Brumbies and Reds channel spirit of 1999 to prop up Wallabies
After just two rounds of Super Rugby AU it appears Wallabies coach Dave Rennie will need to emulate the 1999 Australian side if he is to build a competitive team for the 2023 World Cup in France.
The Wallabies’ World Cup-winning team was built largely on two Super Rugby franchises – the Brumbies and the Queensland Reds – who provided the leadership of John Eales and George Gregan. The Brumbies gave the Wallabies nous and flair, the Reds class and raw-boned physicality.
Australia’s third side, the Waratahs, were relatively minor contributors to the World Cup cause with only three NSW players – Matt Burke, Andrew Blades and Richard Harry – in the Wallabies’ run on side that beat France 35-12 in the final in Cardiff. The rest were Brumbies and Reds.
Similarly, the Brumbies and the Reds are shaping up to form the hard core of the Wallabies squad this year and beyond.
Names such as Allan Alaalatoa, Taniela Tupou, James O’Connor, Nic White, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, Hunter Paisami, Scott Sio, Tom Wright, Noah Lolesio and Jordan Petaia will no doubt already be high on Rennie’s list of Test candidates. Rugby league convert Suliasi Vunivalu has also put himself in the frame with just one stunning kick chase in his Super Rugby debut.
The Brumbies and Reds contested last year’s final and are the only unbeaten teams so far this season. The competition looks like becoming a twohorse race, although there is a caveat on the Melbourne Rebels, who began the season a week later understrength and underdone.
The Western Force are turning into a foreign legion, while it will probably take the Waratahs three years to rebuild their “shattered” team, which has suffered back-to-back record losses to the Reds and then Brumbies.
After methodically disposing of the Force in Perth in the opening round the Brumbies dismembered the Waratahs 61-10 in Canberra on Saturday night.
As usual, the Brumbies were clinical and efficient. They employed their trademark rolling maul to great effect, but also used the width of the field with winger Mack Hansen scoring a hattrick.
Brumbies coach Dan McKellar was most pleased about the fact his side showed a ruthless streak, but they were up against a Waratahs side from which few, if any at all, would make the Wallabies starting line-up.
There has been speculation about the future of Waratahs head coach Rob Penney and talk of a boardroom rebellion, but right now NSW needs to urgently revise how they are playing the game. They modified their runat-all-costs strategy which contributed so much to their 41-7 defeat in Brisbane, but still lacked the skill and talent to match their over-reaching ambition
with the ball in hand.
The only way the Waratahs will regain self-confidence is to win, even if that is by any means necessary. If the Waratahs lose to the Force in Parramatta on Friday night, it will be very difficult for them to recover this season.
The Rebels showed the Waratahs the way when they pushed the Reds to the brink by playing a limited game that revolved around pressuring Queensland into making mistakes and accumulating points with penalty goals. It was a conservative approach, but it suited where the Rebels were currently at with injuries to key players and coming off a bye in the first round. And it would have worked if Toomua had not missed a last-gasp attempt at penalty goal.
On an upwards growth trajectory, the Reds are a talented team, but they can be tempestuous at times. They will use the bye this weekend to reflect on how they almost allowed the Rebels to upset them before taking on the Brumbies in Canberra next week.
The Brumbies will be full of confidence when they host the Rebels on Saturday night, having won 17 of their last 18 home games. But this game is an opportunity for the Rebels to show that Super Rugby AU is not a twoteam competition. The Melbourne side have won five of their last seven games against the Brumbies, although they lost in Canberra last year.
The Rebels showed patience and composure against the Reds, but they will need to do more than that to beat the Brumbies at home.
If they perform well this season, the Rebels could offer a handful of players to the Wallabies’ run-on side, including Toomua, Marika Koroibete, Reece Hodge and Dane Haylett-Petty if fit. But if the Brumbies and the Reds are needed to prop up the Wallabies, it is perhaps comforting to know they have done so before.