The Big Questions: The RWC and team of the Rugby Championship

It’s true, friends, this is Big Questions’ grand finale. All good things must come to an end… before returning in an overhyped comeback special!

Or at least that’s what we’re working on, anyway. Stay tuned and we’ll see if we can talk The Roar’s editor Paddy into letting the Big Questions loose on the Rugby World Cup starting next month.

And with that in mind, here are the Big Questions looking ahead to said little-known quadrennial rugby carnival.

Harry Jones asks: What’s been the biggest surprise to you (team strength or player or coach or style) in the SANZAR rugby picture leading into the Rugby World Cup?
I did not expect my Boks to miss 20 tackles a game, or knock-on 15 times a Test. These are signs of mental frailty and a lack of focus.

Some of it can be attributed to inexperience (the Pollard-De Allende-Kriel axis is dangerous on attack, but profligate on defence; as a unit, they averaged five misses a game). But in a World Cup year, after a Super Rugby season, you’d expect tackling and passing to be sharp.

The other big surprise was a Bledisloe Cup Test with over 2000 caps on the field. I don’t know, but it might be a record.

Brett: The startling effectiveness of really mobile backrows in slowing the All Blacks at the breakdown. We saw it with Louw-Coetzee-Burger first, and then Fardy-Hooper-Pocock had success too.

It’s hardly groundbreaking, but I’m absolutely sure that will be seen as the way of competing with the All Blacks, especially come the knockout stage. Win the contest, slow down the service, and you take Aaron Smith’s speed out of the equation, too.

Digger: I would have to say the Australian scrum. There were obvious signs during Super Rugby that perhaps they would be able to put together a decent unit, but they have more than held their own. It does not appear to be the weakness many have anticipated.

I was also quite surprised by the changes Michael Cheika made for the second Bledisloe Test. It felt like a very real opportunity was passed up to have a crack at the Bledisloe. I understand the need to sort out options so on and so forth but it was very surprising to not see him put – what appeared to me, anyhow – his best team forward.

Diggercane asks: Can Cheika solve his 9-10-12 axis in time for the World Cup?
I am just not sure here. He has quality players to choose from, however I am not sure he is clear about which jigsaw pieces he needs to put where. Well, he will have more of an idea than I will but none have truly inspired as a combination. You would have to think that the combination picked for the US match will be pretty close if not bang on his top side for the World Cup opener to try and create some cohesion.

I wonder if we will see another surprise and perhaps see Matt Giteau start at 10 as he is running out of time.

Brett: Geez, I hope so. But he’s only got one game now, and what can you really learn in a game against the USA?

The obvious problem is that three different scrumhalves, and three different flyhalf options – maybe four, if Giteau is considered – haven’t set the world alight for an 80-minute block. Several have looked good for 54 minutes, or 30 minutes, or 17 minutes, but none have mastered the full 80.

I’m still leaning towards Phipps-Cooper-Toomua for 9-10-12, but it really doesn’t take a lot to make me think about other trios. And I know I’m not alone in this confusion, and I know everyone’s got their own thoughts on the best combo. And if our collective minds can’t solve it, it must be difficult for Cheika too.

Harry: There’s a safe Waratahs pair, a French-based virtuoso, a controversial Reds pair, and a tough Brumbies pair. I suppose it might be bad news for Will Genia? He would make my team, but I don’t know the forward-back split Cheika is looking at. If a pass or box kick has to be perfect in a quarter final at 78:30, I’d like Genia over Nick Phipps.

Brett McKay asks: There’s bound to be one, so who will be the big name casualty when the Wallabies Rugby World Cup squad is named at 11am today in Sydney?
As I wrote on Tuesday, I think it’s Scott Higginbotham. Being dropped after being hooked in the Brisbane win over the Boks certainly hasn’t helped his cause, and I think he knew it too, suddenly turning up on the Brisbane City squad list for the National Rugby Championship before he heads to Japan.

It seems to me there can only be room for one of Higginbotham and Wycliff Palu, and Palu was clearly saved for a reason. And I think it’ll be a harsh call, when it’s debatable whether Palu as a No.8 brings more to the team than Higginbotham, who covers blindside as well.

I also think there should only be one of Bernard Foley or Quade Cooper in the squad, too, but I’ll be entirely stunned if that proves to be the case at 11am.

Digger: This is when you need to be able to take in what is happening at training to have a real clue!

Tough question. My money would be on one of Palu, Higginbotham or maybe even Genia, considering Giteau’s versatility. Palu was not great last Saturday, but then Cheika knows him and would seem more likely to take a punt on him as opposed to Higginbotham. Genia has hardly been sighted either which makes you wonder, but I am too conservative to imagine a squad without three halfbacks.

If I had to pick one, it would be Higginbotham too, although one of the other two would not surprise me.

Harry: In the second row, Dean Mumm, Kane Douglas and Sam Carter could all be unlucky; losing out to the Lock Who Cannot be Lifted, the Old Red (and Yellow Card) Man. Will Skelton might have a tough World Cup if he’s not properly fit.

The Big Questions’ Team of The Rugby Championship
Well, wasn’t this an exercise. More than two dozen emails were traded between the three of us as we tried valiantly to gain a consensus, which along the way Harry summed up beautifully with a slightly tweaked Otto von Bismarck quote:

“Teams of the Tournament are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.”

Three votes were needed to earn automatic selection, and we forced ourselves to make hard calls, rather than pick players out of position to accommodate others. Where it became difficult was having to decide on different numbers of games played, and the impact some players had in fewer games, in several cases. The team we came up, eventually, was this:

(1-15) Marcos Ayerza, Dane Coles, Sekope Kepu; Eben Etzebeth, Brodie Retallick; Scott Fardy, Richie McCaw, Schalk Burger; Ruan Pienaar, Juan Martin Hernandez; Juan Imhoff, Ma’a Nonu, Jess Kriel, Nehe Milner-Skudder; Israel Folau.

The only automatic picks were Ayerza, Coles, Fardy, McCaw, Pienaar, Kriel, and Folau.

Some very quick notes of explanation, to highlight the depth of horse-trading:

– Kepu won through over Ramiro Herrera, but only after we were all won over with the Etzebeth-Retallick lock pairing.
– James Horwill and Lood de Jager also earned mentions at lock.
– David Pocock lost out at No.8, as part of a convoluted deal that involved Kepu, Nonu, and both wingers.
– Though Dan Carter won votes at 10, Hernandez, we decided, had the bigger impact on his side, to the extent that Argentina were hopeless without him. He was literally indispensable.
– Likewise, Imhoff and Milner-Skudder won through based on two excellent games each; overall, that was a bigger impact than Charles Piutau, and Adam Ashley-Cooper, which we all agreed was a tough call.
– Matt Toomua and Damien de Allende earned votes at 12, but the case for Nonu – once involved in a deal impacting four other positions – became too strong to ignore.

And there you have it. I just want to thank Digger and Harry for their fine contributions to the Big Questions this season, and for making it all pretty easy to put together. I reckon we’ve done alright, too, considering none of us played for Randwick.

And thanks also to everyone who read, commented, and posed questions of their own over the course of The Rugby Championship. It’s a great forum to be involved in, and you’ve all made it the success it’s become. Now to work on the Rugby World Cup edition…