Wallabies ready to take it up to Kiwis
the problem on Thursday at training. His place in the second row was taken by Rory Arnold and 21-year-old Queenslander Izack Rodda was called on to the bench for a likely Test debut.
Cheika played down the loss of Coleman, but captain Michael Hooper conceded the absence of one of their best players was a “blow”.
The All Blacks seem more concerned about blows coming from the fists of their opponents after captain Kieran Read admitted they had spoken about how to handle an outburst of aggression and niggle.
Last year the Wallabies turned up the physicality in the second Test in Wellington after getting smashed by 34 points a week earlier in Sydney.
“It’s been through our minds, we’ve got to expect it,” Read said about Australia repeating those tactics.
“We’ll adapt to whatever comes our way. If we can go out there and try and play our game and play it fair, play it clean, and play it really hard, a lot of that extra stuff doesn’t come into the game.”
Arguably the most serious incident in Wellington was the alleged eye gouge by Owen Franks on Kane Douglas, but the All Black escaped a charge.
Cheika played down the prospect of the Wallabies employing a plan to niggle at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
“If you look closely at every game, there’s plenty of that going on from both sides. Sometimes she heats up and sometimes it’s going too fast to even heat up,” he said.
Coleman prides himself on setting the tone for the pack and Cheika wants all “15 players” to answer the call in offsetting the injured forward’s absence while Hooper backed Arnold to step up to the plate.
“In Super Rugby he does that week-to-week and we need that transition with Adam out, to come in there and fill that, not huge void, but definitely something that Adam prides his game on is that physical side, especially around the ruck,” he said. SIX days ago, Helensvale went within a whisker of crashing out of the Gold Coast Rugby Union semi-finals. Now they’re in the box seat to charge into the big dance.
The Hogs scraped through their knockout final against Bond Pirates 20-17, only after the latter had been heartbroken when a try that would have handed them the lead with two minutes on the clock was disallowed.
All that remains in Helensvale’s path to a grand final appearance against Surfers Paradise is a battered and bruised Colleges outfit.
The archrivals will go headto-head from 3pm today at Pizzey Park in a repeat of last year’s preliminary final that the Knights stole in a 27-23 nailbiter.
Despite placing lower on the ladder, the Hogs are favourites to turn the tables this time around.
Colleges have lost six key men from last weekend: Connor Pritchard, Caleb Kingi, Matthew Blair, Sepeti Junior Afu and Blake Griffin (all injured) plus prop Josh Wood has been suspended.
Helensvale have lost captain Isaiah Pine (broken hand) but have Sean Finigan – back from travelling abroad – as a readymade replacement at No.8.
His older brother Steven Finigan also returns on the bench, as does second-rower Andrew Cunneen who has overcome a broken finger.
Both coaches have talked up their chances of victory.
“We’ve got a bit of depth in the club and we will put out a very competitive team,” Knights mentor Graham Herlihy said. “Last year we rose to the occasion when we were raging underdogs.”
Hogs coach Mark Dobson added: “The biggest learning from last year is that we turned up at Colleges and we didn’t play our best footy so it is about turning up, having the right mindset and delivering a game that is excellent to get the result that we want.
“Certainly I have got selfbelief in the team that they are ready for a big game and to beat Colleges.”
The honours have been shared in the last two meetings between the sides, both of which have been decided by seven points or less.