SPIRO: New Wallabies squad, same old players

The thing that caught my attention with the announcement of the new Wallabies squad to face the Springboks at Perth is that with a couple of exceptions (Kyle Godwin and Peter Betham) these are the same old selections that were humiliated by the All Blacks at Eden Park.

The inference from this must be that there is no need to introduce new players in the positions where the Wallabies were really exposed, the pack (with the exception of Michael Hooper).

Presumably players from the old squad, and I am thinking of Ben McCalman, Scott Higginbotham  James Horwill and Pek Cowan, will get a run.

But where was Benn Robinson?

I got an animated telephone call during the week from Geoff Mould, the legendary coach of the 1978 Australian Schoolboys team, which is arguably the finest side Australian rugby has produced. Mould also was a long time disciple of the Galloping Greens method taught to several generations of gifted players and coaches.

Mark Ella attributes some of his successes to Mould, who was his high school rugby coach. Mould’s philosophy was ‘to believe in your ability, focus, keep on the straight and narrow and always have a dream’.

Mould is very direct. He told me in no uncertain terms that Ewen McKenzie’s Wallabies ‘don’t have a clue about back play’. He reckoned that McKenzie had his head in too many scrums to see how Randwick scored their length of the field tries. The key to the Randwick game is the flat backline.

The Wallabies don’t play flat enough. He couldn’t understand why Bernard Foley is not the starting number 10. He’s the best in this position, according to Mould, in years. And he is a tremendous defensive player, he added.

Kurtley Beale? Should never ever play number 10. There is no organisation in his game. When I put it to him that Bob Dwyer reckoned Beale should be played at winger (a good idea, in my view) Mould challenged me with this question: ‘What about his defence and catching of the high ball?’

My argument here is that it is easier to ‘hide’ a winger out on the flanks than it is a flyhalf or inside centre.

Now, back to the new Wallabies squad. Beale is named, along with Foley, as a number 10. Kyle Godwin, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Leali’ifano and Matt Toomua are named as the centres. Adam Ashley-Cooper, Peter Betham, Israel Folau and Rob Horne are named as the back three.

This suggests to me that Beale’s time as number 10 isn’t over (returning if or when Foley fails) and that Matt Toomua and Kyle Godwin, provided he comes through his NRC game on the weekend, are the designated inside centres.

So a likely backline against the Springboks is: Nick Phipps, Bernard Foley, Matt Toomua, Tevita Kuridrani, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Peter Betham, Israel Folau.

Geoff Mould, was also critical, to put it mildly, of the pack. The exception to this was his praise for Michael Hooper. He said he would take some of the pressure off Hooper by playing the tough old man Matt Hodgson at number six. He would complement the lack of height from his breakaways by playing Ben McCalman Scott Higginbotham at number eight.

He argued that Wycliff Palu isn’t seen when the game opens up. Like David Lyons is a carrying player with no covering or chasing game. I agree with this.

I think that it is good longer term thinking to have the Western Force hooker Heath Tessman and the prop Tetera Faulkner training with the Wallabies at Perth. The All Blacks do this when they go into camps. They co-opt a couple of promising players from the local area to see how they respond to their environment.

The Force had one of the better Australian scrums in the 2014 Super Rugby tournament. So Tessman and Faulkner are worth McKenzie’s time keeping an eye on them. But they do not represent a quick fix. Here McKenzie has to concede he has made a selection gaffe and bring back Robinson.

There is more to the Wallabies’ collapse last Saturday than just poor team selection. The coaching was poor. The Wallabies were totally unprepared for the smart way the All Blacks play, even though they had revealed a similar game plan in the last two Tests earlier on this season against England.

A huge amount of the improvement in the All Blacks came from the three Smiths, Ben at fullback, Conrad at centre and Aaron at halfback. Notice, too, that the All Blacks coaches are aware of this. They are reluctant to substitute these players, unless the game is totally out of reach by the opposition. Even then (although there were other circumstances involving injuries to Ryan Crotty and Corey Jane) all of them played out the 80 minutes of the Test.

These three Smiths are staking claims to being among the best in their positions for the All Blacks. I think that with Aaron Smith, for instance, you have to go back to Dave Loveridge (‘the Taranaki pig farmer’ in Gordon Bray’s immortal description) for an All Blacks half anywhere near as good.

We are not seeing this growth from very good to greatness from this current generation of Wallabies. And I include Michael Hooper, the best along with Folau of this squad, in all of this. Hooper, for instance, does not have much influence at the collisions. And it is here where Tests are won and lost.

We know who does have this influence. Richie McCaw. McCaw’s smashing, forceful and, despite the yellow cards, very skilful reading of play makes him a force of nature on the rugby field, among the very greatest ever to play the game.

This brings me to a matter I have raised from time to time on The Roar. And that is the stupid accusation by Greg Martin and Phil Kearns that McCaw ‘cheats’ every ruck he is involved in.

This stupidity goes from these commentators to the general public and becomes a mantra of Australian rugby. Somehow from here it seems to flow into the coaching systems.

The old-timer Matt Hodgson is the only tough scrapper for the ruck ball in Australian rugby. Hooper goes in with his hands but he rarely has a physical influence on the rucks.

Instead of making accusations about McCaw’s play that are patently wrong, the commentators and the coaches should be examining how he operates, how he makes his decisions, his positioning, his mental quickness (which is often far ahead of referees, and commentators) and his energy in making the hits that change the outcomes of Tests, so that the knowledge can be transferred to putative Australian equivalents.

All this presupposes some real understanding of the dynamics of rugby, and the laws. Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of this sort of intelligence at all levels of Australian rugby.

It is not indulgent to make this point but the analysis Scott Allen provides on The Roar is far superior to any other analysis offered by the commentators (and this includes Rod Kafer, who is on a level far above that of his fellow analysts).

And I would go further and make the point that Scott Allen’s latest analysis on the defensive failings of the Wallabies at Eden Park reveals how inadequate the preparation of the Wallabies was (are you listening here Ewen McKenzie?) and what needs to be done to put matters right.

All things being equal, the Wallabies should defeat a lacklustre Springboks side at Perth. While Robbie Deans was criticised for losing too many Tests against the All Blacks, his teams were more successful than most Wallabies sides against the Springboks. Nothing much has changed with the Springboks to suggest that this trend needs to end.

But what if the Wallabies do not change personnel or tactics from their Eden Park debacle? All bets are then off, I’m afraid.