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Opinion
There is no doubting the impact that Samu Kerevi had on the Wallabies as he was one of the major reasons for success in the Rugby Championship, having 60 carries for 186 metres and scoring two tries across his five matches.
His attacking potency was irreplaceable compared to any other inside centre in the world. After the disaster of the Bledisloe Cup and then leaving camp for family reasons, Hunter Paisami was left in the shadows as Kerevi replaced him and then completely turned the Wallabies’ results on their heads.
After Kerevi’s injury in the last game versus Argentina, Paisami was called back into the starting outfit for the match versus Japan. After being out of the Wallabies team for just short of two months, Paisami was thrown into the deep end and was expected to have the same damaging capability of the best inside centre in the world. Kerevi’s attacking capability and physical presence on the field was virtually impossible to replace, and Paisami copped the brunt of negativity for his lack of Kerevi-ness.
Yet, Paisami’s performance in Oita was more than respectable in attack and especially impressive in defence.
Attack
Overall, Paisami had seven runs for 13 metres with nine passes. While these stats might sound unsatisfactory, Paisami has simplified his game back to running direct straight lines in attack in contrast to his lateral running and long cut-out passes that were prone to interception against New Zealand. All seven of his carries were straight lines, which is exactly what the Wallabies need to see out of Paisami instead of a distribution role which he played against New Zealand which is totally against his natural instinct.
In the eighth minute, Paisami secures possession of the ball from the kickoff and takes the ball into contact for his forwards to drive over. Again in the 29th minute, Paisami receives the pass out the back from Nic White and instead of pushing the pass out wide, takes the ball into contact for his forwards to drive over. This shows an awareness of his game and that he has learnt from the mistakes of the New Zealand test matches and is deciding to take the ball into contact instead of running the risk of throwing an intercept.
In the 35th minute, the Wallabies win a scrappy line out ball and Cooper receives the ball on the back foot and distributes to Paisami who in turn takes the ball into contact instead of throwing a pass that would put pressure on his outside backs. In the 38th minute, Paisami decides to distribute but does take the ball forward before throwing a short and sharp pass to Valetini who gets over the advantage line. His link role throughout the game enabled players such as Rob Valetini, Rob Leota and Len Ikitau to run up some metres out wide.
This is again evident in the 41st minute when Paisami receives the ball after a well gained run from Tupou, the Japanese backline is on the back foot due to Tupou’s run and Paisami decides to throw the pass to Ikitau who is under no pressure, which enables Ikitau to get well over the advantage line out wide.
In the 49th minute, Paisami receives the ball after a non-advancing maul and takes the ball directly into contact. Although he is hit hard and put well behind the advantage line, he decides to hold the ball and not throw a loose offload to players surrounding him, further showcasing his quick maturity at the Test level. In the 51st minute, Paisami again plays a link role and distributes the ball to Valetini who gets over the advantage line.
It is clear that Paisami is identifying that the Japanese defence is not rushing up and can afford to throw the pass to Valetini without any significant risk and then finally in the 53rd minute, Paisami receives the ball from the restart and takes the ball into contact to enable his forwards to secure the ball at the ruck.
Overall, Paisami did not do anything special in attack, but his discipline to take the ball into contact and enable his forwards to secure the ball was an important factor within the game, and without Paisami trying to straighten up the attack, the consequences regarding intercepts could have been a lot worse than one.
Defence
The defensive aspect of Paisami’s performance was the most impressive part of his performance against Japan. Paisami topped the tackle count with 12 tackles at a 100 per cent tackle rate, and was a key factor in shutting down the dangerous and lethal Japanese backline.
As seen in the video, Paisami made numerous crucial tackles throughout the game. In the 11th minute, the Japanese outside centre Timothy Lafaele makes a break down the blindside of the ruck and looks to link up with his left winger, Paisami tracks back in defence and makes a crucial tackle to shut down the attacking threat. Again in the 17th minute, Japan were looking dangerous out wide with numbers to the left and Paisami identifies the pass recipient and runs infield to shut the ball carrier down before he can get a pass away.
His defensive reads were crucial across the board for the Wallabies. In the 19th minute, the Japanese midfielder receives the ball from the scrum and runs direct, but is hit hard by Paisami who rushes up and puts him behind the advantage line, this then leads to a knock-on a few phases later due to Paisami’s tackle and the work by the forwards at the ruck. Paisami makes three consecutive tackles in the 24th minute, which are all crucial tackles in stopping the Japanese front-foot attack.
In the 45th minute, Paisami rushes up on the Japanese ball runner and puts him behind the advantage line. This leaves the Japanese attack disjointed and clunky, leading to a penalty to the Wallabies, and then finally in the 76th minute, Japan work a turnover inside their own 22 and look to counter-attack with a three on two out wide, but Paisami rushes across the field to make the tackle on the Japanese ball runner, which isolates him behind the gain line leading to Valetini’s turnover and then Connal McInerney’s rolling maul try.
Summary
Although Paisami’s performance against Japan was not full of the most amazing highlight reels compared to the likes of Samu Kerevi, his effort in attack to straighten up the play was pivotal, and his work in defence shut down multiple threatening plays from Japan out wide and in-tight near the ruck.
The expectation that the Wallabies were going to be able to replace Kerevi was never realistic, yet Paisami’s performance added another level of defence to this Australian outfit. Paisami did well to fill the role at inside centre and played a crucial role in the Wallabies’ victory.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.