Everyone gets a game: Time for Cheika to just try stuff

With only a few days between being approached for the job and then leaving Australia as Wallabies coach, it was only natural that Michael Cheika would run with existing personnel and combinations for the first few weeks of the Spring tour.

In his unveiling press conference before the touring party left, Cheika admitted that he had virtually no input into the playing squad, and that he would trust the work done by his coaching and selection predecessors.

Cheika largely stuck with the same side from the third and final Bledisloe Test through the first two Tests in Cardiff and Paris.

Save for a few tweaks here and there – some forced, some not – Ewen McKenzie’s last Test side in Brisbane has now brought Cheika’s unbeaten run to an end.

However, with two up-and-down Test performances on the hop now and the loss to France significantly more ‘down’ than the slightly ‘up’ win over Wales the week before, the time has arrived for Cheika to have a broader look at his squad and well, just try stuff.

I wondered late last week if Cheika sticking with the same side was him giving the players the chance to prove the Cardiff performance was a one-off. I suggested suits and ties might be required in Dublin for repeat offenders, and while I still think that should happen, it now needs to happen as much for the sake of discovery as much as punishing under-performers.

Take Bernard Foley for example. His perfect night from the kicking tee meant the Wallabies finished closer on the scoreboard in Paris than perhaps they deserved to, but he was a long way from his best in general play. The defensive pressure from the French midfielders offered Foley no way through the middle, often resulting in him shovelling or running the ball laterally. He played like a guy two weeks from the end of a long season.

And it has been a long season for Foley. He’s played 12 of his 16 Tests in 2014, and that comes on top of an extended Super Rugby season that started in mid-February.

Foley has now played 31 games in 2014 and started 29 of them. He played all but 15 minutes of 19 Super Rugby games, and now he’s played all but 20 minutes of the 10 Tests he’s started this season. He came off the bench for the first two Bledisloe Tests, but has played 80 minutes in the last seven consecutive Tests.

So does Foley deserve to be dropped? Well no, probably not. However, Quade Cooper did have an impact when he came on – for Joe Tomane, strangely. Did Cooper do enough to warrant a start? Again, that’s probably a debate worth having.

And this is entirely my point; Cheika is at the point with a number of players and certain positions that there’s as much to lose in making the change as there is to gain in not. Very little, in either case.

At the end of a long season, I’d be leaning toward making the change in an attempt to freshen up the squad and find a bounce, rather than hope tired players can get their second, third, or fourth wind.

Evidently, Cheika was thinking of changes for Ireland anyway, admitting post-match in Paris that the loss wouldn’t change his thinking and that he will take a look at remaining squad players in Dublin. Even without the loss this makes sense to me, but the loss also makes the desire to change more logical.

If there’s one thing we have discovered over the last three Tests, the Wallabies do have their best available front row on the park. Saia Fainga’a is fine, but can another two Tests be eked out of James Slipper and Sekope Kepu? This might be the one area where I would resist change if it all possible, though I would like to see Tetera Faulkner get more game time and experience off the bench.

At lock, Rob Simmons had his strongest carrying game in a long time, and was also prominent in attacking rucks. But he too has played a lot of rugby this year; he started all 16 Super Rugby games for the Reds and now 11 Tests too. He played at least 70 minutes in 11 Super Rugby games, and while he copped a yellow card in the second Bledisloe, has only been replaced in three Tests in 2014.

To rest or bench Simmons would involve recalling Sam Carter or starting Will Skelton – I’d be a little surprised if Cheika did the former, and pray he doesn’t do the latter. My opinion of Skelton as a set-piece lock diminishes with every game, and a strong set-piece team like Ireland could have a field day if he started.

Therefore, if Simmons doesn’t start, it leaves young Luke Jones as the only other option. Jones should play, but he’s not ready to start a must-win Test. Lock might actually be Cheika’s toughest selection quandary this week.

In the backrow, Ben McCalman got through a mountain of work last week, and picked up the Wallabies’ players’ player award. He’s coming back to match fitness after a stop-start season and should stay in the side for Ireland.

But Matt Hodgson has to play for mine. Sean McMahon has found the step up to Test rugby is a big one, and while Michael Hooper remains very good at his particular specialist skill set, the Wallabies need a hard, over-the-ball player, particularly against Ireland. Hodgson has had immediate impact in nearly every Test he’s played in 2014, and deserves a chance to start. Hodgson starting might also go a way toward finding a better backrow balance, too.

In the halves, I’ve already mentioned Foley, and Nick Phipps is starting to show signs of fatigue as well. I don’t think it would hurt either Phipps or Foley to swap with Will Genia and Cooper for the Test, and there’s no reason why the Wallabies can’t play with the same flat attacking line, front-foot ball requirement notwithstanding.

Out wider, Matt Toomua’s midfield defensive organisation has been dearly missed in the last two Tests, and he deserves a chance to adapt to the new game plan. Tevita Kuridrani and Adam Ashley-Cooper have proven their quality consistently, but Ashley-Cooper is another who perhaps might be a candidate for a rest. I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t rule anything out, and Henry Speight does need to debut at some point.

Israel Folau might be in the midst of a ‘second-year syndrome’ at Test level, but isn’t in any danger of being dropped. In fact, he needs to play for experience as much as he does to get somewhere back near his best.

This is a chance to look at the fringe players too, and Kyle Godwin or Tom English shouldn’t be automatically overlooked now just because Kurtley Beale is back in the squad. I’m hopeful on the first point, but fearful of the second.

Usually I wouldn’t subscribe to ‘everyone gets a game’ tours, but the Wallabies and Cheika are at the point where new things and players might as well be tried.

Incumbency is fine up to a point, and that point was left behind in Paris.