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Genuine depth means several stars won't make the Wallabies squad
- Wayne Smith
- From: The Australian
- May 17, 2010 12:00AM
IT'S a little-known fact that Berrick Barnes was selected in the Wallabies 2007 World Cup squad on the basis of one game - played in 2006.
So few cup squad selection options did then Wallabies coach John Connolly have available to him that he was forced to rely on what Barnes had displayed in the Reds-Highlanders match in Townsville a year earlier in choosing him as understudy to five-eighth Steve Larkham.
Barnes at the time was so thunderstruck by his selection that he giddily announced he would be happy just to act as water boy for the side.
As it happened, he was required to play a somewhat more substantial role after Larkham was ruled out of the crucial pool match against Wales with the knee injury that ended his Test career.
The youngster made a hero of himself at Millennium Stadium, kicking a crucial field goal and setting up a dazzling try for Stirling Mortlock, but all too easily he might never have been selected.
So worried about Barnes was Connolly that on the eve of announcing his cup squad, he went out to Ballymore to watch him in action and came away excited by what he had seen - from another player.
On the day, Barnes was completely outplayed by Sunnybank five-eighth Ben Lucas and, for one brief moment, Connolly actually considered selecting him instead. Who knows, based on what Lucas displayed for the Reds at fullback on Saturday night against the Highlanders, it might have been an inspired choice.
Happily for Barnes, Connolly couldn't quite commit himself to such an outlandish leap of faith and so was launched the Test career of a player who would have been Rocky Elsom's vice-captain on last year's Wallabies spring tour had not injury intervened.
The reason for this trip down memory lane is to illustrate just how far Australian rugby has come over the past three years. Back then, in the actual World Cup year, Connolly was scraping to find 30 players capable of representing Australia. Now, more than a year out from the next World Cup, the toughest task his successor, Robbie Deans, faces will be telling worthy contenders they haven't made his 30-man squad for the June inbound Tests.
Even allowing for the fact that such Test regulars as Stephen Moore, Benn Robinson, Sekope Kepu, James Horwill, Stirling Mortlock and Wycliff Palu aren't in the mix because of injury and George Smith because of his retirement from international rugby, some quality footballers still are about to be passed over.
Injuries may have thinned out the front row stocks but there still is arguably more depth in the engine room than Australia has ever previously enjoyed. As the only surviving member of last year's Test front row still standing, Ben Alexander is a certainty, but on which side of the scrum?
If at tighthead, the Test position he occupied for most of last season, then Reds prop Ben Daley comes right into the reckoning at loosehead.
If at loosehead, his Brumbies position, then the choice comes down to his ACT teammate Salesi Ma'afu, discarded NSW veteran Al Baxter or Rebels-bound Red Laurie Weeks.
In Moore's absence, Tatafu Polota-Nau is a certainty at hooker, with Saia Faingaa of the Reds possibly edging out Huia Edmonds on the basis that he started in 10 matches this season, while the Brumbies veteran was limited to some admittedly spectacular appearances off the bench.
Hopefully, Deans has worked his way through whatever problems he has with Nathan Sharpe because the second row is a problem spot and the Force skipper is a rare stand-out there.
Mark Chisholm might be the Test incumbent but his form - like that of the Brumbies generally - has been patchy this year and now might be the time for him to hand over to Dean Mumm.
Palu's injury has robbed the Australian back row of some serious strike power and while Richard Brown nominally is next in line, he is entirely a different player to the Waratahs number eight.
Still, let's use the midweek Barbarians matches to experiment with the likes of Leroy Houston and Ben Mowen and, in the first instance at least, go with Brown and the other back row Test regulars, David Pocock and captain Rocky Elsom.
The Reds' electrifying halves, Will Genia and Quade Cooper, should select themselves, the only question being whether Cooper's suspect defence will see him relegated to the bench, with Barnes running the show at 10, supported by Matt Giteau at 12.
From here on in, it's a nightmare. Outside centre is a race in four - with incumbent Digby Ioane under threat from Rob Horne, Adam Ashley-Cooper and the fast-improving league convert Will Chambers.
But settling on a 13 is a breeze compared with the task of sorting out the back three.
Ioane and Ashley-Cooper are strongly in contention here as well, along with a swag of players who would have waltzed into most Australia teams of the past - Kurtley Beale, Drew Mitchell, Lachlan Turner, James O'Connor, Cameron Shepherd, Peter Hynes and exciting uncapped newcomers Rod Davies and Pat McCabe. So it's with my profound apologies to such outstanding players as Phil Waugh, Stephen Hoiles, Matt Dunning, Turner, Mowen, Mitchell Chapman and a host of others that I present these two sides for consideration, one for the present, one (mostly) for the future.
Test XV: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Ben Daley.
Midweek XV: 15 Peter Hynes, 14 Digby Ioane, 13 Will Chambers, 12 James O'Connor, 11 Rod Davies, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Al Baxter.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225867458356
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Originally Posted by TOCC
