There was a lot of interest in the Test debut of Will Skelton last weekend, primarily because of his impressive physical dimensions.
When the camera panned across the Wallaby team during the national anthem, you got a sense of what Gulliver must have looked like to the Lilliputians.
Post-match reports assessing Skelton’s performance have been glowing, and the young man can be well satisfied with his debut.
In a passage of play that lasted two-and-a-half minutes and 19 phases, Skelton won the lineout, carried the ball twice to continue the movement and then scored the first try of the match. Not a bad way to introduce yourself to international rugby.
The Wallabies were tactically smart in how they used Skelton. They called a lot of short lineouts to offset his size and weight. They used the speed of Michael Hooper and Tevita Kuridrani to chase restarts down the middle of the field, and it was noticeable the Wallabies reverted to a more conventional restart following Skelton’s substitution.
They didn’t want Skelton to expend energy chasing the ball around the field, so he occupied the fat man’s track with clear instructions to make his presence felt at collisions in his zone. Once the ball moved away from the middle of the field, he held his position and waited for the ball to come back towards him.
Watching Skelton move around the field, he doesn’t display a great deal of energy until his hands are on the ball, but it’s his ability on the ball that separates him from his peers.
The manner in which he delivered the telling pass to Israel Folau for his second try was top quality, any midfield or inside back would be proud of it. That’s the kind of impact and x-factor that can’t be measured purely by statistics, and precisely why Ewen McKenzie was keen to assess Skelton at Test level.
Skelton will never be a workhorse in the manner of Sam Carter or Luke Jones, nor will he ever be an aerial athlete like Rob Simmons. Skelton is not expected to lead or dominate in the usual categories for metres run, lineouts won on own throw or opposition throw, and tackles made. But he can carry the ball strongly, attract defenders and offload before and in the tackle, providing an ingredient that has been missing from the Wallaby forward pack since the retirement of Owen Finnegan.
That’s where he provides value to this team and as his conditioning improves and his potential is fulfilled, that value will increase exponentially.
For a man his size, it was difficult to judge his influence on the Wallaby scrum apart from increasing their pack weight, as the scrums were generally messy, with both front rows guilty of collapsing.
Tactically, France failed to grasp opportunities to exert pressure in specific areas and it took them half the game to realise they never tested Skelton on defence from a restart. The first one they sent in his direction following Folau’s second try showed the Wallabies exit play is not as well organised when Rob Simmons isn’t involved in securing the restart.
They also didn’t target Skelton by attacking his side of the field repeatedly to try and tire him, outflank him or create mismatches in defence.
There is growing support and calls from fans to start Skelton in the first Bledisloe Cup match. The belief is that he can provide more influence on the outcome starting the match, than as an impact player off the bench.
The theory has merit, the risk is that Skelton’s size and lack of energy in his movement around the field would be exposed by the All Blacks.
This is one of the selection challenges facing Ewen McKenzie as he plans and plots the downfall of the All Blacks.
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