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The Wallabies' biggest weakness ahead of the international season
OPINION: When Michael Cheika named his squad to travel to the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, there were no questions about who his two premier hookers were.
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Captain Stephen Moore was on track for his third World Cup and was nearing a century of caps for the Australian national team. He was a reliable, if not explosive option who had earned the starting hooker berth over a number of seasons.
In contrast, Tatafu Polata-Nau provided explosive impact off the bench and, with 53 caps to his name, wasn’t exactly wet behind the ears either.
The Wallabies had at their disposal a dynamic one-two punch, on par with the best teams in the tournament.
A lot has changed since 2015.
2019’s showcase tournament kicks off in late September, with the first Wallabies squad of the year likely to be unveiled barely a month from now. All the certainty that centred around the hooking berths in 2015 has vanished and who Cheika selects in the Wallabies this year is anyone’s guess.
Moore retired from international rugby at the end of 2017, having notched up 129 caps for the Wallabies. Polota-Nau, now at the ripe old age of 33, left Australia that same year and has represented Leicester Tigers for the past two seasons.
Polota-Nau is still eligible for the Wallabies on account of having played over 60 games for Australia and will likely be selected for this year’s matches. The fact that he struggles for game-time at Leicester, with Tom Youngs the starting hooker and young tyro Jake Kerr also often preferred, doesn’t bode well for the kind of form Australian fans can expect from the aging rake.
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You can see why Cheika might opt for a guy like Polota-Nau, however, when you realise that the other options available are still just cutting their teeth at international level.
Since 2015, the Wallabies have blooded four new hookers: Tolu Latu in 2016, Jordan Uelese in 2017, and Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Folau Fainga’a in 2018.
Latu has earned 11 caps in the time since his debut and toured with the Wallabies to the UK at the end of last year. He’s now accrued over 50 caps for the Waratahs and has probably proven himself the most at Super Rugby level out of the recent caps.
Unfortunately for Latu, 2019 hasn’t been a stellar year. The hooker was handed a six-week suspension after round 2 of Super Rugby due to recklessly charging into the back of a maul in the Waratahs’ victory over the Sunwolves. Latu made his return against the Sharks late last month but he’s now facing new disciplinary measures. Only a week ago, Latu was charged with drink driving and is now facing prosecution. The hooker has now been stood down for two weeks and is awaiting further punishment.
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The Waratahs still have a slim chance of making the finals, but otherwise they only have four regular season fixtures to play this year. Even if Latu does make it back on the field before the end of the competition, Cheika will have huge reservations about selecting a player who has missed most of the year due to ill-discipline.
22-year-old Jordan Uelese is yet to make an appearance for the Rebels in 2019. Uelese suffered a ruptured ACL shortly before the June test series last year, removing him from the whole international season and only now is he making his playing comeback.
With only two international caps to his name and not many more at Super Rugby level, Uelese is still incredibly inexperienced and would be a huge gamble in a World Cup year.
In Uelese’s absence last year, Paenga-Amosa of the Reds and Folau Fainga’a of the Brumbies were called into the Wallbies. Paenga-Amosa started all three of the Wallabies’ matches against Ireland in the June series but managed only one appearance in The Rugby Championship and was then omitted from the end of year tour squad. It was a quick rise and a sudden fall for the New Zealand-born hooker, with Polota-Nau, Latu and fellow debutant Fainga’a all jumping ahead of Paenga-Amosa in the pecking order. What’s worse is that Paenga-Amosa isn’t even starting matches for the Reds now, with Alex Mafi preferred.
Fainga’a was drafted into the Rugby Championship squad and formed a reasonable combination alongside Polota-Nau, but also found himself losing ground come the northern tour. Fainga’a started against both New Zealand and Italy, but wasn’t used against England or Wales, with Latu and Polota-Nau manning the hooker berth for those two matches.
Ultimately, what Cheika is left to pick from is an experienced but fading player in the form of Polota-Nau, and a bunch of young, unproven rakes – some of who have played very little rugby this year.
All this is to say that Cheika is in a very difficult position in selecting his squad. Does he opt for Latu, the most experienced of the younger breed, even though he’s faced a number of issues this year? Does he trust in one of the more recently capped players and hope that they can get up to speed in the short time remaining in Super Rugby? Or does he simply go with the form hooker in Super Rugby, regardless of how many caps he may have?
This is all assuming that Polota-Nau is a given in the squad – but Polota-Nau has been rocked by injury in recent times and may struggle to even make it through the World Cup in Japan.
There’s plenty of positions up for debate in the Wallabies squad, but there’s probably none more problematic than the hooking role. If there’s one group of players that Cheika will be watching more carefully than any others over the next few weeks, it will surely be the men running around in the no. 2 jerseys.
Comments on RugbyPass
We will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
2 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
2 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
14 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
14 Go to comments