evel Knievel has changed.
I nearly swallowed my can of beer watching a game earlier in the season when a man who resembled Pat McCabe seemed to swerve, step, and actually ran around an opposition player.
This was compounded when this same phantom actually passed the ball. They reckon you need two miracles to be considered for sainthood. Arise Saint Pat.
Pat McCabe is faster, stronger, runs great lines, swerves, steps, passes the football and still tackles like a demon.
There is a God.
You may be an Israel Folau fan or think Michael Hooper is what Australian rugby is all about, but spare a thought for those players who are not so fashionable and put in the hard yards, week in, week out and could be what gets the Wallabies where we want them to be in world rugby.
The Other Guys.
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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