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RWC bolters are out there, if they’re wanted

3rd September, 2018
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3rd September, 2018
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A really interesting conversation about backrowers on Saturday evening proved to be a completely unrelated, but entirely valid follow-up to a point I made last week about Wallabies coach Michael Cheika’s Rugby World Cup planning and legacy.

“If Michael Cheika has his eye on other players, or different combinations, then we need to see them now,” I suggested last week. “To do the same thing and expect different results is only going to increase the volume of discontent.”

The conversation was sparked by the replacement of Queensland Country blindside flanker, Angus Scott-Young, who was really impressive in the reigning NRC Champions’ 45-35 win over the Canberra Vikings, the same team they beat in last year’s decider, and with the season-opening rematch again played at Viking Park in Canberra’s south.

Scott-Young was impressive for Country, operating mainly in the shadows where he often does and where he often goes unnoticed doing all his best work in the tight stuff. Ten carries – all of them pick-and-drives – and just one missed tackle in a dozen attempts. It was a productive 64 minutes for the 21-year-old.

He doesn’t get quite the same headlines as teammate Caleb Timu, but Scott-Young’s work was just as crucial.

But in noticing that he didn’t seem quite so hulking and brutal as he came from the field, I had the thought out loud that if he could maybe add ten kilos to his frame he could really start impacting at Super Rugby level, which in turn could quickly put him into the international frame.

In the days since, I’ve been somewhat surprised to see him listed at 194cm and 108kg. He’s got height about him, for sure, but he looked leaner than that on the night. He may well be. But 194cm and 108kg puts him in the same sort of rough dimensions (plus or minus) as Timu and Reds skipper Scott Higginbotham, as well as the likes of Ned Hanigan, Jed Holloway, Jack Dempsey, Ross Haylett-Petty, Isi Naisarani and Rob Valetini.

At 194cm and 108kg, Scott-Young already has a decent size advantage over new Wallabies flanker, Pete Samu.

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Angus Scott-Young

Angus Scott-Young of the Reds (AAP Image/Albert Perez)

There was general agreement to my pondering, and there was no doubt among those in the conversation that Scott-Young had put in a better-than-decent shift for Country.

Only Canberra captain Ben Hyne and Timu had been better, we decided, before quickly beginning to wonder if being dropped from the Wallabies squad cold after his initial international foray in June was the right thing for Caleb Timu’s development.

How on earth was he supposed to learn from the mistakes he obviously did make against Ireland if he’s not even in the squad? Timu carried thirteen times and beat nine Vikings defenders on Saturday night, was always looking for offloads, scored a try for good measure, and not 24 hours later was added to the Wallabies squad for the Tests against South Africa and Argentina. Could he be the one the Wallabies are looking for, we wondered amongst ourselves?

“No, the one the Wallabies are looking for just moved to Melbourne,” came the accurate reply. “He’s just not quite eligible, yet.”

And it’s certainly true that the anticipation will only grow around Naisarani as he edges closer to that green-light date of eligibility – in March sometime, as I understand – and particularly if he begins his Super Rugby season for the Melbourne Rebels well. Even if he’d be raw, the consensus was quickly reached that Naisarani could be really, really handy come next year’s RWC.

“But you know what?” came another suggestion that may yet prove to be not so left-field at all. “Maybe the one they’re looking for is right here. He’s even due back in a fortnight…”

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Ah yes, Rob Valetini, we all quickly nodded. Instant agreement that he could indeed be the one. Plenty of size, great ability, plenty of promise but horrid luck with injuries to date. Could be anything, we all agreed, just as the Vikings staged something of a comeback midway through the second half, which pushed us onto other topics that obviously weren’t as memorable.

In the days since, and thinking about the conversation further, I recalled writing that line last week and considered the very obvious issue that may well prevent any of these backrow alternates breaking through.

Will the Wallabies genuinely reconsider their backrow selections, or will they remain wedded to the Michael Hooper-David Pocock double act that Cheika has deployed throughout his stint as Wallabies coach?

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika with Michael Hooper and David Pocock

How long will Australia persevere with this backrow? (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Hooper and Pocock have played 27 Tests together, but it was actually Robbie Deans in 2012 who first used them, albeit bringing Hooper off the bench on all four occasions he tried it. Of the remaining 23 occasions the terribly-named ‘Pooper’ combination has been used, only once has Cheika brought Hooper off the bench. That was back in 2015, when the Wallabies beat Argentina in Mendoza, and Hooper replaced Number 8 Ben McCalman.

The Hooper-Pocock tandem worked pretty well during the 2015 RWC, but teams have worked out in the three full seasons since that you can nullify Pocock’s impact by running at him and forcing him to make more tackles. Pocock making more tackles means less opportunity for him to pilfer, in the safety that Hooper doesn’t quite pose the same on-ball threat. In fairness to Hooper, not many do.

For the sake of example, Pocock in the last three Super Rugby seasons for the Brumbies has averaged around eleven tackles and not quite one pilfer per game as an opensider. In the two Bledisloe Tests and the three-Test Ireland series as a number 8 or blindsider, Pocock has averaged more than 15 tackles per game and won 2.6 turnovers – which of course, aren’t necessarily the same as direct pilfers of possession from the opposition.

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The use of Lukhan Tui as a blindside flanker is clearly being trialled now as a method of getting extra size into the backrow – Tui has at least ten kilos on all those flanker/no.8 options mentioned earlier – but its effectiveness remains in question. As with Timu though, how is Tui supposed to gain experience as an international flanker if he’s not persisted with?

Lukhan Tui Wallabies

Lukhan Tui of the Wallabies (left) (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

But then, as the borrowed line often miscredited to Wayne Bennett goes, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

I’ve no doubt at all that Hooper and Pocock are both within the best fifteen players in Australia. Both are within the best five probably. Can they remain as a combination right through to a Rugby World Cup still twelve months and upwards of 15 Tests away?

I’m really not so sure about that, and I know that that’s hardly an exclusive view.

Which probably just underlines the need to start looking at other options sooner rather than later. The time to unearth the bolters – in all positions on the field – is rapidly approaching. Maybe it’s already here.

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