Share five-eighth: Larkham

Share five-eighth: Larkham

Wayne Smith | January 17, 2008 The Australian

JAPAN-bound Wallabies great Steve Larkham has urged new Australia coach Robbie Deans not to lock himself into a single five-eighth this year but to spread the position around a number of contenders.

Wallbies great Steve Larkham has urged new Australia coah Robbie Dean to share five-eighth around a number of contenders.
From the moment he scored three tries on debut as a Test five-eighth against England in Brisbane in 1998, Larkham made the gold jersey his own, only relinquishing it because of injury. But after a decade in which the Wallabies' game was moulded around him, Larkham believes the time is right to explore all options.

"To have stability in that position is quite important, particularly for the success of the side, but because there is so much competition there at the moment, I think you've got to experiment to a certain extent," Larkham said yesterday.

"This is probably one good year to experiment but you can't leave it too late to get ready for the World Cup."

The 102-Test veteran said Matt Giteau, Julian Huxley and Berrick Barnes, the Reds youngster who performed so well when thrown in the deep end at the World Cup last year after Larkham succumbed to a knee injury, all had runs on the board. "And then you've got exciting young talent like Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper coming through," Larkham said.

The widespread belief, overseas and in Australia, is the Wallabies would have scraped past England in the World Cup quarter-final had Larkham been able to play. That's no criticism of Barnes but in a high-pressure game, there is no substitute for experience.

"Berrick did a fantastic job for the amount of time he had training with the team," Larkham said. "We do tend to play around certain players, around George (Gregan) and me, and, obviously, I wasn't playing. But a lot of things on the day didn't go our way.

"Quarter-finals are always a difficult game for Australia, some of the refereeing decisions went against us and, as well, we were a little shell-shocked by England. It was incredibly frustrating watching from the sideline, not being able to do anything about it."

The Japan pool match the Wallabies played at the start of the tournament was the last Test of Larkham's career. Now the country he helped put to the sword by 88 points is to reap the benefit of his vast experience, after Larkham this week signed a three-year deal to play out the remainder of his career with Tokyo club Ricoh Black Rams.

His original intention was to join Edinburgh but when that deal turned sour at the last moment -- prompting Larkham to launch legal action against the club that is continuing -- the only other European club that still had an opening for him was Stade Toulousain.

"I flew down there straight after the World Cup and went through a medical and everything but they wanted me to fly back to France within two weeks and just getting the family uprooted in that time would have been too hard," Larkham said.

That brought Japan clearly into focus, with Larkham initially intending to rejoin forces with close friend and former Brumbies team-mate Damian McInally at Toutai Kefu's club, Kubota, but, in the end, he opted for Ricoh because of easier access to international schools for his children, even though the Tokyo club trails in second-last position on the league table.