- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Samoa in Sydney, two weeks out from the start of the tournament. Anyone else nervous about this? Anyone want to talk about 2011 flashbacks?
Following on from last week’s column, I remain as convinced now as I was then that the Wallabies first choice XV is already known, and the flood of reports over the weekend and early this week about new call-ups to the training camp in New Caledonia suggests two very clear things to me.
One, the Wallabies first choice XV is indeed very much set, and two, Michael Cheika isn’t prepared to lose a key player the same way Wales lost Gareth Anscombe a few weeks back, by risking any of the first XV this Saturday against Samoa in western Sydney.
And while this feels like a sensible approach on one hand, part of me keeps thinking about the timing of the really important pool games once the Rugby World Cup campaign starts in earnest.
Beating Fiji and Wales will be crucial to finishing on top of Pool D, and playing them in the first two games of the tournament means that the Wallabies combinations have to be well-oiled and firing from the first moments.
Which brings us to the Wallabies conundrum of the week.
Is there a bigger risk in playing first choice players and having them pick up an injury against Samoa this week, or is it a bigger risk to getting through the pool stage of the Rugby World Cup by not using this game to further bed-down the combinations that will so vital to tournament progression?
What can the Wallabies learn in their game against Samoa? (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Or put another way, is getting game time into the rest of the squad this weekend against Samoa more important than developing combinations among the first-choice players?
The main consensus last week was that blindside flanker and the right wing spot were still far from settled.
My suggestion that Kurtley Beale “looked pretty comfortable” at fullback certainly ruffled a few feathers, but the reasonably solid mail getting around as I write this that Beale won’t play on Saturday night seems to underline my thinking.
Moreover, the addition of Rob Valetini and Jack Maddocks to the Wallabies training camp in New Caledonia this weeks take the number of players training with the Wallabies but not going to Japan now up to eight: Tom Banks, Joe Powell, Harry Johnson-Holmes, Luke Jones, Liam Wright, Nick Phipps and now Valetini and Maddocks.
A total training squad of 39 now means it’s entirely possible the 15 starters from Perth and Auckland could sit the Samoa game out.
But is that a good idea?
Adam Coleman certainly needs more game time, and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto probably needs to spend some time at lock to reacquaint himself with a position he could well be called on to cover during the Rugby World Cup.
In fact, I’d say that it’s really only Scotty Sio and Allan Ala’alatoa up front, Izack Rodda behind them, Michael Hooper, Nic White, Samu Kerevi, and Marika Koroibete that I’d be comfortable sitting out the Samoa game.
Rory Arnold missed the Auckland Bledisloe with an injury and probably needs to play with no ill-effects, Isi Naisarani has had a very good introduction to international rugby, but is still only four games into his Test career, and Christian Lealiifano needs a chance to move on from the Eden Park loss.
Out wider, Reece Hodge, James O’Connor, and yes, even Beale all need better games than what they last showed.
Certainly David Pocock getting game time ahead of the Rugby World Cup if he’s fit makes some sense, even though I maintain a softly-softly approach makes sense. Talk that Pocock might start against Samoa and captain the Wallabies seems like a big ask of someone who hasn’t played a game in six months.
So if it is going to be all new combinations on Saturday night, then what’s worth trying?
Certainly, it would be worth testing Taniela Tupou as a starter again, and Coleman needs to play, as I’ve mentioned. I’ll assume Pocock will play on the open side, meaning we probably should be getting a benchmark on Jack Dempsey at blindside.
He’s baaaaaaack. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Will Genia should start, but then maybe this is an opportunity worth taking to get some minutes into Joe Powell, who now hasn’t played any rugby at all since the ACT Rugby Qualifying Final on August 3.
New combinations mean Bernard Foley should start at 10, but I wonder this: what will we actually learn by sitting Lealiifano out of the match? Wouldn’t it be beneficial in playing him alongside a new midfield combination?
And there will be a new combo, because surely Kerevi sits the game out as well if bulk rest is in order. Now to me, James O’Connor and Tevita Kuridrani makes the most sense, and could easily be the next best midfield should Kerevi go down during the Rugby World Cup. And surely O’Connor offers more at inside centre than Hodge?
Back three is already interesting, but if Beale is not to play this game, then it become all the more intriguing. Dane Haylett-Petty is known entity at 15; the safe option. Cheika himself said at the start of the international season that Tom Banks’ Super Rugby form was too irresistible to ignore, yet he only gave him one chance to do anything and then dropped him completely.
Banks has to start at fullback for me, but Koroibete’s selection as the only specialist winger highlights the flaws in the squad thinking. Either Koroibete plays, or the Wallabies flanks lose speed. Neither are ideal scenarios.
But for me, the fact we’re talking about playing different combinations and resting some players just highlights the danger in a game like this one on Saturday night.
The 2011 loss to Samoa did the Wallabies no favours at all, and so just when you want the Wallabies to trot out the top side and win well to alleviate any concerns, it seems it will be anything but the top side that runs out.
Which means about all we can hope for is no injuries and some unexpected standout performances. Hopefully from players in the Rugby World Cup squad.