Super Rugby clubs won’t change attack to aid Wallabies World Cup campaign
Australia’s Super Rugby teams will not overhaul their attack to suit the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign, as speculation mounts that Michael Cheika is considering a radical overhaul of tactics.
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Australia’s Super Rugby teams will not overhaul their attacking strategies to suit the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign, as speculation mounts that national coach Michael Cheika is considering a radical overhaul of tactics.
After the expansive, lateral style of play failed to yield results last year, it’s understood Cheika is keen to revert to a tighter game plan based around hard running from the base of the ruck, which he deployed successfully when coaching the Waratahs to the 2014 Super Rugby premiership.
Cheika identified a lack of agreement with Wallabies attack coach Stephen Larkham in his post-season review late last year and Larkham was this week sacked from the role.
But Aussie Super coaches will not be looking to imitate any Wallaby game plans into their own systems this year.
NSW coach Daryl Gibson, who was Cheika’s attack coach in 2014, said: “A lot of the decisions around how you play is based on what you’ve got, you look at the 2014 team and if you were offered that forward pack you’d take it in a heartbeat.
“They were some big, bruising men. Every team adapts to what you’ve got on your roster.
“If we can be as good as what we were in attack last season I’d take that, our growth really is in defence, we conceded way too many tries and often too easily.
“We are doing things differently to how Australia want things done, it’s a nice two-way conversation, I believe diversity breeds a really good outcome.”
Brumbies coach Dan McKellar agreed.
“Around core skills there can be alignment around what you’re doing, on the basics of the game, but I think around how one team will defend and one team will attack, that’s where you’ve got to let the coaches coach,” McKellar said.
“I don’t think Michael would expect that of us.”
Meanwhile, Australia’s top players will not be told which Super games they’ll be rested from this year until the last minute in a bid to keep them hungry.
Under a new alignment agreement between the Wallabies and Super teams to aid the national team’s chances at the World Cup in Japan from September, all frontline Test stars will be required to rest from some games this season.
It is a strategy that has been used for many years by the All Blacks.
The Hurricanes have already confirmed that star playmaker Beauden Barrett will not play the season-opening game against the Waratahs at Brookvale Oval on Saturday week as part of the mandatory two-game rest policy this season for All Blacks.
But Super coaches will also keep their cards close to their chest, after lessons learned from New Zealand’s failed policy in 2007 when they rested their best players for the first half of the Super season only to lose in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
“When the All Blacks lost to Marseille in 2007 one of the things that came up in the aftermath was just how the public nature of the resting program affected their performance, because I think what it subliminally says to players is ‘Don’t go full guns here’,” Melbourne coach Dave Wessels said.
“They ended up going to the World Cup not going full steam ahead. So I think the way we’re doing it is right, it’s not particularly public, we’re not telling players ahead of time who is missing what.”
Australia’s Super coaches will also make executive calls that could overrule Cheika’s requests if they feel a particular match is too important for their own campaign for a star player to sit out.
McKellar was the centre of an ugly tug-of-war last year when he was asked to stand down David Pocock, Scott Sio and Allan Alaalatoa from a match against the Sunwolves so they could be fresh for the Test against Ireland.
The Brumbies, facing crowd slumps, rejected the idea and in a compromise played the trio for the first half only.
“The pleasing thing is we’re having conversations, that started back in September/October last year, and we all know the issues we had in 2018,” McKellar said.
“I need the Brumbies to be successful, we need to win football games, it’s a results-based industry.
“We also want the Wallabies to do well at the World Cup so it’s just about that ongoing conversation and understanding that circumstances change, we’ll pencil in dates for players to miss games here or there, but injuries, whatever it might be, we’d be kidding ourselves if we said it’s going to be easy but it’s something we’re on board with.”
Gibson added: “Kurtley Beale played 18 games straight for us last year, 31 total for the year, that’s a big workload for one player, Bernard Foley was very similar so we’ve got to do that better.”
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Originally published as Super Rugby clubs won’t change attack to aid Wallabies World Cup campaign
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