ROBBIE Deans talks to Iain Payten about the Test season ahead, the rise of young guns Kurtley Beale, James O’Connor and Quade Cooper and the quest to win the William Webb Ellis cup

IT is the first Test in a huge year for the Wallabies. What sort of things do you hope to achieve against Samoa next Sunday with the short run-in to the World Cup?

You approach every Test match looking for achievement. The expectations are always there wearing the national jersey.

That’s as it should be, regardless of the circumstances around the game. In terms of the Test against Samoa, it will be important that we begin to put in place the structures we want to use. By that, I mean it’s like working on a building. This is the starting point, where we want to lay the foundations.

There are always other goals within that process, but beginning to put in place our overall structure is probably the biggest thing, outside of producing a performance worthy of the Wallabies jersey.

The Samoans will give you the physical Test you will be looking for. Are they an ideal first Test rival given you kick off the Tri-Nations a week later against the Springboks?

The Pacific Islands teams – whether it be Fiji, Tonga or Samoa – always guarantee you a physical workout.

Sometimes they can be unpredictable, but the dynamics usually change with the island teams in Rugby World Cup years. This is the time when all of their predominantly northern hemisphere-based players are available, as they all aspire to feature in the World Cup.

And you can see that with this Samoan team: most of them have played Super Rugby, so they know what they are getting into, they have good background on our players, and they won’t be intimidated playing at ANZ Stadium.

They’re also coming off games against Japan and Fiji in the Pacific Nations Cup, so they have far more preparation time together as a group than we have. I suppose one thing I can say is that I know a fair few of them – I coached about half a dozen of them at the Crusaders, and coached against most of the rest of them in Super Rugby.

Are you looking to field your strongest? Do you want to have the majority of a World Cup 22 playing together as soon as possible?

Certainly we will field a strong side and one that we have every confidence will represent the country well. In terms of what our "strongest’’ side is, that will be determined by performance during the coming weeks.

Obviously everyone has their ideas as to what that combination might be now, as we do as selectors, but these invariably change as events unfold. All of the players are coming off an extended Super Rugby season, which has added its challenges with the inevitable injuries, some short term, some longer, so that will obviously influence what out playing line-up is.

So, too, will the wash-up from Super Rugby final, in terms of how our Queensland representatives have come through that. We will assess each case, in terms of all of the players, individually and work out our combination from there.

The Queensland Reds played in the final and the Waratahs also made the play-offs. How important is that for a Test coach, and if so, in what areas do you see the benefits?

It’s of huge benefit as we have all seen that play-off matches are the closest thing, in terms of intensity, to Test matches.

There’s no tomorrow and I think you have seen that with the way those matches have played out in recent weeks. Prior to this year, New Zealand and South Africa have had a major preparation advantage over Australia, in terms of the additional pressure their players were exposed to in play-off rugby through their domestic competitions.

The expansion of Super Rugby to two full rounds of local derbies is the best thing that has happened to the domestic Australian game in recent times.

Kurtley Beale has the potential to be a star of this World Cup. Do you agree and how important is it that he finds his rhythm in the lead-up matches?

Certainly, Kurtley has X-factor. We saw that last year through our Test program, and we’ve seen it again this season with the Waratahs.

He was outstanding towards the back end of Super Rugby and I know he is looking forward to donning the Wallaby jersey again.

The key for Kurtley, as it is for all of our group, is to keep working hard, and take nothing for granted. It’s the hard work and dedication to the little things that matter which have taken Kurtley to this position, in terms of the level of his game. Only more hard work will continue to see him grow.

The impressive part in the Australian Super Rugby sides has been the emergence of the young Wallabies as leaders in their provinces. What were your thoughts on Kurtley Beale’s influence on the Waratahs?

You are seeing that with all of them in terms of the influential roles that they are playing with their respective teams.

That comes with age, exposure, confidence and maturity in terms of accepting the leadership role, and all that comes with it – and embracing it. Kurtley is a great example of this, in terms of settling at fullback and taking on the goalkicking, James (O’Connor) and Quade (Cooper) also James O’Connor did likewise at the Force.

Are you happy to see those guys really keen to step into leadership roles, even at such young ages?

They might be young, age-wise, but if you look at the likes of O’Connor and Cooper especially; they’ve both played a fair few Test matches.

James had played more Test matches than Super Rugby games when this year started. So they have done the miles, learned the lessons and, most importantly, earned the respect of both their team-mates and their opponents.

Your old mate Wayne Bennett talks about belief being the key to success in State of Origin and World Cups. Do the Wallabies have the belief they can go all the way?

Once again, ultimately this will be judged retrospectively, but I would like to think that we are trending well. We completed the back end of last year with wins over both South Africa and the All Blacks in dramatic games that we would not have won if the players didn’t have belief.

Both wins were also achieved on foreign soil, which has not always been a historical strength of ours.

The Wallabies’ 40-man squad is announced today. Is the World Cup 30-man squad drawn from that exclusively, or will others be able to squeeze their way in?

We have taken a two-pronged approach to selection, which is one reason why we’ve opted for a squad of 40. That number allows us to include some players who won’t be ready to play straight away, due to injury, but who we wanted to get started with in terms of being exposed to our methodology, strategies and so forth.

The door is definitely not closed. We will be keeping a close eye on players through club rugby, as we always have . . . the blokes selected today will get the first opportunity in the jersey, but I can guarantee you that none of them will be taking anything for granted.

Only 30 players can go to the World Cup, so some good ones are going to miss out.

Easy question to finish. On October 24, will you have a spare seat booked on Qantas’ Auckland-to-Sydney flight for a shiny passenger named Bill?

I wouldn’t say booked, but I’m sure that Qantas – being the fabulous sponsors of the Wallabies that they are – would find a space for him.