Wallabies woes deepen with injury to Genia
Irish threat spikes as injuries hit key players, reports Georgina Robinson.
A month ago the upcoming Ireland tour was going to be the shot in the arm Australian rugby needed.
Now, with Will Genia sidelined for at least three weeks and Tatafu Polota-Nau all but ruled out, the June test series has the disturbing feel of England 2016.
Remember that one? The Wallabies bossed by England in three test matches on home soil, less than a year after playing in a World Cup final. Coached by one of our own, Eddie Jones, to boot. It was all so traumatic.
In a little over a month, the No2-ranked Irish will be here preparing to do the same and there is every reason to feel bearish about the Wallabies.
Halfback Genia might struggle to be match fit after picking up a low-grade strain to his medial ligament in his left leg during the Rebels’ Friday night loss to the Crusaders. Australia’s dependence on the little man’s leadership and game management may not be as acute as the Rebels’ – the scoreline blew out to 55-10 from 13-10 after Genia was taken off the field – but it is not far off. The injury will cast a pall over Michael Cheika’s weekend as the Wallabies coach runs the rule over his playing stocks.
Compounding the disquiet is that Cheika is now planning to take on Ireland without his most experienced hooker, Tatafu Polota-Nau. It appear Polota-Nau will return to Australia this year, as planned, but be given a break between wrapping up his duties with Leicester and joining the Wallabies for the Rugby Championship.
Add that to a conspicuously short preparation for the first Test in Brisbane and Cheika has some big challenges on his plate.
The Wallabies have known about the time limitations for a long time and have deployed assistants Nathan Grey, Stephen Larkham and Mick Byrne to the provinces throughout the season to try to make up for it. Certainly the systematic familiarisation will help but it is no match for time together as a squad when you are about to take on the Six Nations champions and second best team in the world.
Polota-Nau is a player for whom it is worth playing the long game. The Leicester-based hooker craves a break after a gruelling couple of years and looks certain to sit out the June series with one eye on next year’s World Cup. For so long the Wallabies enjoyed the twin virtues of quality and quantity at hooker, with the NSWNo2 swapping in and out of top billing with his Canberra rival Stephen Moore. Since Moore retired at the end of last year and Polota-Nau flew the coop to the UK Premiership, Cheika has been looking for the next best thing. He found it in Jordan Uelese but the Rebels young gun is now in a race against time to be declared fit after a run of injuries. That leaves the field wide open. The Brumbies’ Folau Faingaa, the Reds’ Brandon Paenga-Amosa and the Waratahs’ Damien Fitzpatrick have plenty to play for over the next few weeks.
The halfback question is equally vexing, not least because Genia turned up in Melbourne and immediately showed his powers had deepened with age rather than weakened. Joe Powell has been on Cheika’s radar at the Brumbies and Jake Gordon looks in no rush to hand back the Waratahs No9 jersey to Nick Phipps but there is a gap to bridge between any of them and Genia.
Australia’s attack coach, Larkham, made it clear last week there would be new faces in the first Wallabies squad of the year, but it’s hard to believe he was planning for so many of them to start. The only mercy could lie in persistent rumours Ireland will bring a B side down under for their summer tour. Where once the suggestion would have been met with outrage, it will be judged less harshly if any more top-line Wallabies drop out of contention. The Sun-Herald GETTY IMAGES