IT might not come to anything and Robbie Deans and his fellow selectors might well end up back where they started, but the make-up of the Wallabies side needs to be closely scrutinised before the next Tri-Nations Test against the Springboks.

Halfback, the backrow and the midfield all warrant a cold, dispassionate look before the August 8 Cape Town Test. Tighthead too also would cry out for review, were it not for the fact that Al Baxter indisputably is still the best Australia has to offer in that position.

Deans fast is reaching the point where he will have to decide whether Luke Burgess really is the answer at halfback. If he persists much longer with him, then he will need to commit to him all the way through to the 2011 World Cup. If not, then he needs to act swiftly to give his replacement - presumably Will Genia - time to grow into the role.

Burgess does so much right on the rugby field and never was that better illustrated than in the final seconds of the first half at Eden Park when he tracked back quickly following Stephen Donald's shock linebreak to get his hand in the way of what could well have been the try-clinching inside pass to All Blacks winger Cory Jane.

But his box kicking is laboured and predictable, especially in comparison to the man he marked on Saturday, Jimmy Cowan, and the man he is likely to mark on August 8, Fourie du Preez. Nor is he the running threat he once was when the tap-and-go option flourished during the days of the ELVs.

As for his ever-problematic passing, it was again hit-and-miss against the All Blacks. There was only one reason New Zealand flanker Jerome Kaino was able to charge down Matt Giteau's attempted clearing kick, because the Wallabies five-eighth was forced to pull down a Burgess pass fired well over his head before trying to get boot to ball. It might border on heresy, but with physicality likely to be at a premium against the Springboks, the selectors should at least consider unleashing Phil Waugh at openside flanker.

That's no criticism of George Smith, who turned in a mercurial game against the All Blacks, even if he needed to catch the rocket-like pass Berrick Barnes fired at him from impossibly close range if he had any hope of extracting that wished-for Rolex out of ARU boss John O'Neill.

But with number eight Wycliff Palu still drifting in and out of matches, Richard Brown cleared of a broken foot but struggling with a bad sprain and Rocky Elsom an unlikely starter, the Wallabies either need to stiffen up their backrow or go all-out for speed in the hope of running the big Boks ragged.

The trouble is that it won't be Schalk Burger lumbering after the ball as the South African fetcher, but rookie Heinrich Brussow, a dynamic scrounger in the Smith/Richie McCaw mould.

Still, Kaino was able to boast on Saturday night that the All Blacks won the battle of the breakdown and if they were able to do that with two players, McCaw and Rodney So'oialo making their way back from lengthy injury breaks, then the backrow has become an unexpected problem for Australia.

Similarly, the selectors face a philosophical question in their midfield. Do they commit themselves to two playmakers, with Berrick Barnes at inside centre sharing the first-receiver and tactical duties with Giteau, or do they adopt a horses-for-courses approach and confront the heavyweight South African centres with last year's combination of Stirling Mortlock at 12 and Ryan Cross at 13?

Barnes was subbed early against the All Blacks because of a hip problem, having scored one excellent try, but bombed the one that would have put the game almost out of New Zealand's reach.

Stephen Donald, whose otherwise excellent performance under intense pressure on and off the field was marred by the chargedown that should have led to a second Australian try, admitted he had let out a huge sigh of relief when Barnes, having spurned the option of putting Mortlock over between the posts on a switch play, then accidentally bounced a pass off Smith's forehead.

"How they didn't score from that one, I'm not quite sure," said Donald, voicing pretty much a universal opinion.

Any thoughts the selectors might have entertained of starting 19-year-old James O'Connor in a Tri-Nations Test would have evaporated after his nervy Bledisloe Cup debut on Saturday.
"A great earthing experience for James," Deans deadpanned, no doubt recalling the extravagant praise heaped on the teenager after his three-try starting debut against Italy last month.

That's not to say O'Connor doesn't have what it takes. Giteau himself turned in a similar error-ridden performance on debut against England at Twickenham in 2002 and he has now matured into the most heavily marked player in the world, so a footballer of O'Connor's rare ability should not be discarded after one off-night. But nor should he be rushed.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html