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Opinion
While the wound is still stinging on a losing series the Wallabies had every chance of winning, it’s time for The Roar Report Card.
HOW YOU RATED THE WALLABIES IN THE 3RD TEST
Who clicked, who fizzled, who trod water, who emerged… there’s plenty to dissect.
The injury toll forced the Wallabies to use 24 different starters in just three Tests and more than 30 players overall. No one would have foreseen that.
Coach Dave Rennie said pre-series he was delighted with his squad’s extra depth. He needed it too with three different starters at fullback in three Tests and having to find four starting locks.
Largely, the Wallabies had the right players. The accuracy was just missing in Brisbane and Sydney at the key moments and that is still the handbrake on this team in gold going to the next level.
Here goes. Each position is listed with the players who spent judgeable time in the position over the course of a magnetic series that England deserved to win 2-1. Gee, that’s hard to say.
This is still perhaps the headache position for the Wallabies heading towards the Rugby World Cup in 14 months.
Look around the world? England have the superb Freddie Steward. The All Blacks have Jordie Barrett and Will Jordan. The Irish? Hugo Keenan is on the rise.
The Wallabies can’t get stuck playing Reece Hodge there.
The Wallabies are no closer to a solution at No.15 than they were at the start of the series. Tom Banks’ ugly broken arm will sadly be the last we see of him as a Wallaby because he’s heading abroad and he won’t ever be one of the three overseas-based players brought back for any series.
Poor Jordie Petaia lasted just three minutes as a starting fullback in the second Test before his head knock. That was crushing.
Credit to Rennie for taking the gamble on “Project Petaia” but he just never got to see it in action. That’s not judgeable time but it’s a selection that the Wallabies need to work in the months ahead.
Jordan Petaia of the Wallabies (Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)
Andrew Kellaway and James O’Connor actually filled in at fullback for a bit of time out of necessity but the draftee who impressed most was Wright in the snatches of time he had there.
Playing Hodge at fullback is treading water. His awful pass over the touchline in the sixth minute at the SCG when Wright was in support to continue the raid was a major botch job.
Yeah, he can kick long but he kicks out on the full too.
Marvellous Marika was superb. He’s World XV material in a hotly-contested position. He was at the core of all the Wallabies’ best moments. He was an 8.5-out-of-10 for the series and deservedly won the best player award.
He grabbed the kick-off that ignited the Petaia try in the Perth Test. He threw the 15m pass that got the Wright try rolling in Sydney. He made try-saving tackles and hustled all over the field.
Kellaway was very good in the Perth win doing all the little things right.
Tom Wright was the Australian back whose stocks rose most in the series. He wasn’t even in the 23 for the first Test yet made breaks and threatened as much as anyone on either side in the second and third Tests.
After a 10-Test initiation in 2020-21, he finally looked a fully-fledged Test winger. It was the mix too…catching kicks, footwork in tight spaces, confidence to back himself, spearing through the line and support play. A strong 8-out-of-10.
Petaia finished strongly for a try in Perth so tick too. Poor Izaia Perese. He had a real chance to shine in Brisbane when coming on as an early replacement but his buckled knee has wiped out 2022.
Vunivalu’s three-minute cameo in Sydney was irrelevant but for getting his Wallabies career started. He’ll definitely get good time on the two-Test tour of Argentina.
Marika Koroibete. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
CENTRES: Samu Kerevi, Len Ikitau, Hunter Paisami
Inside centre Kerevi shouldered a huge workload to get his team going forward and stepped up for it every time, as you’ll see from his 15 ball carries in Perth and 18 in Sydney.
He suffered by not having the subtlety of Quade Cooper’s passing inside him because he would have been put into more half gaps rather than brick walls.
Kerevi has added variety to his game too. He didn’t overdo it but he popped off some effective kicks too. Another 8/10 performer.
Ikitau‘s sure hands in the Petaia try in Perth were excellent. He is still Australia’s preferred No.13 over Paisami, who had a very solid second Test.
Again, all the centres would have made more inroads with Cooper playing.
FLYHALF: Noah Lolesio, James O’Connor, Quade Cooper
It was a cruel script to lose Quade Cooper for the series with a calf tweak in the warm-ups before the first Test.
It took that touch of creativity and passing slickness out of the Wallabies’ attack that could have proved decisive.
Lolesio stepped in late and well in Perth. He put a few supports through holes in the latter Tests but he always defers a lot of the playmaking to Nic White when they pair up.
Lolesio was 12-from-13 as a goalkicker for the series. Excellent there, but Cooper is still the main man.
James O’Connor’s cameo in Brisbane was the worst 20 minutes from an Australian player in the series with a kick out on the full, getting stripped, not finding touch from a penalty and so on.
He was rusty more than anything because he’d played little footy because of injury. It was unfortunate and he’s too good not to claw his way back.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
White had some excellent periods of play but was muted in Brisbane. He is still clearly Australia’s No.1 halfback. The English knew how important he was and tried to get at him at every opportunity.
He takes more charge of playmaking when Lolesio is on the field. The balance of Cooper being a bit more dominant in the halves works better.
Gordon snapped a lovely pass for the key Pete Samu try in Perth.
McDermott was busy in his only 20 minutes of the series in Sydney. His pass to wider supports is a split second slower and the English defence were up quickly on many of his targets.
He had a solid series without being the stormtrooper with the ball that opposite number Billy Vunipola was. Valetini got through plenty of work just the same and is a worthy fixture in the backrow.
Hooper did Michael Hooper things but he didn’t inspire a fan to paint a sign like one Irish supporter in Wellington did: “Peter O’Mahony is Dog’s Bollocks.” Maybe, if the Australians had won.
Earning a clutch pilfer penalty in desperate defence on his own tryline in the Perth Test was Hooper at his best. The excellent English defence skittled him most of the time when he had the ball so there weren’t a rush of runs in tight. Courtney Lawes had more influence as England’s skipper.
Flanker Rob Leota was a disappointment. But for a brief period of robust running around half-time in Perth, his flowing mullet was nearly invisible for two Tests.
Recalled Harry Wilson always looked like he wanted to get involved at the SCG but probably will say he did less so than he wanted to on review.
Pete Samu excelled as a super sub. He gave the team a lift each time he joined the fray in the second half. His try with good footwork was notable in Perth and he earned a penalty at a key time in Sydney with hustle on the English halfback.
(Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)
Wow. This was a revolving door position. Swain’s headbutt, as mild as it was damage wise, was the dumbest moment of the series. Incredibly, the Wallabies won from there in Perth.
Massive credit goes to debutant Cadeyrn Neville and non-stop Matt Philip for stepping up there.
Neville’s strong 80-minute debut was worthy. Philip kept at it throughout the series, pinching lineouts, tackling and cleaning out. He’s often an unsung worker and was again.
Frost made an eye-catching first start at the SCG. His charge-down and gallop in the early minutes were enough to tip a long Test career.
When he added lineout wins and another charge into a gap in the second half you knew it. He’ll develop some of the other areas to become a top lock.
He was the biggest fresh plus from the series for the Wallabies.
It’s a shame Taniela Tupou came into the series with no match legs for ten weeks.
He made some marks on the Brisbane Test with the fightback try and some strong scrummaging moments but was strangely muted in the deciding Test.
He’ll be better in The Rugby Championship.
Alaalatoa contributed in his regular ways. Sio’s injury curtailed his time. Slipper’s effort to play strongly at tighthead for an hour in Perth was terrific. He’s an invalubale front-row element whether starting or off the bench.
Bell is learning all the time. He’s now played 19 Tests at just 21 and that’s invaluable for the next 14 months.
Porecki was the solid set-piece practitioner everyone predicted. He nailed his lineouts in Perth on debut and kept on doing so. That’s an invaluable asset for the Wallabies and remember he had to throw to ever-changing targets.
For years there, Faingaa almost looked a one-trick pony. He has really stepped up. He made two excellent cameos off the bench in the series. He wasn’t going to be stopped in Sydney when he got that pass close to the tryline.
Australia is well set with these two hookers. Billy Pollard’s strong Australia A showing against Tonga on Saturday pencilled his name in stronger print for the 2027 World Cup.