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Four talking points as Wallabies and Scotland face judgement day
By Bryn Palmer
As he approaches the end of his first year as Australia coach, Joe Schmidt stands halfway towards emulating a treasured piece of Wallabies history.
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Victories over England in Twickenham and Wales in Cardiff have evoked talk of matching the feat of the celebrated 1984 team, who completed a ‘Grand Slam’ sweep of the Home Nations.
While Schmidt would probably prefer not to dwell on the possibility too much, with the final leg of their tour against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday week, he can’t quite ignore it entirely.
“Well, I do talk to Andrew Slack, the skipper of that side, a little bit,” he said. “Slack, he’s a top man. He remembers well that Grand Slam to us. So, you know, 40 years on, we’d love to emulate it. But we’re not trying to emulate it. We’re just trying to win this weekend and have a good week’s preparation, I suppose.”
Schmidt revealed the freezing temperatures in Edinburgh this week have restricted the amount of training his squad have been able to do. “But it doesn’t mean you can’t prepare yourself mentally for the hurdle that’s coming,” he added, having named a side featuring six changes in personnel from the side which thrashed Wales 52-20 in Cardiff.
AUSTRALIA’S INCREASING DEPTH GIVES THEM OPTIONS
While the return of cross-code star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in midfield was expected given Samu Kerevi’s ban, elsewhere there were a few eyebrows raised at the absence of some players who have impressed this season.
With fit-again captain Harry Wilson returning at No.8, Schmidt has also opted to give start Carlo Tizzano a start at openside in place of Fraser McReight, with Rob Valetini reverting to the blindside role he started in against England.
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Lock Nick Frost also makes way, with Jeremy Williams partnering Will Skelton in the second row, while former Leicester winger Harry Potter is handed his debut, with Max Jorgensen, the match-winner against England, on the bench.
“From England to Wales we made a few changes and we’ve done the same thing again this week,” Schmidt explained. “We’re trying to build a squad going forward and that’s part of it. It helps us sustain a competitive element to our squad, because I think if you’re not internally competitive it’s hard to be externally competitive. At the same time there’s a lot of continuity as well.
“With McReight and Frost, it’s less the six-day turnaround, more the fact that they both played 80 minutes and had accumulated quite a bit of fatigue and a few knocks. They’re OK though.
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“When Fraser got injured before TRC, Carlo played both South African games and the two games in Argentina. He made 66 out of 67 tackles. He got half a dozen turnovers and added value. When somebody gets an opportunity and takes it, I’m not saying that Fraser didn’t come straight back in for the Bledisloe Cup games and played really well, but I think it’s a vote of confidence for how Carlo went.
“They’re quite different players, so with Harry (Wilson) coming back in as skipper too, that balance in the back row is a little bit different as well.”
Schmidt said Jorgensen was also being given a bit of a breather, even if he will see action from the bench.
“We’re trying to let him heal a bit,” he said. “He’s just a kid of 20 years old. Max is still growing into the game. He’s an exciting young prospect and learning really fast in the environment, but we just thought Harry’s played a lot in this hemisphere and quite successfully. So it’s a good opportunity to give Harry his first start.
“We’ve intentionally given a number of guys the opportunity to put their hand up this year, from July, through the TRC, and on tour here so far. I think Harry’s the 18th debutant this year.”
TANIELA TUPOU IS FIT, BUT ALAALATOA’S LEADERSHIP BRINGS VALUE
Tighthead Taniela Tupou was forced to miss the Wales game after picking up a knock against England, but Schmidt has opted not to rush his leading tighthead back this weekend, perhaps saving him for the rigours of Dublin next week.
“Taniela’s fit to play, but at the start of the week we weren’t sure, and we’ve kind of made a commitment through the tour to show confidence in the squad,” he said.
“Taniela got through training today, but we didn’t want to leave it till Friday to find out what our level of fitness was going to be for the team, and Alan Alaalatoa is a massive leader for us. He was skipper last week, and really it was a little bit of a toss-up whether to keep him or reinstate Harry (Wilson, as captain), just because they’re both really good in leadership terms.
“But at the end of training today, the two guys who spoke were Alan and Harry anyway, I thought (replacement tighthead) Zane Nonggorr probably played his best game for us so far against Wales), he came on and did really well. So, again, it’s just demonstrating our confidence in the wider squad, and at the same time wanting to give our players as much certainty as possible, knowing that they’re fit when they go out for the last training of the week.”
SCHMIDT WON’T GET CARRIED AWAY WITH PRAISE…HE RATES SCOTLAND
Schmidt was asked if he felt uncomfortable with all the praise his side have been showered with over the past fortnight, given the criticism that came their way after only one win out of six in the recent Rugby Championship.
It’s clear he feels Sunday’s Test against Scotland, who have beaten the Wallabies in three of their last four Tests, which would have been four in a row but for a missed Blair Kinghorn penalty with the last kick of their 2022 meeting, will be a greater challenge.
“I’m permanently uncomfortable,” said the affable Kiwi. “Whatever anybody else says… I just know how good Scotland are, I know how good we’re going to have to be.
“And I know that we’ve got things that we’re working on, things that were not as good as they could have been against Wales, and other things against England.
“Things tend to undulate a little bit in any performance environment. As much as you’d love them to be pretty much linear on the rise, that never becomes the case.
“This Scotland team is as strong a Scotland team as I’ve seen. I think the balance they have across the board is really impressive, right through from their tight five.
“Scotland have always had a good back row. We used to call Hamish Watson ‘The Pinball’, because we couldn’t ever actually grab hold of him – he would bounce off tackles and get through things…he was a real dynamo.
“And now (Rory) Darge, (Matt) Fagerson, Jamie Ritchie – they’ve got a really good back row.”
Schmidt was similarly effusive about Scotland’s backline, who he believes are “hitting that sweet spot of 30 to 60 caps and 25 to 30 years old, where they’ve got enough maturity and experience with the right amount of confidence to be able to adapt the game as it needs to be done.”
“They’ve also got some really good strike players,” he added, highlighting the “standout” Duhan van der Merwe and “electric” Darcy Graham, plus the centre combination of Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones. “I know Huw pretty well – he’s elusive and brings real experience to the midfield as well. So it’s pretty hard to pinpoint a weakness as such.
“Scotland play a fantastic brand of rugby. During the World Cup, outside of the All Blacks, they’re the team that played the width more than any other, so you’ve got to be good across the field.”
Schmidt said Tuipulotu reminds him of one of his own southern hemisphere converts during his time as Ireland coach. “We had Bundee O’Aki, as we called him, who was super as well. Those guys who can add a bit of value, going right back to the (former Scotland centre) John Leslie days. There’s always been a decent link.”
SCHMIDT KNOWS WHAT’S IT LIKE TO LOSE AT MURRAYFIELD
Scotland have failed to crack the Irish question under Gregor Townsend, losing their last 10 games against their Celtic cousins since 2018, including two World Cup humblings.
But Schmidt was the last Ireland coach to taste defeat at Scottish hands in 2017, a 27-22 loss at Murrayfield in what proved to be fellow Kiwi Vern Cotter’s last campaign in charge of the Scots.
There were Irish complaints and accusations afterwards about their bus being deliberately held up in Edinburgh traffic on the way to the ground.
“Yeah, we were a bit late arriving that day,” recalled Schmidt with a wry smile.
“VC (Cotter) is a great mate of mine and was coaching Scotland. My wife and son were staying with VC and Millie and their family. We got to the ground and I’ll never forget saying, ‘VC, we’ve only got 26 minutes to warm up’ and he said, ‘People are useless. I said give them 20’. That’s VC for you. There’s no sympathy, you just get on with it.
“VC might have mentioned it a couple of times since then, and fair play to him, he did a great job. I remember Scotland started really well, did a great line-out special against us, scored a super try, I think it was (Alex) Dunbar, but we actually got back into that game and got our nose in front before Greig Laidlaw kicked a couple of goals at the end.
“Funnily enough, he’s now the coach of Kerevi in Japan so I was just talking to Greig the other day and caught up with him when I was with the All Blacks and we played in Japan. I caught up with Greig for a coffee, he’s a top man.”
Joe Schmidt just comes across as mature, experienced but also balanced in his approach. He undoubtedly left Ireland in a much better place than he found them, even if they did perhaps taper off a little toward the end of his reign. I am sure he will do the same for Australia. I would love for England to have someone of his level, compared to the rather callow coaching group we currently have.
Joe Schmidt's talking is always a pleasure to listen, or read. And that O'Aki nickname... 🤣