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Wallabies assistant coach Scott Wisemantel says Rugby Australia’s public flirtation with NRL star Joseph Suaalii is “taking away” from players in the team and against the development philosophy the coaching staff are pursuing.
Suaalii has been mentioned as a Rugby Australia target several times due to his background in the game at school level, and the stunning start he’s made to his rugby league career at the Roosters.
The heavyweights of each code – NRL’s Peter V’landys and RA’s Hamish McLennan – have been engaging in what seems a childish tit-for-tat for the young star’s attention.
V’landys has gone back to tropes about rugby being boring, while McLennan countered with rugby union being the “thinking person’s game.”
“We’ve obviously struck a nerve,” McLennan told Fox Sports.
“No doubt rugby league has done a much better job than us over the last 20 years, but more people play and watch rugby globally.
“For the Japanese World Cup, over 850 million people tuned into the tournament – they would disagree with that comment.”
He added: “Whilst (NRL chief executive) Andrew Abdo would never admit it, my hunch is that he’d prefer the Springboks over rugby league.”
While Wallaby forward Jed Holloway said he would welcome Suaalii if he made the team better, Wisemantel jumped to the defence of current squad members fighting out the back three positions.
“If he chose to come across he could potentially fit in but I don’t want to take away from guys like Kellaway, Wright, Vunivalu, Campbell, Marika – those guys are damn good footballers,” Scott Wisemantel.
Joseph Suaalii. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
“By entertaining any of this, and look, I have not spoken to him and don’t know him from a bar of soap, we’re taking away from the blokes that we’ve got and the blokes that we’re trying to develop.
“So on one hand, we’re talking about development. And then on the other hand, you’re talking about recruitment. We’re about development here at the moment.”
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One of the players the Australian coaches are trying to develop into a world class No.10 is youngster Noah Lolesio. The Brumbies flyhalf won the praise of Dave Rennie after the Wallabies beat the Springboks in Adelaide last week, and Wisemantel went deeper into what impressed the coaches, and what more they are demanding from him.
“I thought he was solid. He did his job,” said Wisemantel.
“There are areas that we can we can still touch on. The most impressive thing for me was that when we scored that first try with McReight, if you go back two phases beforehand, and you look where Noah is, he’s connected to the forwards but (watch) the authority that he had with telling them what he wanted, and he we wanted it, and (how he) was organising.
“That to me was the most impressive part of his game. I enjoyed that. Because whether you’re right or wrong, if you’re demanding things, commanding things, then blokes are going to show up for you. It was a good, fresh start back.”
Wisemantel suggested that being a commanding voice runs contrary to Lolesio’s nature.
“The one thing that we wanted from Noah was to be a bit more aggressive because he’s such a nice bloke,” Wisemantel said.
“I want him to be filthy if he’s not selected. I want him to come to me and go ‘why’? And ‘how are we going to do this and what are you going to do for me.’
“It’s not being rude. In that role as a player who touches the ball more than most players in the team, he has to have that authority and that command.
“You actually have to practice it daily. Talking in wants and needs. ‘I need you here, I want you here, if you don’t show up, there’s going to be consequences’. It’s aggressive language. And off the field Noah is nothing like that. But that’s that’s part of his development, controlling men.”
meanwhile, the Boks have released stars Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am back to their clubs for further medical assessments after being ruled out of the rest of TRC.
Both players suffered knee injuries against Australia in Adelaide last weekend, which prompted the decision to send them back to the Leicester Tigers and Cell C Sharks.
Elton Jantjies (hand) and Pieter-Steph du Toit (knee) will remain in camp, as they are expected to recover sufficiently from their injuries for the last two matches of the team’s campaign.
“It’s always unfortunate to lose players in a squad, but this opens the door for other players to step in and showcase what they can do in those positions,” said coach Jacques Nienaber.
“We will now have 32 players in camp and with Elton expected to recover for the matches against Argentina and players such as Andre (Esterhuizen) and Jesse (Kriel) and Frans (Steyn) all being capable centres, we are well covered.
“Our plan from the outset of the season was to give most of the players in our expanded squad game time as we build towards the Rugby World Cup, and this involved rotating a few players, so we’ll use this opportunity to build our depth.”