SPIRO: The front five for the week

With a new captain named and two former captains dropped, Ewen McKenzie is starting to truly make his mark on the Wallabies. Here’s what I’ve noticed.

1. McKenzie picks a Wallaby side on form
Alan Jones was an excellent selector and he often talked about how getting the shape of a team right as the key to picking winning sides.

The team Ewen McKenzie announced on Tuesday to play France seems to have the right shape to it. It works on paper. The real test of whether it works on the field comes at Suncorp Stadium.

This team has a lot of strength in key areas and a lot of room to grow into a really strong side.

McKenzie has been brave in his selection. The Test is at Brisbane and he has dropped Will Genia from the 23-man squad and selected James Horwill on the bench.

Wayne Smith of The Australian will be distraught by these decisions. He was pushing for the inclusion of both these players on the grounds that Brisbane is their home town, and that Genia at least displayed some of his former skills against the Highlanders last week.

Genia’s form has been up and down (mainly down) this season. McKenzie is basing his selections on form and form alone. In Genia’s case, he has lost his soulmate on the rugby field, Quade Cooper. It may be that when or if Cooper comes back, so will Genia. The principle here is no Laurel without a Hardy.

But for this side, McKenzie has opted for form and – this is an opinion only – character and behaviour. I wonder if there is an element of this in the Genia case. Genia tested McKenzie’s sense of loyalty when he decided and then undecided to switch from the Reds to the Western Force.

McKenzie, to his credit, has been a much tougher manager of the culture of the Wallabies than he was at the Reds. Probably at the Wallabies he has more authority and power over the players.

Three different franchise players make up the front row. No combinations here. James Slipper is one of the better all-round forwards in Australian rugby. Sekope Kepu can be a cannonball runner.

I am not a great fan of Rob Simmons’ play but he is the lineout caller and can jump to win his own and opposition ball. Sam Carter deserves his chance. He is rangy, rather like a New Zealand second-rower, and has a high work rate.

The back three is well-balanced with the power of Wycliff Palu, the speed of Michael Hooper and the relentless on-the-ball play of Scott Fardy.

Nic White and Bernard Foley make up a feisty and aggressive halves combination. As Greg Growden points out, White will have to learn to stop the yapping that infuriates referees (as will Nick Phipps), or else cause his team a lot of problems. Both are goal-kickers. This is important in the consideration of team balance.

This means Kurtley Beale’s goal-kicking is not regarded as an important attribute of his game. He takes the long-range kicks for the Waratahs and not surprisingly has only a 50 per cent success rate.

My main concern about the back line is that, aside from Israel Folau, there is not much clear-out speed in the backline. But it is big by Wallaby standards and very aggressive.

2. Stephen Moore is a Wallaby captain who reflects the mentality of his coach
It was no surprise Stephen Moore was named captain of the 2014 Wallabies. As McKenzie did, he plays in the front row: the orchestra stalls where rugby’s music is made, according to the French.

Moore comes across as a thoughtful type, whose actions speak louder than his words. There is a lot of intellectual work involved with the captaincy of a rugby team these days. Richie McCaw, who grew into the job, fills out books of notes before each match. Moore probably could, or should, do the same. He said he was impressed with the preparation of the NSW Blues before their victory over the Maroons in the first State of Origin 2014.

My one issue is that he has the tendency to let his temper get the better of his smart play. He can give away a lot of penalties until he settles down to play his best game, which is strong scrumming, accurate throwing, sure tackling and a bustling work rate in taking the ball up.

The two vice-captains are interesting. Michael Hooper is being groomed for the Wallaby captaincy, probably in 2016. Adam Ashley-Cooper will probably take over on the field if Moore gets subbed or is injured.

Will Genia and James Horwill are clearly out of the leadership picture, even if they make it back to the starting squad.

I see this as McKenzie’s way to establish control. For better or worse – better, I would think – this is the team that will create the McKenzie era of Wallabies rugby.

3. The French are unpredictable but haven’t won here for 23 years
No matter who makes up the French side, it will remain a mystery until the first Test whether they will play brilliantly or poorly. Winston Churchill’s quote about Russia could equally have been about Les Bleus: “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.

Paul Cully in the Sydney Morning Herald reckons that “nothing less than a clean sweep of Les Bleus will do.” His argument is that since the start of the three-Test series in 2012, southern-hemisphere sides have won all 14 Tests against northern opponents except for a draw at Port Elizabeth between South Africa and England.

But when you talk about history repeating itself in rugby, you need to leave the French out of it. They are a side that can play breathtaking rugby. There are players in this squad who can match some of the greatest France has produced.

I am a Francophile, in rugby and all other matters, so I expect them to test McKenzie’s Wallabies with their traditional power in the forwards and smart running in the backs.

As an historical note, the coach and assistant coach of Les Bleus, Philippe Saint-Andre and Patrice Lagisquet, two wingers, were in the French side that defeated the Wallabies in 1990 in Sydney. It’s been a long time between champagnes for the French Down Under…

4. Watch the IRB Junior World Championship for the next rugby stars
One of the great benefits of Fox Sports is that we get live sport from all over the world. Currently, they’re running the big matches in the IRB Junior World Championship being played in New Zealand.

The players, especially those from England and South Africa, are huge! There are some terrific players in all the sides, and one or two of them could graduate to Rugby World Cup status by next year’s tournament. Certainly a number of them will for the 2019 tournament in Japan.

One feature of the Australian performance against Argentina, aside from four tries scored by the boys in gold for the first time against the Junior Argentinians, was the scrumming. The Australian scrum absolutely destroyed the Argentinian scrum. This augurs well for the future of Australian rugby.

It was also a sign that the new scrum laws, by taking out the explosive impact of the hit, allow for scrumming where technique and strength are rewarded.