Wallabies 2017: Casting an eye over the potential backs

Continuing on from the discussion of forwards in Australian rugby that I’ll be looking out for is my delve into the backs as I start to check off my Christmas wish list of who I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for in the 2017 Super Rugby season.

Scrumhalf is the most intriguing position in the build-up to next year given the unreliable availability of Will Genia and the lacklustre form of Nick Phipps. This year, Nick Frisby was brought into the Wallabies side and played several alright minutes, without doing much to stand out, meaning the door is well and truly open to grab a halfback spot.

Let’s have a look at the options.

Joe Powell? He’s stuck behind Argentinian scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli at the Brumbies, which doesn’t help out the Wallabies, but you can’t question the decision to start the foreigner ahead of the local based on skill.

The Force have Ryan Louwrens who will have more room to fire without Alby Mathewson tying down that starting jersey. If he can edge out rival Ian Prior for the majority of the season, he just might get a crack.

Most interesting for me is the battle in Melbourne between Nic Stirzaker and Ben Meehan. Meehan took the opportunity presented after the injury to Stirzaker ruled him out for the start of the 2016 Super Rugby season to the point where it remains unclear if there is a standout option to choose between. The clash for starting honours at the Rebels will be enough to push the prevailing player into future Wallabies’ camps.

The flyhalf options are fairly straightforward in my view. Bernard Foley and Quade Cooper have already established themselves as the frontrunners in whichever way you favour them, with Jono Lance looking likely to be third in line for a shot at the primary playmaking jersey.

It would take a big improvement from Jack Debrezceni to push for that spot and a drastic difference to edge out either Foley or Cooper.

A troubled area of 2016 was the centres, but in particular, the inside centre position. For whatever reason the 12 jersey was plagued by injury for the beginning of the Rugby Championship, which meant that there was a lot more rotation than perhaps originally intended. In fact, three debutants spent time at inside centre this year, and the continued form of Reece Hodge, Kyle Godwin and Samu Kerevi alongside the more experienced Tevita Kuridrani provides quite the imposing platform for years to come as these combinations develop.

Adding to these four options are a few different players; the most experienced being Rob Horne. Horne offers a predominately safe and defensive option, and is perhaps more appreciated as a wing option. His shoulder injury has moved him behind the other options as the younger talent, in the process, overshadowed his lack of flair.

Izaia Perese joins Horne as the duel wing and centre option, however comes with a lot more questions surrounding what he is capable of. How he can inject himself in the Reds backline will be interesting, as the try-scoring efforts of the outside backs last year was subpar.

Bill Meakes has rejoined Australian rugby and will have his work cut out for him to help spark the traditionally unimaginative Force backline, whereas the outside chance goes to the NRC superstar Irae Simone who set the competition ablaze with his prolific try-scoring and tackle-breaking runs.

His chances are hindered as he is currently listed in the extended squad for the Waratahs, but that just means he is only a few good training sessions or an injury away from proving he’s a force to be reckoned with.

Finally, the outside backs shape as another area that got a facelift this year, but still requires some change if the Wallabies are to be truly competitive. Sefanaia Naivalu and Dane Haylett-Petty impressed in their debut year, whereas the return of Henry Speight to the Test line-up didn’t help the Wallabies in his few appearances.

James Dargaville for the Brumbies and Tom English of the Rebels exist as the most probable ‘next-in-line’ options, however neither have taken their chances to the point where they are demanding Test match inclusion. Andrew Kellaway is the form outside back that’s not yet currently in the Wallabies squad, however his primary position of fullback is a lot harder to overthrow than the 11 and 14 jerseys.

This brings me to the last area that I wanted to address, which ties fairly directly into the outside backs; players who are transitioning to Super Rugby for the first time.

Firstly, from the NRL, is the inclusion of a group of speedsters coming across who will likely feature on the wings as a primary injection of pace should the respective players adapt to the 15-man game. Marika Koroibete is the most marquee, having already featured in the Wallabies European tour in the match against the French Barbarians.

He didn’t do enough to impress solely from that game, so a big season with the Rebels will be needed to impose himself and force Cheika’s hand.

The Force has signed Curtis Rona and Chance Peni, while the Reds, to the dismay of Greg Martin, have signed Lachlan Maranta. It’s hard to guess how they’ll go without having seen them play the 15-man game, but the transition is seldom an immediate success.

The other group of adjusting players is those that have come across from the Australian 7s team. Tom Cusack has joined the Brumbies as a backrow option, a tough area to crack into, while attacking weapons Cameron Clark and Pama Fou have joined the Waratahs and Rebels respectively, both with a high desire and a good chance of breaking into their 23-man squads.

How well they adapt to the extended version of the format they’re used to will be telling, but I’d have to assume these two are in with a more realistic chance of impressing the coaches they need to.

2017 has already been pencilled in as a year to continue the debuting of players and a year where Cheika wants to combine what his team has learned and improved upon this year and apply it in order to put together more wins next year.

Whether the number of debutants regresses, maintains or increases remains to be seen, however the prospect of the aforementioned players plying their trade in Super Rugby and putting their hand up for future exposure in the Wallabies fold has already whet my appetite for next year’s season.

Thanks for the season, Wallabies; I look forward to when we next meet.