With the Rugby World Cup just under two months away the beginnings of a Wallabies team is coming together. But who will steer the ship at five-eighth and inside centre?
Halfbacks aside, as they are their own problem, I believe our inside back combinations have come down to the following tried units:
Quade Cooper and Matt Giteau
The pair have worked well together in the past. Cooper likes having a good line runner outside him, and Giteau is certainly a good line runner. Pace is power, and I think Giteau can get over the advantage line using good feet, and his pace in contact. Giteau has good hands, and a good kick as well, which takes pressure off Cooper.
Quade Cooper and Matt Toomua
Another pair that have worked well together in the past, with the pair thriving during the 2013 Spring Tour. Toomua straightens the attack well, and while he doesn’t have great initial pace, he can create a gap for himself every now and again, and isn’t afraid to run it, which creates doubt in defenders minds. Also, Toomua loves a bit of contact, which protects Cooper somewhat.
Bernard Foley and Quade Cooper
Unlike the previous two pairings these two players do not work well together. We’ve seen it before last year and we saw it again against Argentina. I am not sure why, but obviously they play such different games they just aren’t compatible. Foley plays more of a supporting role. His passing game doesn’t create holes, but once someone punches through, Foley will be close by running a good support line.
Cooper uses his passing to create width, and put runners through holes, but they have to be running the lines, because it seems he will throw to the hole, whether there is someone there or not. Cooper doesn’t take the line on to bend it, or get his arms through the other side, so Foley really has no one to support in close like he does with Beale.
Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale
This is a pairing that has thrived at Super Rugby level but the two have not spent much time playing together in the Gold jersey. I was very surprised on Sunday morning when Cheika put Cooper on instead of Beale after Toomua left the field with a concussion.
I thought it would be a good time to see if a Foley/Beale combination could work at international level. Putting Cooper on meant he was thinking Beale would come on later at the back maybe? Still, I would have thrown Beale to the wolves to see how he went for the Wallabies at 12.
Why does Foley/Beale work but Foley/Cooper not work? Beale is more of a runner than Cooper, he runs straighter and more direct. Cooper likes looking for space out wide, while Beale looks to run and offload in close. Beale runs better support lines off Foley, and pokes his head and hands through for offloads.
Bernard Foley and Matt Toomua
It’s hard to say with these two producing mixed results. Sunday morning was likely to be a good indicator of how the two could work together. Unfortunately Toomua left the field after just twelve minutes, but the pair looked to be working well together prior to his departure.
Matt Toomua and Matt Giteau
Toomua and Giteau looked quite strong during the latter stages of the Springbok game. Toomua is a direct 10, and Giteau is the drifting 12. Toomua meshes well with Christian Lealiifano at the Brumbies in a similar manner. Giteau offers the freedom for Toomua to crash up for quick recycle and then spin.
Matt Toomua and Christian Lealiifano
The two form a strong partnership for the Brumbies but it is unlikely that Lealiifano will work his way into the Wallabies starting side.
Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper
During Robbie Deans’ time in charge he used Giteau at five-eighth and Cooper at inside centre from time to time but it generated mixed results for the Wallabies. I Can’t see Cooper going from 10 to starting at 12 and I can’t see Giteau playing five-eighth, but Cheika might try him there out of desperation soon. Safe to say his two 10s haven’t really played that well yet.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Samu Kerevi getting a run to see how we go with a bullocking 12, not a second playmaker. In a terrible team, Kerevi made international centres look foolish at times this year in Super Rugby. He was a bit loose in defence at 13, but closer in at 12, he didn’t miss too many tackles. I honestly can’t see it happening now. Too late to blood a newbie this close to the World Cup.
In all the wash up after the Pumas game, Cooper’s recent odd tweet might have sealed some decisions for Cheika. I am sure more will come out about this in the coming 24/48 hours.
Anyway, those are the combinations we have really. The winning one? We don’t have too much time to try them all to fund out. Cheika is going to have to pick and stick soon.
So far this year, people can forget about lauding Foley’s goal kicking as the difference and the reason he should start. It was borderline woeful against Argentina. Crikey it looked ugly.
This means we still need an 80 per cent kicker, and the closest we have is Giteau. Should we pencil him in? I think his best work is at 12, so we still need a 10… Any takers to nut this one out?
Hoqni
Guest
Respectfully, QC at 10 will do for all comers except one. And for that one, there is no real answer for it. To me, it is still QC at 10, and Beale at wing, with 13 and 14 combos shifting in
Hoqni
Guest
They will point out that the others did not play against Namibia and Virgin Islands
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
At the same time Jerry Cooper has played 53 test matches in just over 7 seasons. That's 53 of a possible 90 test matches I believe. The similar pro rata would be about 11 of those 20 matches. Would 2 further losses reduce his win percentage much? Possibly, it's 3% of the games he has played. But why is Quade's win percentage against NZ better than the team's as a whole in the same period? If his was lower it would support your theory.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Because if you only look at a small period you can get players like Barnes who seldom played 10 against the All Blacks and Boks, and therefore his statistics are bumped up by playing weaker teams on a higher percentage of tests than the regular seasonal fixtures are. Barnes has played 10 games at 10. Wales - 4 Fiji - 1 England - 1 Italy - 2 NZ - 1 Scotland - 1 I'd expect him to have a good record.
Jerry
Guest
"those past Wallabies didn’t play the All Blacks 4 times in a calendar year." Nor does Cooper. For one reason or another, he's played in less than half the matches against NZ since the start of his career (9 out of 20). Considering his winning % v NZ is 22%, if he'd played those other 11 matches - or even a majority of them - his overall % would drop considerably. This also goes some way to explaining why the Wallabies have a worse winning % when Cooper isn't playing over the course of his career. Not entirely, but it does affect the stats.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
It's a comparison between current Wallaby teams and the teams of the past and the quality of opposition they face. 2014 we played a team outside the top 6 for the June tests. They were ranked 7th though. In 2012 we again played a team inside the Top 6 for the June tests. Sheek implied that the record of player's like Cooper is only relevant when discussing results against the AB's and the Boks. I'm merely noting that would be unfair, because they comparatively play these teams more frequently. Mark Ella for example never played the Springboks and would only face the All Blacks twice or less annually. Yesterday's players actually played European teams and minnow teams more frequently than today, giving opportunity to bump up winning percentages.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Yet why is it that the winning percentage of the Wallabies with Quade at 10 is 70% whilst the Wallabies winning percentage across his career is 60-65%. How is it possible that such a poor player who was only lucky enough to have such good players around him, wins more when he's there than the team wins in general in the same period?
Peter Hughes
Guest
Imo W's inside backs issue is of zero concern compared to their ongoing: 1) TIGHT 5 FORWARD issue 2) WEAK SCRUM issue
Shane D
Roar Rookie
Only issue with Horne playing at 12 is that it might turn into McCabe v2.
Mike
Guest
Why look at Reds 2011 and not look at RWC 2011? Your post is a perfect example of the cherry-picking that Quade's worshippers (as opposed to his fans) indulge in.
Mike
Guest
Which illustrates how completely meaningless your statistic is. "Imagine how Cooper would have gone if he did not get to play in the same team as AAC, Gits, Geirge Smith, JOC etc.". That is just as valid a question. Until you do a comparative study of "winning percentage" of all other players, figures like this simply prove that Quade was fortunate to play with very good team-mates.
Mike
Guest
Why minimum 20 games particularly? I ask because Berrick Barnes played quite a few tests at 10, and up until the 2013 EOYT he had a higher winning percentage than Cooper.
Mike
Guest
Ummm okay, but why are you comparing a BIL year with a non-BIL year? Doesn't that skew the results? Also in 2013 Quade didn't start at 10 for the three BIL games nor for two of the Bleds, although perhaps that's not relevant to your point about a comparison of types of games.
Handles
Roar Guru
NB, there is a little tool called "Google" you should know about. This list took me 1 minute and 12 seconds to compile, and I have a slow connection. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-match-report/brilliant-quade-cooper-sparks-wallabies-to-victory-over-wales-20131130-2yj52.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12h3EA3y9cc http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/rugby/quade-cooper-says-getting-man-of-match-award-in-loss-to-springboks-was-watewrshed-moment-in-career/story-fnii0mk9-1226771229694 http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/rugby-world-cup-2011/wallabies-defeat-italy-32-6-in-rugby-world-cup-2011-opener-at-north-harbour-stadium-in-auckland/story-e6frf4zl-1226134161137
Handles
Roar Guru
Yeah, but all his crap passes came out of the front of his hand, so they are all OK. It is only the flick passes that are stupid, even when they hit the runner on the chest.
Handles
Roar Guru
Not Bothered - clearly you have not bothered to do any thinking or research before you talk about McKenzie and Cooper working together. "largely a lot of tap and runs and playing on quickly"? Really? I wish there were "tap and run" stats available, because other than from short arm penalties, if the Reds tapped and ran more than twice in 2011 I will eat my hat. In 2011, the first try scored by the Reds backs was in round 5, when they blew the Rebels away by 50 points. They beat the Stormers (comp leaders at the time, I think), with a clear, cool, and well executed kick-for-the-corners strategy. Particularly effective, because it surprised the Stormers. IT shouldn't have, because Queensland kicked more than any other franchise in 2011. They relied heavily on the contested kick. They beat the Chiefs in Hamilton with a similar conservative game plan in the last round.
William Tell
Guest
At least Cooper's tweet ws not directed inside the team and unlikely to produce the consequences of Beale's effort. Be interesting to see what efforts are made to protect Cooper by the powers that be.
Magic Sponge
Guest
Cooper was a disaster in 2011 rwcup , he will be a disaster if he gets another chance. He is scarred. Foley any day
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
All our 10s run sideways when our pack is under pressure. Foley was running at 45 degrees on the weekend. We likely won't get more front foot ball than that either.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Sheek, the Wallaby schedule now is tougher with far more top tier 1 tests and far less minnow test than years passed. in 2013 the schedule was: BIL (h) BIL (h) BIL (h) NZ (h) NZ (a) SA (h) Arg (h) SA (a) Arg (a) NZ (a) Eng (a) Ita (a) Ire (a) Sco (a) Wal (a) In 1996 this was: Canada (h) Wales (h) Wales (h) NZ (a) SA (h) NZ (h) SA (a) Ita (a) Sco (a) Ire (a) Wal (a) In 2013, we only played 4 test matches against teams outside the Top 6 (Arg, Arg, Scotland & Italy) We played 11 against the top 6 if you include the BIL. We played the All Blacks three times In 1996 we played 3 against teams outside the Top 6, but only 8 against the top 6. We played the All Blacks twice. Since this time June tests against nations other than the top tier nations have become far less frequent meaning the easiest tests of the year are getting tougher. What has changed is the All Blacks have become much tougher to beat (the results show that when you exclude our record too, meaning they are just getting better than the rest of the world, not just us) but generally Australia has compensated for that by developing consistency against nations 3-10.