Kurtley Beale should be the Wallabies fullback

I am currently guilty of attempting click bait, but I hope you all forgive me, but I truly do believe Kurtley Beale should play fullback against Wales.

The Wallabies are currently playing on a high, or as much as a high as they have been compared to the last few years.

Sadly, this high is due to one win, that being against The Darkness in Perth. Now any win against Those In All Black is a positive, but of course we all know what happened in our next match. With Michael Cheika’s win rate, or lack thereof, the last few weeks showed us the greatest possible hope, for quite frankly hope, that we have had in a long time – probably since the last World Cup.

Higher Being Above help us if that means anything, as Cheika couldn’t possibly have a master plan, that results in results, after years of frustrating us, could he?

What next for Michael Cheika and the Wallabies? (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Anyway, back to the clickbait.

Beale should play at fullback, in the oncoming Welsh game, even against all my, and a few fellow Roarers, misgivings.

No he doesn’t go well up against a strong kicking game, no he doesn’t inspire fantastic as a last line of defence, no he doesn’t always create straight running lines, nor does he fulfil his potential, whether realistic or wishful thinking.

Yet when he is on, he is on, and as rare as it has been for some time, when he is on, generally the Wallabies are on.

Now whether that is because he benefits from the Wallabies themselves clicking, or they benefit from him clicking, well quite frankly it’s too late to answer that question.

If none of you have noticed, the World Cup is currently underway, and we don’t have time to debate, nor experiment with this equation. Cheika (and Co), have made their decisions, and we should all, whether we agree or not, support the Men in Gold, regardless, of whether or not we think Pooper should exist, James O’Connor should be in the squad, or whether Adam Ashley Cooper should be in the World Cup potentials, let alone potentially in the game day squad.

Kurtley Beale of the Wallabies (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

So why should Beale play Fullback?

Quite frankly, because Michael Cheika, Beale and Michael Hooper, are all “success players”. That is, they are fantastic when things are going well, yet struggle when things become, well, problematic. And lets be honest, the last few years with these few at the top of the Wallaby hierarchy, have been problematic.

Also, success has been few and far between, so we have also only seen their worst, and rarely their best. I don’t believe they know what to do, when things aren’t going to plan.

Cheika had success at the Tahs and was promoted to national coach due to interesting circumstances and being “our only hope for positive rugby”.

Hooper converts penalties to line outs to play “positive play” even though at these times our line out was poor. And Beale operates on forward momentum and does his best impression of Sebastion the Crab when not receiving said momentum.

Yet while I am writing a negative report, I am still pushing that Beale play fullback. This was part of our most recent success.

He is a player that plays on confidence. He is an integral part of our plans (or lack thereof). To drop him now, everyone takes a hit. Cheika, Hooper, and everyone involved in the current plan.

If we want Beale to pull us out of the Poop(er… sorry couldn’t help myself), then he needs to be confident, in both his own skills, and the faith of the team, and the nation behind him.

Whether we think he can or not, it’s too late, or at least for this game against Wales.

Pushing him to the wing, or the bench, where a lot of us think he can be most effective, stunts his confidence, and for good or bad, Beale playing confidently is now an integral part of the push for us to achieve any success in this World Cup cycle.

We would be asking a confidence player who the powers that be have placed faith in, who also plays his best when luck, the bounce of the ball, and faith are put in him, to play without this.

If we drop, or move, or demote Beale now, my opinion is he becomes dead weight. Unfortunately we are too deep into this campaign to do this.

So I hope Cheika plays Kurtley at the back. I hope his team backs him, and most importantly, I hope Kurtley backs himself.

When he is good, he is the best.

Let’s hope for the best when we play the Welsh!