Michael Cheika has announced his team to face Fiji on early Thursday morning, and the only concern is Bernard Foley at 10 and Matt Giteau at 12.
The theme of the Rugby World Cup thus far has been the underdogs putting pressure on the more established rugby nations.
Fiji put pressure on England but didn’t come away with the win on account of too much kicking. However, when the Fijians did have ball-in-hand they ran straight and hard and made sure the English woke up bruised the following day.
Georgia, the underdog against Tonga, put on a big physical display and defended ferociously. Led by their mountain of a captain Mamuka Gorgodze, whose nickname is ‘Gorgodzilla’, the Georgians made the Tongans fight for every inch and in the end held on for a terrific victory.
Argentina had the All Blacks on the back foot for the first hour of their clash. Los Pumas employed an extremely successful rush defence where each of the All Blacks’ 10, 12 and 13 were heavily marked. Space was at a premium and in short supply. The All Blacks only really got going when Sonny Bill Williams was brought on at inside centre and started getting over the gain line. Superior fitness got the All Blacks home but Los Pumas gave Steve Hansen’s men a big fright.
The Brave Blossoms display of tenacity has meant that their victory may go down as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sport, let alone rugby. A South African journalist has written that the Japanese played like “Wolverines on Red Bull” which perfectly surmises something of a general tactic being used by the underdogs to great effect. Swarm. Shut down. Do not relent. If the favourites cannot get momentum then the underdog can stay in touch and possibly force a boilover.
Therein lies the pattern.
The Wallabies can expect straight hard running in attack and bruising tackles in defence. If Fiji coach John McKee has been watching the other matches at the Cup so far then expect to see a tight rush defence putting as much pressure on Foley and Giteau as possible. Both are solid defenders but after 40 mins of being run over by a pair of freight trains the holes may start to appear.
Genia may be the answer.
If the Fijians are going to rush up and get in Foley’s face then they are not going to be as careful around the fringes of the ruck. Where Nick Phipps is a great distributor of the ball, he is unlikely to snipe. All Genia has to do is run from the base of the ruck once or twice and any rush defence the Fijians intend on using will have to set and lock the fringes of the ruck down.
Also, Foley and Giteau are both great passers of the ball and Tevita Kuridrani is a direct-running centre cut from brutally hard stone. Rob Horne is a good choice to mark Nemano Nadolo but I expect the Fijian man-mountain, at 6 foot 5 inches and 126 kgs, will get over the line on at least one occasion anyway. Adam Ashley-Cooper is ever-reliable on the right wing and Izzy Folau is at fullback and was probably the first name on the team sheet.
In attack the Wallabies are probably going to have to move the ball wide at speed when given the opportunity to do so. Picking Michael Hooper and Dave Pocock means that there shouldn’t be any issues with support players making it to the breakdown.
In defence Horne may even defend at 12 but that would leave Nadolo being marked by Giteau which might be a tad unfair.
If it starts to go awry and the Fijians are making too much headway through the centres I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Matt Toomua around the 50-minute mark. The Brumbies’ stalwart is one of the best defensive inside backs in the world and if not for the introduction of ‘Giteau’s law’ it would probably have been him starting at 12.
Regardless of the result Michael Cheika has done a fantastic job to get the Wallabies to the position where they are. It should be a cracking game.
As the Fox Sports ad goes, “never underestimate a Wallaby”.
peter hughes
Guest
Well as Fiji won't see much of the ball and........... when they do get the ball it will be slow & messy then............... I don't expect Mr Nadolo will get the ball much - if at all soooooooooo Tackling him will likely be unnecessary and.......... if he does get the ball a couple of midgets will have no trouble :)
mtiger
Roar Rookie
Then the better way is to keep the ball in hand longer, move it around, call plays around Will Genia
mtiger
Roar Rookie
Hear hear TWAS
Existentialist
Guest
hahaha ... easy Machooka ;) as riddler espoused on another thread some people just like to bring a negative opinion. and then they can fire off the "i told you so" responses. its an easy fall back instead of putting ya kahoona's out there. we positive people will live by the sword eh?! (though that does contradict my somewhat pessimistic view that we won't score more than 30 points against the Fijians. but hey i am positive about the team :) ) c'mon wallabies!!
Existentialist
Guest
I love all your optimism gents ... really ... i do! but 50 ... 40 ... 30 points? in a RWC against the #9 team in the world ... well ... i hope so but the realist (pessimist, why?) in me just hopes for a win, with no injuries and a bonus point. i hope the wallabies prove you guys right and i henceforth i will be championing your legendary status from now on - ha! can't wait for tonight. ps. yes the negativity is stifling. but hey, if the world was full of optimists what would society be like? ;)
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Again. No. Perhaps he's much better at defending than you are at reading. I'd agree with that.
Machooka
Roar Guru
Marto... are you any relation to BAZZA ?
Mike Dugg
Roar Rookie
I meant best out of our 10s. Much better than the turnstile cooper
riddler
Guest
me too daveyboy and adam.. it is like some people here would like the wallabies to lose so that they can then have their little childish moment of i told you so for selecting so and so.. jeez.. gets tiring.. support the team... or bugger off.. my heart says a 40 point win.. my head says 30.. c'mon wallabies.. today it starts!!
riddler
Guest
you want a winger to be quick off the mark.. horne by alla counts is the quickest over 40m.. if a winger needs to run more than forty metres then one of two things will happen, he has built up enough space to go the rest of the way, which usually will be another 10-20metres.. how many 80metres solo tries do we see these days (bar intercepts)?? or if by chance someone does catch him then hopefully our support players will be there for him to offload.. we have not had a fast winger since aac started on the wing.. not sure why all this on horne now.. personally i would have horne any day of the week over aac,.. phipps, toomau, aac are an excellent set of backline reserves..
riddler
Guest
the backs are going to be fine, i agree diehard... but i also have rediscovered feeling of confidence in our forwards which was last seen when kef's inspector gadget arm was in play..
Marto
Guest
Quade is a good defender..Sure he flattened A AMITH but somebody missed him in the leadup and he was gonna score anyway, so QUADE deduced that why not give this muppett a clip over the ear for good measure.. P.S Foley is a speedbump as the stats above show.. He cannot be the 10 for oz against england and wales..He just cannot be...
Playmaker
Guest
If Fiji attack the FH and IC position , which more than likely and suck in the defenders, space will be created. However, it all depends on whether Fiji can exploit it and transfer the ball to the open spaces quickly and cleanly, so their backs can have a crack at second phase. Commit Pocock and Hooper to support the inside backs or create mismatches out wide and Fiji have a real chance and run straight and hard...a lot of things need to go Fiji's way, but I can't see it, honestly.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
What do you base that off? On tackling % he's one of the worst. I surveyed all the 10's I knew of. This is the result Foley - 68 made 25 missed - 73% Cooper - 28 made 4 missed - 88% Toomua - 50 made 19 missed - 72% Leali'ifano - 142 made 26 missed 85% Sias Eberson - 37 made 17 missed - 69% Debreczeni - 63 made 20 missed - 76% Dan Carter - 99 made 21 missed - 83% Sopoaga - 70 made 22 missed - 76% Cruden - 40 made 9 missed - 82% Pat Lambie - 49 made 10 missed 83% Handre Pollard - 87 made 22 missed - 80% Only Eberson and Toomua are worse on that list this year. Toomua's would certainly be impacted by his role as shooter in the brumbies defensive line.
Mike Dugg
Roar Rookie
Foley is the best defender we have
Seb V
Guest
Short answer - YES. But then again most 10 and 12 's in world rugby would struggle to stop Nadolo. Cooper and Toomua would only do slightly better.
Daveyboy
Guest
Agree Adam. There is so much negativity on this site re the Wallabies. The Wallabies are possibly the most physical side in world rugby at present. The Fijians, on the other hand are backing up 4 days after a big match against England. This could get ugly for Fiji especially if the Australian forwards turn on the rough stuff. Prediction - Fiji to charge into the cannon fire in the first half only to be cut to ribbons in the second half - Australia by 50.
Drak
Guest
Nadolo has legs doesn't he? Tackle him around the legs and he won't be going far.
Die hard
Roar Rookie
I have always found the Wallabies to have a confoundingly effective means of hiding their weaknesses. No matter that other teams can't, they Wallabies do. They shuffle and switch and screen and somehow make it all work. I am more concerned that the forwards get their own set pieces right than the backs breaking apart
Adam Longhurst
Roar Rookie
I think that we will put 40 on them with the team selected. We are match hardened and have played them a lot more than England has. Fiji are a great side, but we are not ranked 2nd for nothing considering where we were a little over 12 months ago. They will run out of puff at the 60min mark and we will go into overdrive.