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Ioane could answer need for speed
By Wayne Smith
January 25, 2007
AUSTRALIA'S desperate shortage of speed on the wings could see Western Force flyer Digby Ioane emerge as a World Cup bolter.
But before he can grasp that opportunity he must first learn to wrap his hands around the ball.
The Australia selectors have identified a lack of pace out wide as perhaps the most critical area in which the Wallabies trail New Zealand.
With the possible exception of Lote Tuqiri, none of the six players used on the wing for Australia in Tests last season would match it with All Blacks Doug Howlett, Rico Gear or Joe Rokocoko in a straight speed-burning contest.
That has thrust Ioane, arguably the fastest player in Australian rugby, right into the frame for World Cup selection - if only he can learn to hang onto the ball.
Not since Paddy Batch in the 1970s has Australia possessed such a damaging wing blighted by such poor hands.
"I just seem to drop the ball," conceded Ioane after the Force's captain's run for tonight's trial against Manu Samoa at Perth's Members Equity Stadium.
"I know it sounds obvious that you've got to look at the ball in order to catch it but that's what I've got to focus on."
Intensive catching drills under Force assistant coach John Mulvihill and defence coach Tom Fearn have gone a long way to rectifying the shortcoming but the real test will come in the thick of battle when Ioane is faced with the temptation of looking at the gap, not the ball.
Speed of a slightly different kind will come under the microscope when blindside flanker Dean Mumm and Australia A halfback Josh Valentine are given their chance in the NSW Waratahs' trial against the Crusaders at Aussie Stadium tonight.
NSW coach Ewen McKenzie yesterday rated Mumm, still uncapped at Super 14 level, as the fastest back five forward in the country behind Australia utility Hugh McMeniman, the 196cm, 109kg 23-year-old capable of covering 40m in 5.2sec.
Although Mumm will cover for rested Wallaby Rocky Elsom at blindside flanker, his neat packaging of speed, height and bulk could yet see emerge as a solution to the Waratahs second-row problems.
Valentine impressed off the bench for Australia A on the Wallabies' European tour but he will need to make the most of his starting role tonight, particularly with the speed of his service to a near full strength backline, to edge ahead of another tour standout, Brett Sheehan.