How to build a perfect Wallabies back row

I have been equal parts bemused and annoyed by a lot of recent commentary of The Roar community regarding the performance and suitability of the Wallaby loose forwards.

While I am not a qualified coach and certainly bow to the knowledge of Roarers such as Scott Allen and Harry Jones, I am pretty confident in posting this article as a discussion piece about the Wallaby loose forwards.

I have tried to keep the first part of the article general in nature and then apply the principles through the lens of the current Wallaby squad.

There are six key attributes that a good back row needs, and only three players in which to cover them. They are as follows;

1 – A workhorse: someone who lives on the ball, a ruck monkey.

2 – A tight ball carrier: someone with grunt who provides the go forward for hit ups to bend the defensive line or at least make the advantage line, someone who can hit contact and offload.

3 – A link man: someone who runs wider than the forward pods, supports backline movements, even participates in them, someone with ball skills but still enough muscle to secure possession and clean out a ruck if someone is in danger of being isolated.

4 – An enforcer: someone who knocks the snot out of the opposition in defence and can stop opposition momentum and shift bodies with venom at the breakdown.

5 – A genuine lineout option: a jumper with good hands who is adept at working in mauls.

6 – A pilferer, a jackal: someone proficient at either winning penalties at the breakdown or stealing the ball outright.

Traditionally these roles have been easily epitomised in a back row as follows: The Blindside Flanker (attributes three and five) as a wide running lineout option, the Openside Flanker (attributes one and six) as an on the ball pilferer, and the No. 8 (attributes two and four) as a tight carrying enforcer.

Indeed Australia’s best back row fits that mould perfectly with Scott Higginbotham at blindside, David Pocock at openside and Wycliff Palu at number eight.

That isn’t the be all and end all however, players don’t have to fit into those boxes provided that the balance of the back row is sound and all attributes are covered effectively.

New Zealand for example, often play with the number eight running wide and the blindside flanker being the enforcer.

While Australia’s back row appears balanced, it is definitely not effective at the moment.

Currently McKenzie favours a loose forward trio of Scott Fardy (who covers attributes one and five), Michael Hooper (who covers attributes three and six), and Palu (who covers attributes two and four).

Unfortunately both Fardy and Palu are playing below the level required to topple the All Blacks and win The Rugby Championship. Fardy has been unable to repeat his stellar form on the 2013 end of year tour this season, and his presence over the ball is not as strong as it should be.

Palu meanwhile, as he has aged and recovered from successive injuries, has become less of an enforcer and more of a sixth tight forward, doing lots of dirty work.

While his contributions are valuable, the Wallabies need more from their No. 8 than they are currently getting.

Moreover, it appears that the long season has finally caught up with Palu who has succumbed to injury again and been replaced by Ben McCalman who only covers attributes one and two, leaving the Wallabies short of an enforcer presence.

This is nothing new however, Australian rugby has always been short on enforcers; it is one reason that Jacques Potgieter’s influence on the Waratah’s play was so noticeable.

To complicate matters further, the attributes of Michael Hooper’s game (wide running and pilfering) are not very complementary – it is difficult to be a jackal if you are running wider as opposed to living on the ball – it means he is arriving to rucks a split second later than players such as Pocock, Matt Hodgson or Liam Gill.

Something that gives rise to the somewhat unfair but not inaccurate criticism that Hooper is everywhere but doing nothing effectively.

One thing is for certain, without their first choice forwards fit, the Wallabies struggle for balance in the back row. The current back row configuration favoured by McKenzie is not performing their core roles effectively.

It is often said that the battle in rugby is won and lost at the breakdown.

If McKenzie can’t get his loose trio performing, the Wallabies will continue to struggle, not just against the world’s best, but against teams they should be putting away comfortably.