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SPIRO: It's time for Wallabies to walk the talk on the field

30th October, 2014
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The Wallabies go in as the favourites against Argentina, but will have to face the Pumas 'Bajada' scrummaging (AFP PHOTO / PATRICK HAMILTON)
Expert
30th October, 2014
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Over the past week or so, Michael Cheika has made several decisions Sir Humphrey would call ‘courageous’.

Cheika’s contract with the ARU allows him to coach the Waratahs during the 2015 Super Rugby tournament, courageous decision number one.

This decision leaves Cheika open – especially from wild-eyed Reds supporters (think of the claque that support Quade Cooper!) – if one of their heroes, or some of them in all probability, are not included in the front-line Wallaby Test 23.

Already, Wayne Smith in The Australian has played the Queensland anti-Waratahs card by claiming that the “NSW mafia” will ensure that Bill Pulver is sacked if he sacks Kurtley Beale.

No matter that the NSW Waratahs chairman, Roger Davis – a former Wallaby, Rhodes Scholar and successful businessman – has insisted he doesn’t know where “that is coming from … We haven’t even commenced negotiations (with Beale) for next year for obvious reasons.”

And what happens to Cheika’s credibility as the saviour of the Wallabies if the Waratahs don’t produce the rugby and the results in 2015 that they have this season?

The upside for Cheika is he has his hands on a significant number of players for the entire year, as Waratahs and then as Wallabies. He can ensure, to his mind at least, that they will be fit for Wallabies duty at the end of the Super Rugby tournament. Moreover, you’d think that the sort of game he wants the Wallabies to play will be trialled by the Waratahs. This could be a useful exercise.

Cheika has retained Michael Hooper as the captain of the Wallabies, courageous decision number two.

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There were clear smoke signals coming out of the ARU that Hooper’s staunch defence of Beale did not please them. It was leaked to the rugby media, for instance, from within the ARU, that Hooper could do with some ‘counselling’ concerning his support for Beale.

It does not seem to have occurred to the ARU that the defence of Beale by the leadership of the Wallabies suggested that they knew a whole lot more about what was going on inside the squad during the McKenzie era than those outside, including the CEO and board members.

Only Andrew Blades of McKenzie’s assistant coaches has been retained, with Nathan Grey coming into the coaching set-up in courageous decision number three.

Grey’s role at the Waratahs was give some sting and efficiency to the defensive game played by the team. He succeeded in this task. Presumably, he will do this job for the Wallabies. Already players are talking about the expectations of more physicality in their defence, in the Grey manner.

Who will look after the Wallabies’ attacking game? Who did this job at the Waratahs? Darryl Gibson. There is no talk about him coming across from the Waratahs. Indeed, Cheika made overtures to Stephen Larkham, probably with this job in mind. Presumably the Gibson play book will be used by the Wallabies, along with the plays from the McKenzie era that served the team so well in the last Test against the All Blacks.

Cheika gives the impression of a coach who actually likes to coach rather than delegate this task. It could be that he takes over the role of attacking coach.

This brings us to courageous decision number four – the insistence, in Grey’s words, that Beale “would be considered for selection… once all the investigative processes are completed”.

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Finally, we can talk about the Wallabies and rugby. Cheika and Grey have made the point that they want the Wallabies to play in the manner of the Waratahs, but enhancing this game with the best aspects of play from the other franchises.

Scott Allen, in another excellent report on The Roar, has made the point that it is much harder to play the expansive Waratahs-style of game at the international level. The players are much better prepared, mentally and physically, to combat whatever the opposition teams throw at them.

Playing the expansive, ball-in-hand game at Test level, even more so than the Super Rugby level, requires x-factor players, especially in the play-making positions.

And who was that play-making x-factor for the Waratahs? Kurtley Beale, that’s who.

Israel Folau was a finisher and sometimes starter in creating some havoc in the defence of the opposition. But it was Beale, not Bernard Foley or Nick Phipps, who created the opportunities for the runners to find the gaps and the opposition’s try line.

Against the Crusaders in the final, Beale laid on the passes that created the first two tries.

Cheika clearly wants Beale back in his squad to do for the Wallabies what he did for the Waratahs. And in showing his hand here he has challenged the ARU which just as clearly do not want Beale anywhere near the Wallabies.

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There is one current Wallaby who might be able to play the Beale inside centre play-making role – Quade Cooper.

Matt Toomua does not have the play-making flair of either Cooper or Beale. He is a much better defensive player, however. Christian Lealiifano played very well at inside centre for the Wallabies against the All Blacks, with one sizzling break from near his own 22 that led to a sensational try. But like Toomua, he does not have much of a passing game.

The backline Cheika has selected for the Barbarians match reflects this sort of thinking: Israel Folau, Henry Speight, Tevita Kuridrani, Matt Toomua, Rob Horne, Quade Cooper, Will Genia.

We have the two playmakers, presuming that Genia has got his running and passing game back, and Cooper his speed back. And there are three big finishers and tackle-breakers, Folau, Speight and Kuridrani, with Kuridrani monstering even the All Blacks in the outside channels at Suncorp Stadium.

Nic White is on the bench. But this I reckon is to give Phipps a rest. Foley and Lealiifano are also on the bench and my guess is that they will get about 20 minutes or so together at the end to renew their combination which worked so well against the All Blacks.

Cheika has made an interesting choice of captain with Matt Hodgson getting the job ahead of James Horwill. There are two messages here.

First, Horwill was most supportive of McKenzie when the controversy over Di Patston erupted and he needs to understand that there is a new coaching regime in place with the Wallabies, one that actually supports Beale in his dispute with Di Patston.

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Second, Hodgson is the sort of player Cheika was himself, a mongrel who gets stuck into the opposition and who plays with an intensity and physicality that can be frightening. Hodgson’s elevation is a sign that Cheika wants his forwards to match the intensity that Hodgson brings to his play.

There are two crucial matches on this northern tour for the Wallabies – England and Wales. England, Wales and Australia are in the same pool, the ‘pool of death’, at the 2015 Rugby World Cup tournament. Three into two doesn’t go for qualifying for the Rugby World Cup finals. One of these teams is going to miss out.

The way to avoid this is to win all the pool-round matches. And a good start to achieve this is for the Wallabies to defeat these teams in the next few weeks.

Victories over England and Wales, or at least one of these teams, will force them to go back to the drawing board and start making changes to selections and strategies that have been put in place over the last couple of years.

So the match against the Barbarians might be an exhibition match but it is a crucial learning experience for the Wallabies and coach Cheika. Systems and combinations will be put under a test in preparation for the real Tests against England and Wales.

There has been a lot of talk about what Cheika will bring to the Wallabies. We’ll see, in part at least, whether the Wallabies can match the talk with the walk in the next month or so.

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