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'They may even gain a little bit': NZ's take on changes to injury-hit Wallabies

By Tom Vinicombe
Bernard Foley. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP)

While the All Blacks may have made three key changes to their forwards for the first Bledisloe Cup match of the season, shifting Scott Barrett to the blindside flank and bringing in Brodie Retallick and Hoskins Sotutu, the Wallabies have gone one better and rotated in seven new players to their starting line-up.

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Dave Porecki, Rob Leota, Pete Samu, Jake Gordon, Bernard Foley, Lalakai Foketi and Andrew Kellaway have all joined the run-on side for Thursday’s match, with some changes forced by injury and some a product of form. One way or another, however, the All Blacks will face a vastly different Wallabies side to the one that was bested by the Springboks in Sydney earlier this month.

It’s the recall of former Test flyhalf Foley that’s probably raised the most eyebrows around rugby circles, with the 33-year-old recently linking up with the side following an injury to Quade Cooper and the dropping of James O’Connor. With Noah Lolesio now ruled out of action after suffering a head knock and O’Connor also unavailable to play, Foley has been thrust in the No 10 jersey and will make his first appearance in gold since the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

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Speaking to media after naming his side for the Bledisloe clash, All Blacks coach Ian Foster suggested that while the Wallabies might have been running out of flyhalf options to call upon, bringing in Foley could, in fact, be a positive for the Wallabies.

“Obviously their hand’s been forced with that [change],” Foster said. “I haven’t seen their full team but I’ve heard that one.

“He’s a really good organiser – probably more an organising 10, very astutue, very experienced test match player and he’s played with a lot of their players for a long, long time so I don’t see it as being a major change for them. And he’ll probably bring a bit of enthusiasm and love the chance to put his hand up to get back into that group.

“I certainly don’t think they’ll lose anything and they may even gain a little bit.”

Two changes to the loose forward trio also give an indication to the way the Wallabies may look to take on the All Blacks up front, with ball-runners Samu and Leota coming in for Jed Holloway and Fraser McReight.

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With Rob Valetini the only loose holding his spot from last week, it presents an interesting challenge for his NZ opposition Hoskins Sotutu, who will be making his first Test appearance of the season on Thursday.

“He’s a big, strong ball carrier,” Sotutu said of the man he’s be lining up against. “I’ve played against him a few times now. [To get an advantage you have] just got to try and match them physically and get stuck in early.

“I think Pete’s quite an exciting loose forward as well. He’s good around the breakdown and he’s a really good attacker for them as well. Them having those three ball carriers around the loosies is probably somewhere they’re going to try go to.”

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Senior All Blacks second rower Brodie Retallick, who will make his return to the run-on side on Thursday for the first time since July, suggested that the Wallabies will try to use said loose forwards to build some ascendency early in the piece.

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“From my point of view as a forward, they play very similar rugby to the Brumbies,” he said. “They’re set-piece orientated around their maul and their scrum, which they’ve had great reward at times around. That’s obviously a real area for us to focus on.

“They’ve got exciting backs – especially their outsides and their wingers. And when they get the opportunity, especially to pick through the ruck and stuff like that, we’ve seen how dangerous they are. If they get the platform up front from their forward pack, it allows their backs to play.

Foster himself suggested that the Wallabies’ ‘run and run’ style of play wasn’t hugely dissimilar to how the All Blacks are trying to operate at present.

“I think we both like to play at that sort of tempo, really, and so both teams will do whatever they can to stop it because we’ve seen if they get front foot ball, they’ve certainly beefed up some of their ball-carry options and [the strategy is] all designed to get in behind you and get speed of ball and start to exploit that short side and get their 9s moving at you.

“In some ways, the game doesn’t change a lot from Argentina where you’re really going to have to control that gain line and control that tackle point. So we kind of know their game and it’s because it looks a little bit similar to ours at times.”

With dynamic ball-carriers in the forwards and an experienced kicking option in the form of Bernard Foley, the All Blacks will certainly have to be at their tactical best on Thursday night to counter the threat of the hurting Wallabies.

The trans-Tasman rivals will both be gunning for a victory that will take them one step closer to Rugby Championship – and Bledisloe Cup – glory.

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Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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