PARIS – For the first time since coming from the clouds to pop up as Wallabies coach earlier this year, Eddie ‘Everywhere’ Jones disappeared. Kind of.
After doing everything he possibly could to give Australian rugby a pulse over the past eight months, Jones chose not to use his weaponry tongue to explain his selections for the Wallabies’ final Test before the World Cup gets underway.
While he spoke earlier in the week, his decision to send his first-year international assistant Dan Palmer was curious.
It was just a week ago that Jones didn’t want to give much away either.
Asked about whether he’d have a “fully fit” squad to take on France, Jones said not once, not twice, but thrice that “France is a practice match”. Other subjects, of course, sidetracked the doorstop press conference.
Jones is not wrong.
The Wallabies won’t get a single point to help their cause of topping their World Cup pool, so the match in essence is a practice match.
That, however, doesn’t mean the match won’t have a bearing on the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign.
With Australian rugby’s depth wafer-thin, an injury, particularly up front to either Angus Bell or Taniela Tupou, would be catastrophic to their World Cup hopes.
But in a balancing act of epic proportions, Jones knows too that both men, especially Tupou, need minutes under their belt for confidence as much as the match fitness they will get from taking on Les Bleus at the Stade de France.
Jones was somewhat forced into selecting both aces.
Loose-head prop James Slipper was wearing a moon boot on Friday to try and assist his recovery from a foot issue.
The Wallabies’ most experienced member of their World Cup squad would have benefitted from a week off, but the injury made the decision not to play him a simple one.
Nor is he the only prop who has an injury cloud over him, with Pone Fa’amausili also not 100 per cent after a tough week of training that has gone up another notch since arriving in Paris.
Jones could have turned to outside his squad, with Australia A to play Portugal 24 hours earlier 30 kilometres south of the Stade de France at the Stade Jules Ladoumague.
Instead, Jones has rolled the dice hoping his men come through unscathed and grow in confidence.
Whether the Wallabies’ winless start to 2023 has shaped Jones’ thinking is hard to know.
After Fabian Galthie named what appears to be his first-choice side for the final hit-out before the World Cup, there is every possibility that the Wallabies will go into their tournament opener against Georgia on September 9, 0-5.
Yet, despite the Test being a “practice match”, the Wallabies who addressed the media were adamant that the match is important.
“It’s massive. Every time you put on the gold jersey, you’re representing your country. So that’s super important,” Toulouse-based star Richie Arnold said.
“We’ve got a job to do there. Building momentum through The Rugby Championship, you saw we started to build our game, so [it’s] very important for us to keep doing that this weekend and get some momentum leading into that Georgian Test in the World Cup.”
Debutant Blake Schoupp, meanwhile, said the match was about growing.
“You want to win every game as best you can, but the whole point of this game is to get better and prepare for the World Cup,” he said.
“We’ve got a squad that has an extremely high ceiling and if we reach our potential then we will win the game. So, everyone’s just got to play their part and we’ll just see what happens.”
Dan Palmer, the Wallabies assistant, too said Sunday’s final pre-World Cup Test was merely a building block for a greater assignment.
“As Schouppy alluded to, every Test we play is important, every Test we play we want to win, but like for all international teams this year there’s a context of the World Cup, so I think you’ve seen even though we haven’t managed to get a win, you’ve seen the team progress over the past few months,” he said.
“The goal this weekend is exactly the same. We need to see progression in certain areas. We’re trying to build a team that can win the World Cup. So, in terms of selection that was that was forefront of mind as well.”
Jones’ pack looks very much like the one that will feature prominently throughout the World Cup with French twin towers Will Skelton and Richie Arnold named.
The back-row, too, is the same one that was influential in the Wallabies racing out to a 17-3 lead over the All Blacks in Dunedin.
While exciting young halves Tate McDermott and Carter Gordon have been given another week to build on their combination.
Despite training well throughout the week, Samu Kerevi has been given another week to build back to fitness following hand surgery. His omission has given Lalakai Foketi a chance to prove his worth after being looked over throughout The Rugby Championship.
Three selections in particular stood out for different reasons.
Suliasi Vunivalu has been named for his second start, but the maligned winger is likely being given a chance to build confidence and form in case he is called upon on throughout the campaign.
In the absence of a second specialist playmaker, Ben Donaldson’s inclusion on the bench represents a clear indication that the Western Force-bound back will play a key role throughout the tournament after holding the tackle bags over the past eight weeks.
But it’s Issak Fines-Leleiwasa’s inclusion off the bench that is perhaps the most intriguing – and exciting.
One of the genuine bolters for the World Cup, the uncapped halfback had to leave the Brumbies to get more opportunities after Dan McKellar preferred Nic White and Ryan Lonergan.
What the dread-locked halfback offers is a point of difference though.
The 27-year-old brings tempo and pace to the game.
Where White struggled to inject himself against the All Blacks, Fines-Leleiwasa probes and dances and makes things happen.
An international starter he is not. Not yet at least. But the Western Force halfback symbolizes Jones’ desire to take the game on.
Importantly, too, Fines-Leleiwasa is defensively the strongest halfback in Australia and can play on the wing. If there’s a player sweating in the Wallabies, it’s White.
Jones can’t lose by playing Fines-Leleiwasa because he’ll find out whether the livewire threat can handle the heat of international rugby this weekend.
What Jones can lose though is the possibility of going deep in the World Cup if one of his key props go down.
Indeed, the stakes are high even though the result counts for little.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Our squad of 33 had wilder exclusions than the inclusion discussed here.
Jock
Roar Rookie
What’s wrong with the Pony?
Jock
Roar Rookie
When I saw IFL play for the Force I assumed he must be a Kiwi because he was not mentioned in rep discussions even though he clearly had class
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Fines also covers wing. He’s a Smart Selection if we want to go a 6-2 bench.
Wizz
Roar Rookie
Prop replacements worry me ...just needed pure scrummagers with no frills attacks( straight hard don't cough up pill) types...Sio Talakai Van Nek..Sio being more than that in attack, Talakai can score a meat pie too.
Wizz
Roar Rookie
Has us kicking our way to WC dreams been completely thrown out...I'm complete agreeance if it is but the master looks like he wants too win with ball in hand now.Shame we weren't doing that from day one.Combos would have had time together.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
He’s got the pass that Tate lacks to add speed to our game off the bench. If Jones is wedded to Tate starting, I think IFL is a perfect bench option.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
My thoughts exactly on this team selection. I wasn’t aware of the injury status of Slips and Pone and that’s obviously a factor but starting both Bell and Tupou sends a message about what we are bringing to the game and will tell us a lot about our prospects in the tournament.
jeznez
Roar Guru
No think there is Buckley’s. If EJ was serious about trying to win the World Cuo then the option would be here but he’s already built his excuse for if they don’t perform. He was building for the next one.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
You probably know this Cam, but it’s called expectation management. The management was changed less than a year ago, and the expectations have been changing ever since.
Mike88
Roar Rookie
Agree...but injuries will feature in every game so we need to see Donaldson and co get minutes to get their combinations right as well. I hope he's not protected against backlash by not playing 10 until its forced upon through injury.
Mike88
Roar Rookie
It would be really good to see Donaldson get good minutes at 10 and to see where he's at. He is obviously rated very highly in the current wallabies set up. I'd be more confident seeing this progression going into the RWC.
Mike88
Roar Rookie
Ken am I right going back Jones spoke about selecting 25 guys and 8 squadies/good blokes? Or some variation of that? I'm guessing the obvious is if Kellaway goes down, we call on Wright to slot straight in and not bring up Jorgenson or Donaldson. I'm guessing that common sense would prevail and that the A programme plus baa baas will be the guys to come in as half hinted by Jones and not some of the wider squad. Surely that has to be correct, right?
Check-side for the boundary
Roar Rookie
I'm thinking that the Spring Tour would be better, Ken, but beggers can't be choosers !
Mike88
Roar Rookie
Agreed. Like it or nor we are going to get injuries. But the expectation should be that we can pick players who will get through the games. My fear is how many will actually be fresh. Word and footage suggests its been a brutal period of training. But there's a few weeks before the opener for anything minor picked up.
soapit
Roar Guru
You reckon there'll still be changes?
jeznez
Roar Guru
I want maximum minutes into the rookies. Squad naming deadline is 28th. Final chance before the cup to show they can compete at this level.
Cam
Roar Rookie
The dialogue from the coaching staff and players for this match has me massively concerned. The repeated use of “practise match” and “context of the World Cup” and “building block for a greater assignment” sound like a team already beat. I’d be much more comfortable hearing the Wallaby players and staff running out lines like “test match intensity”, “body on the line” and “there aint no such thing as a practise match”. I guess we will see what’s what on Monday morning.
James584
Roar Rookie
It’s the issue of combinations. I think Eddie is right. Starters should start this game.
scrum
Roar Rookie
Well you have a point but with a squad of 33?