Kangaroos v Fiji: DCE is the answer, but what is the question?

South Africa won the Rugby Union World Cup, beating England in the final. Jorge Masvidal defeated Nate Diaz for the short-lived, slightly farcical ‘BMF’ belt at UFC 244 with Donald Trump watching on. Lizzo’s Truth Hurts topped the Billboard charts.

All these things happened on November 2, 2019, the last day that the Australian rugby league football team played a match. They lost that day, to Tonga, if you recall.

It all feels like a long time ago, largely because it is, but that hasn’t stopped Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga from talking a lot about incumbency. For reference, at that point, Joseph Suaalii had just turned 16.

The point here is that who wore the jersey last doesn’t matter much when you don’t play for years – and they lost last time anyway – but that hasn’t stopped Meninga from picking Daly Cherry-Evans in the halfback role for the tournament opener against Fiji on Saturday night in Leeds.

The official reasoning is that Cleary is being rested after the NRL Grand Final, though given that he has played just three games in 79 days – DCE has played six in the same time frame – that doesn’t make a whole heap of sense.

Australia also made a laughing stock of themselves internationally by changing the whole concept of squad numbers to avoid a news story about this, so logic is well and truly out of the window here anyway.

Were I Mal Meninga, however, I’m not sure what I would learn about my halfback from a performance against Fiji. To date, Cherry-Evans has played 332 senior competitive games for club, state and country, so it’s fairly clear what he offers.

Similarly, Nathan Cleary has played very recent games to a very high level, so it’s obvious what he does too. What you might learn from throwing Cleary in for a Kangaroos debut against Italy or Scotland – the worst two teams, talent wise at least, he will have ever faced at senior level – I also don’t understand.

The upshot is that DCE will get the first go at the halfback role, and must take the opportunity with both hands. But even if he scores a hat trick, lays on ten tries and kicks a drop goal with a backheel, will it actually make a difference come a semi-final against New Zealand?

Combinations and rotations

The other major issue that Australia hope to resolve is not so much about who plays, but who plays where and when.

The pack has Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Jake Trbojevic in the front row, Jeremiah Nanai and Angus Crichton get the backrow slots, with Cameron Murray at lock and Pat Carrigan and Reuben Cotter as middle rotations.

If you’re counting, that’s five locks and two second rowers. We could split hairs here, but Tino has played 13 more than any other position, as has Jurbo, as has Cam Murray and Pat Carrigan. Only Reuben Cotter has more games in the front row than back of the scrum, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue that he’s a proper prop.

If you buy Mal’s line about rotation then Reagan Campbell-Gillard, an actual prop, needs to be rested and Lindsay Collins, who is lucky to be anywhere near a rep jersey at all, has been overlooked.

But it does seem a strange way to approach a fixture where you might need to learn something about your team, because it won’t really tell you anything.

Cam Murray makes sense because if the Kangaroos want to play with a ball-playing lock, he’s good at that, though you would think Isaah Yeo would do it in the important games and, to my mind, you play players in the position you want them to play when you need them most.

Murray can fill the role capably, but surely you get used to using him on an edge now, especially when you have lots of other 13s available. Clearly, Mal doesn’t think the result is in doubt – if he did he’d pick all his Panthers – so build the combinations where they are actually going to be.

The other two bench options – Grant and Jack Wighton, a back – suggest that Meninga will rotate the pack within itself, probably with Nanai and Crichton playing 80 minutes and Cotter and Carrigan as front-row options.

In a meaningful game, you might worry about the size of that pack. James Fisher-Harris, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Joseph Tapine and Moses Leota would certainly be happy to see them.

The Hunt-Grant dynamic worked a treat for Queensland and there’s not really any argument to be had there. It’s possible that we could see Jake Trbojevic play bulk minutes in a variety of positions, tackling superbly and trundling ineffectively, as is his wont.

The question of purpose remains, however. If this is an attempt to win and win well, then it’s not the best team Australia could have picked. If this is an attempt to build combinations and cohesion for more challenging matches, it’s not that either. It’s all very confusing.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

What can Fiji do?

There’s two sides to every story. The Fijians were thrashed last week by England but this is a better lineup and they certainly can threaten Australia, at least for a bit.

They’ll be bigger than the Kangaroos, with Viliame Kikau and Tui Kamikamica physically imposing, but you suspect that they will struggle in playmaking and consistency across 80 minutes.

Outwith the big names, the UK-based pair of Ben Nakubuwai and King Vuniyayawa are both north of 105kg and will not take a backward step.

Most teams would try to fight size with size, but Australia seemingly value mobility above heft, and there might be sense in that. Move the ball, tire them out, let the class shine through.

Fiji have met Australia at every World Cup in which they have featured, and the current scoreline is 336-16.

They’ve scored just three tries, meaning that the highest-scoring Fijian in Fiji v Australia matches is actually Jarryd Hayne, who scored a hat trick for the Kangaroos in the 2013 semi-final.

It’s one of the more curious records in international footy, because Fiji have made the semis on three consecutive occasions, but have never so much as got close to Australia. Tomorrow in Leeds offers them a chance to right that wrong.