Don't believe the Beale hype

[Jehna]

Don't believe the Beale hype

By Wayne Smith
February 25, 2008

IT is never easy being an unbeliever. Back in the old days, it was decidedly bad for one's health, what with getting burned at the stake or hanged, drawn and quartered.

But even in more recent times, it has had its hazards as well. After all, if 1993 was a victory for the true believers, what was in it for the rest of us? Three more years of French clocks, Italian suits and recessions we needed to have.

Generally speaking, it's a lot more comfortable to go with the group-think and not buck the system. So it's with great reluctance that I admit I'm not a believer where Kurtley Beale is concerned.

That's not to say that I'm not open to the idea of becoming one or that I have anything against the kid.
Each day I pray that the scales will fall from my eyes and I will see him the way everyone else does, but for the moment, he's just that, a kid, and it seems sheer lunacy to me the amount of hope and hype being dumped on his shoulders.

Being Brisbane-based, I didn't see Beale in his halcyon shoolboy days, but I sure heard about him. Not since Ian Thorpe was about 12 has the Sydney grapevine jangled with such urgent news of a prodigy coming through.

It seemed there was nothing Beale couldn't do on a rugby pitch, no tackle he couldn't break, no defence he couldn't unpick. And given the grapevine got it 100 per cent right about Thorpe, I couldn't wait to get my first glimpse of this apparent Mozart in rugby boots.

He didn't disappoint with that stunning chip-and-chase solo try on debut against the Cheetahs in Kimberley last year. David Campese at his peak would have been proud to claim that one, let alone an 18-year-old having his first run against the big boys.

But that's just it. They are big boys, the professional rugby players doing the rounds in Super 14. And you could almost see what they were thinking: "OK, young fella, that's one to you ... now let's see how you handle it when we run at you."

The fact was and still is that Beale didn't handle it or them well at all. His defence is so shaky that opposing players look for him in the line.

Case in point: Liam Messam running straight at him for the Chiefs' opening try on Saturday. The New Zealand television commentator in Hamilton seemed quite bemused at how much traffic the Chiefs were sending down the 10 channel, not making the connection that they were targeting what they clearly viewed as the weakest link in the sky blue defensive chain.

It soon became clear that Beale has been assigned his own bodyguards on the field, Phil Waugh, Rocky Elsom and Wycliff Palu, to help him cope, but that surely is leaving holes elsewhere.

That's not to say that Beale, with help from New South Wales defence coach Les Kiss, can't become an effective tackler. Defence is, after all, a confidence thing and the 19-year-old has shown that in those areas of his game where his confidence is high, virtually nothing is beyond him.

Meanwhile, Beale has to be hidden or assisted in defence and that's hardly a solid basis for dumping a load of expectations on him.

Now, like an out-of-form batsman who suddenly starts putting down regulation slips catches, lack of confidence in one area of his game is beginning to erode those other elements of his game where Beale excels, which mainly means attack. Against the Chiefs, he threw a sublime pass from a set-piece move for Ben Jacobs' score but then bounced out a shocker late in proceedings that at the very least contributed to the Waratahs bombing another desperately needed try.

They are the sorts of mistakes young players make. No-one at Canberra Stadium was overly dismayed on Saturday night when Josh Holmes, Christian Lealiifano, Anthony Faingaa and Tyrone Smith all had their blooper moments. Given they could only scrape together 10 Super 14 caps between them, it was only to be expected. And, the youngest of that quartet, Lealiifano, is still 18 months older than Beale.

Then there is the goalkicking. What Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie is doing by entrusting it to the youngest player in his side is beyond baffling. Yes, Beale did have one good night with the boot in a pre-season trial, but, at best, that should have earned him no more than the back-up role.

Not since Dustin Hoffman had all the fun being dastardly in that 1991 Peter Pan film have we seen so much hook in so short a space of time. As Johnathan Thurston proves, just because a goalkicker puts savage right-to-left on the ball doesn't have to be a deal-breaker, but where Thurston is on top of his technique, Beale, as former Wallabies kicking coach Ben Perkins puts it, still needs to learn the rules.

"He's got a lot of talent, Kurtley, but that technique of his will not work, especially under pressure," Perkins said. Let's leave it to the two of them to sort their way through the mechanics of his stuttering run-up. For now, goalkicking is another load the youngster should not have to carry and if that means Lote Tuqiri has to take over, golden boots and all, then so be it.

For the moment, Beale should be allowed to progress at his own pace. He may turn out to be what everyone wants him to be, the first truly great player to wear the NSW No.10 jersey since Mark Ella, who was 21 years and 16 days old when he made his Test debut.

But for the moment, Beale is a 12-game Super rugby novice.

The Waratahs' true believers would do well to remember that and keep their expectations and frustrations to themselves.

The Australian

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