Michael Cheika hints at 'horses-for-courses' selection policy at Rugby World Cup
When Alan Jones became Wallabies coach in 1984 one of the first things he did was to end the practice of playing two openside flankers in the Australian back row. Jones’ predecessor Bob Dwyer routinely selected two smallish, mobile flankers in Simon Poidevin and Chris Roche, a precursor to the “Pooper” combination of David Pocock and Michael Hooper, but Jones retained Poidevin at openside flanker and replaced Roche with David Codey, a big ball-carrying, lineout jumping blindside flanker.
With Steve Tuynman at No 8, Poidevin and Codey made up the Wallaby back row in three of the four Tests on the historic 1984 Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland. The exception was Ireland. Anticipating a “dockside brawl” at the breakdown, Jones recalled Roche to partner Poidevin and Tuynman to strengthen the Wallabies’ competitiveness on the ground.
It was a classic example of a horses-for-courses selection, an approach that current Wallabies coach Michael Cheika may well adopt at the upcoming World Cup in Japan.
With Pocock’s successful comeback from a calf injury in the secondstring Wallabies’ unconvincing 34-15 win against Samoa on Saturday, Cheika must decide whether to revert to the “Pooper” combination or continue with the more conventional back row of Hooper, blindside flanker Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and No 8 Isi Naisarani.
When asked about which way he will go with the back row after the Samoa game, Cheika was coy. “I’ve got a few options,” he said. “I’m not giving away too much. We may go horses for courses.”
Whether Cheika is seriously considering going down that road, as Jones did in 1984, or not is open to debate. Conventional wisdom suggests that a coach should select the best team and stick with it for continuity and cohesiveness. But if Cheika was indeed thinking of a horses-for-courses selection policy at the World Cup, there will certainly be some scope for that approach in Japan as there was in Britain and Ireland in 1984.
This World Cup is expected to be the most open in the history of the tournament, but the main contenders will be very different in style. England, Ireland and Wales will be setpiece orientated, while Scotland, like Ireland in 1984, will engage in a “dockside brawl” on the ground. Intriguingly, the All Blacks have adopted their own version of the “Pooper” combination this year playing two opensides, Sam Cane and Ardie Savea, together in the back row along with No 8 Kieran Read.
Does Cheika play the Wallabies’ bigger back row for the games against northern hemisphere opposition and unleash “Pooper” against the All Blacks and maybe Scotland? If he decides to go with only one openside, who is it? Hooper or Pocock? What approach would work best against South Africa and Argentina, who are different yet again? And who knows what the French will do?
Cheika hinted that he may also consider a horses-for-courses approach in relation to the Wallabies’ halves with Nic White and Christian Lealiifano, and Will Genia and Bernard Foley forming two distinct partnerships that could slot in and out of the starting team. White and Lealiifano are expected to start in the opener against Fiji at Sapporo on 21 September with Genia and Foley doing little to advance their cause in the Samoa game.
A horses-for-courses approach may also apply to the back three, particularly fullback, to ensure the Wallabies are safe under the high ball. Kurtley Beale can be susceptible to the high ball, which may influence Cheika to include Dane Haylett-Petty somewhere in the back three when the Wallabies are likely to face an aerial bombardment. The coach could even consider swapping the outside-centre, depending on the opposition. If he wanted an attacking No 13, he could go with James O’Connor, but if he required a more defensive outside-centre, he might opt for Adam Ashley-Cooper.
The options are seemingly limitless, but combinations are important in any team sport, especially rugby, and Cheika would be wise not to over-do it. At the moment the only teams the Wallabies are certain to play are those assigned with them to Pool D – Fiji, Georgia, Uruguay and Wales. Australia must beat Fiji and Wales back-to-back to secure a more favourable draw in the knock-out stages, which means Cheika will select the best team for those first two games, but that does not necessarily mean it will be the same team.
The loose, unstructured Fijians will provide a contrast in style to the tighter, more conventional Welsh, offering Cheika the opportunity for a dynamic approach. Would he consider starting Hooper at openside flanker in an open, free-flowing match with Fiji and Pocock at No 7 in a more physical and attritional game against Wales? Whichever way he goes, Cheika will need to pick the right horses for the right courses if the Wallabies are to have any chance of repeating the success of 1984.