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Today at 12:38 PM International
by Beth Newman
Adam Coleman is the leader of the Wallabies’ new second row generation, a group that will be heavily tested by Scotland on Saturday.
Coleman, Sam Carter, Rory Arnold and Lukhan Tui have just 34 Tests combined, with Carter leading the way with 14, though 11 of those came in 2014.
With their selections over former Test mainstays Kane Douglas and Rob Simmons for this series, change has clearly been signaled.
Coleman leads the way for the Wallabies in this year, the lineout caller and lead aggressor and it’s a position that he wears well.
“I’m rally feeling positive and really enjoying the new responsibilities and some of the other guys have stepped up and it’s amazing,” he said on Sunday.
The Wallabies will be looking to up their lineout this week. Photo: RUGBY.com.au/Stuart WalmsleyCheika described the side’s set piece performance as a six-out-of-10 against Fiji, a rating that will need to improve against a Scotland team with forward fire power.
Though the Lions series has taken some of the best UK and Ireland talent to New Zealand, Scotland has lost just three players to the four-nation side, meaning the team they bring on Saturday will be formidable.
One half of their towering twin locks will be missing, with Richie Gray ruled out of the series, but Jonny Gray will be up for the challenge.
Coleman is ready for the challenge, keen to make the most of his second chance to face Scotland, after a knee injury in Edinburgh last year cut his first opportunity short.
“Scotland are a very quality side, as shown when we played at Murrayfield,” he said.
“They’ll look to come over her eand take it to us here in Sydney. They’re a good physical pack and they love to throw the ball around so we’ll look to take them on up front.
Scotland arrived in Sydney on Sunday, coming off a but 34-13 win over Italy in Singapore, and it was their attacking play that looked to have added an extra dimension in that clash, Cheika said.
:They’re looking to play quite sharp, a lot of attacking kicks, even small things like pretending to go for touch and taking a quick tap and running, little things that (mean you’ve) got to stay on the job all the time,” he said.
“Then they’ve got the other side where they can play it tight and play a mauling game and things like that.
“It’s going to be a really good workout for us – we’re going to be tested everywhere.
“A young group of players, they’re going to have to step up from what we did last weekend and we’d expect that too.”
Cheika has flagged the possibility of change for the weekend, though that seems like it would be a handful at most, with the Test coach open to the idea of Stephen Moore returning to the starting team.
“Maybe (he could start). We haven’t had a look at the game in detail et but we’ll just see,” he said.
“We’ll consider everyone again for selection. Raw slate and we’ll just go from there.”
Cheika was happy with Moore’s dynamic with Michael Hooper on Saturday, with the latter controlling the on-field proceedings.
: Michael stayed in charge when Stephen went out there because he had the flow of the referee , who I thought was very good last night too,” he said.
“I thought that dynamic was good and they managed it themselves pretty well and that’s how they should be doing it really.
“They’ve been leading the team for a while together.”
http://www.rugby.com.au/news/2017/06...coleman-cheika
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Might Coleman come up against Carmichael this weekend?
With Richie Gray injured, the Scots alternatives to partner Jonny Gray are: Tim Swinson (serviceable back-up, but ageing), Ben Toolis (brother of Rebels' lock Alex Toolis), and Lewis Carmichael. I wouldn't be surprised to see Lewis on the subs bench, if only to bring him on and lock him into Scottish rugby.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
If they want the scrum to improve they need to select a loosehead prop who weighs more than 100kgs. Tom Robertson was giving a 30 kgs advantage to the Fijian tighthead. Plus, Robertson gave away 3 crucial penalties while we were in their 22 hot on attack.
The lineout mauls were hamstrung by this silly new tactic of having the lifter/blockers staying upright through the initial contact. This resulted in 3 of our 8 forwards being caught upright as they landed leaving us only 5 forwards to drive against their 8 forwards. It is ridiculous that an International forward pack gets this so wrong so often. Body height mofos!
Third tactic creeping in that shits me is the use of a back in the 5 metre channel at lineouts, especially when only 5 metres out from the goal line. This leaves you exposed in 2 ways. Firstly, it leaves an inexperienced defender trying to stop front of lineout moves who is also often outweighed by the players running at them. Hookers have spent their whole career defending here. Why change this? It also leaves your backline one specialist defender short. Against the Highlanders the Force put their fullback, Morahan, into this channel. The Highlanders took off the top ball and put in a cross fiels kick that they almost scored off. This left our winger exposed. Who else would have been there to defend this kick? Our fullback. But he was in defending a lineout? The Wallabies tried the same with Quade Cooper defending at hooker at a lineout. The Fijians saw this all pulled a front of lineout move that nearly scored.
When 5 metres out defending a lineout, why do we need to put guys into positions they are not conditioned to defend in? These guys have spent years learning the intricacies of a position only to be shifted out of position to defend our line. Just seems crazy to me. I mean, would you go in for heart surgery only for a neurosurgeon to take over last minute? Would you send an ambulance to put out a fire?
It will be great to see Lewis get on and have a crack and became an international test lock representing a proud country. He has been great for us this year and stepped up when we needed the tall timber.
Generally speaking you aren’t learning much if your lips are moving!!!
Coleman should boycott the game until he gets a cast iron guarantee that the Force will not be cut!!
(That was tongue in cheek for those who are a bit slow on the uptake or who just like having a crack at me....)
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
Scotland would be mad not to have Lewis C in the frame.. Coleman calling and Lewis listening.. Calls will be different but Lewis surely can translate a bit.. Line outs could be very interesting .. Also would be great to see 5 Force players on the field at once..
There's a moose loose about this hoose!