Rugby World Cup: Uruguay job done; no selection headaches caused

With Wales throwing the proverbial cat amongst the Pool A pigeons on Sunday morning our time, the Wallabies’ win over Uruguay had to take on extra elements of ruthlessness later that day. At least one of those boxes was ticked in the 65-3 win at Villa Park in Birmingham.

The win also had an important impact on the Pool A standings.

Firstly, the bonus point was secured in the 31st minute, so that’s something. And at least we know the Wallabies know about them now. The bonus point win pushed Australia’s tally to nine points from two games, equalling Wales.

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However, the +62 margin actually pushes the Wallabies ahead of Wales, to the top of the Pool A standings. The win puts Australia 29 differential points clear, meaning Wales would need to beat Fiji by at least that much next Friday morning, our time, to bridge the gap. As crucial as bonus points will quite likely be in the pool o’death, we can’t overlook the importance of points for-and-against.

The win was sizeable, but it will be the manner of the win that generates all the debate, analysis, and hand-wringing. And while it’s fair to say it wasn’t the clinical demolition of the 19th-ranked Los Teros we hoped, I’m not going to go into particular topic too much here.

Instead, let’s have a bit of a think if anyone has forced the hand of the selectors for the match against England next Saturday (Sunday morning AEST). Did anyone do enough to force their way into the 23 for Twickenham?

In short, no.

Let’s start with the side that played Fiji last week: Scott Sio, Stephen Moore (C), Sekope Kepu; Kane Douglas, Rob Simmons; Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, David Pocock; Will Genia, Bernard Foley; Rob Horne, Matt Giteau, Tevita Kuridrani, Adam Ashley-Cooper; Israel Folau.

Bench: Tatafu Polota-Nau, James Slipper, Greg Holmes, Will Skelton, Dean Mumm, Nick Phipps, Matt Toomua, Kurtley Beale.

Slipper wasn’t picked for the Uruguay game, still overcoming the effect of that nasty looking head-knock against Fiji. Holmes was an unused player on the bench, while Skelton, Mumm, Phipps, Toomua, and Beale all started at Villa Park.

Polota-Nau was pretty solid in defence, though I thought he was quiet in attack. The Wallabies scrum was okay, but I didn’t think his lineout throwing was that good. I don’t think there was a straight lineout throw at all in the Uruguay game, though when I expressed that same view on Twitter last night, there were more than a few replies coming back that suggested that’s been a tournament-wide phenomenon.

Just on Twitter, too, if you were following my thoughts during the game, and you thought I was coming down fairly hard on the Wallabies players, you’d be right; I did judge them fairly hard, but it was very deliberate.

In watching this game, I intentionally took the position that the team that played Fiji will be the team for England, and that only a performance that really blew me away would change my mind. It might be a harsh starting point, but my rationale was simply that we had to be hard on the side that played Uruguay in order to truly know what the best combination is.

Therefore, I don’t envisage any front row changes at all. Polota-Nau didn’t blow me away, and nor did Toby Smith, which means that we need to hope like hell that Slipper recovers from his concussion. Holmes will stay on the bench, with Sio and Kepu to start either side of Moore.

Likewise, Skelton and Mumm weren’t so brilliant to displace Douglas and Simmons. In fact, Douglas and Simmons were quite good when they came on the second half, only underlying their claims. Add the fact that Skelton finished with a shoulder issue, and a change may yet be forced, but I’ll come to that in a moment. Mumm again had some lineout issues, ensuring that the bench is where he remains for now.

The starting backrow won’t change, but the performances of Sean McMahon and Ben McCalman, particularly, could force changes on the bench. McMahon started brilliantly, but went quiet through the middle section of the match, while McCalman seemed to get batter as the game went on, and must’ve been close to taking the official Player of the Match that McMahon was awarded.

Either could force Michael Cheika’s hand. I just wonder if a fresh backrower might be handy against England, rather than two bench locks, and moreso now that Skelton is under a cloud. McMahon could run some tired Englishmen off their feet, but McCalman isn’t too shabby in this department either and he’s a decent lineout option, too.

Speaking of injury clouds, Wycliff Palu’s hamstring troubles resurfaced and I can’t see him playing any further role in the tournament. In fact, depending how Slipper is, I’d be tempted to call Palu’s hammy ‘tournament ending’ and bringing in another front rower.

Phipps was very good, but not good enough to usurp Genia. Cooper wasn’t ‘very’ good, but he wasn’t terrible, either. But his goal-kicking was terrible, however, and like Palu, I can’t see how Cooper forces his way in from here. He still has his moments of brilliance – Matt Toomua’s 71st minute try was vintage Cooper – but I can’t take occasional brilliance when it comes with five-from-11 goal-kicking.

Toomua was solid, if not spectacular – like the performance against Uruguay in general – and the only way I see him coming in is with a drastic change of attack.

There might be an argument for playing Toomua at 10, inside Giteau at 12, if Cheika and Stephen Larkham want to go forward first, before going wide. Toomua and Giteau have even looked good in this combination in 2015, but it just wasn’t tried for any great length of time, never mind a full game. So I think Toomua stays put on the bench for England, too.

Henry Speight? Don’t call us, Henry; we’ll call you.

Of the back three, Drew Mitchell finished a whole lot better than he started, but his only real way was up, after an error-splattered first 20 minutes. Joe Tomane? See Henry Speight.

And Beale? I thought he was guilty of chronically overplaying his hand, if I’m brutally honest. He was good in patches, don’t get me wrong, but he also pushed passes, and drilled passes when a softer approach was needed. I just don’t think he advanced his claims.

Overall, and despite the 11 tries and what it’s done for the Wallabies’ Pool A standings, the Uruguay game confirmed that Cheika’s ‘plan A’ team is the way forward.

There might be a few tweaks or changes forced here and there, perhaps, but on Sunday’s display, the ‘plan B’ team can be put back behind the glass in case of emergency.