Bledisloe Cup: Wallabies planning has to be admired as World Cup in Japan comes fully into view

The results may not show it just yet but there is a sensible plan behind the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship campaign. And it’s all aimed at the biggest prize of all, says Jim Tucker.

James O'Connor has a big part to play on Saturday night.

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Whatever the result of the Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth, coach Michael Cheika and his new co-selectors are showing a shrewdness in assembling the Wallabies that wasn’t anywhere near as obvious during the haphazard 2018 campaign.

There are selection themes, sensible experiments, partnerships being advanced, workloads being wisely managed and a big picture for the Rugby World Cup in Japan that has to be encouraging.

There’ll be critics ready to throw out the standard line, “What Test matches have you been watching you balding drop kick?”, but there is a clear whiff that there is some sensible planning to this Wallabies’ campaign.

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James O'Connor has a big part to play on Saturday night.

Don’t faint but imagine Cheika playing the same backrow three Tests in a row.

Cheika and co-selectors Michael O’Connor and Scott Johnson have clearly agreed that size does matter which, in rugby terms, means getting over the advantage line before you can even think of playing good, fast attacking rugby with a little sleight of hand.

Playing both 116kg Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and 110kg Isi Naisarani is the sort of clout that the Wallabies backrow has desperately needed around either captain Michael Hooper or David Pocock.

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Both the big boppers are multi-dimensional with ball-carting games and lineout-winning capabilities to start with. Cheika has been trying to get Salakaia-Loto to run in the wide channels, at times, where his athletic size can be a real weapon.

It’s still to pay off but it’s a plan.

Naisarani has moved up a level from Super Rugby to Test footy without missing a beat because he’s still carting the ball forward eight or 10 times a game and still makes ground with two defenders draped over him. His hands are sound and he works. More ticks.

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is sure to prove a handful for the All Black defence.

When David Pocock is fit to play, his first few efforts will be off the bench so his calf gets re-accustomed to match fatigue.

When Cheika won the 2014 Super Rugby title with the NSW Waratahs, he had bruisers like Jacques Potgieter, Will Skelton, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu and Wycliff Palu carting the ball over the ad-line and imposing themselves. It was essential to his style of play.

In the backline in Perth, there’s a World Cup tease or two as well plus big themes that certain players are a lock for World Cup positions.

Samu Kerevi at inside centre, Kurtley Beale at fullback, Marika Koroibete and Reece Hodge on the wings...all have the look of specials to occupy those positions against Fiji when the World Cup gets underway in Sapporo on September 21.

Halfback Will Genia and his super-sharp pass are in the same boat although not starting in Perth.

It’s essential that Nic White get time to sharpen at Test level after four years out of it.

Nic White gets his chance in Perth while Will Genia hits the bench.

He was very good starting against South Africa and less so in his 20 minutes against Argentina when all the reserves were on the field and things were generally a bit less precise.

It’s a smart move to give White more time just as it is to build on Christian Lealiifano’s return to Test rugby.

Lealiifano needs this time in the driver’s seat at No.10.

Bland stats show he has played 20 Tests but 13 of those were in a six-month period in 2013 when he was a secure Test player for the only time in his career.

He’s playing the best rugby of his career but he needs this Test experience as No.1 playmaker against the All Blacks for the first time to be a viable alternative to top gun Bernard Foley at the World Cup.

Another “tick” for the selectors.

Christian Lealiifano is playing the best rugby of his career.

James O’Connor at outside centre is the big one.

Cheika is not the first coach to be bewitched by his versatility and let’s hope this roll of the dice at outside centre isn’t as flawed as Robbie Deans imagining O’Connor was the right No.10 to face the British and Irish Lions in 2013.

O’Connor is chunkier now than he was as a kid so there is clout to some very good front-on defence which was one of Cheika’s first remarks when O’Connor returned to training camp with the Wallabies.

Outside centre is a real hot seat against teams like the All Blacks with so much split-second decision-making in defence needed to take the right man or just keep the integrity of the defensive line, inside and out.

By many measures, it is a step too far for any player with 12 minutes of Test rugby in six years behind him. Equally, your bona fides are clear if you pass the test.

You still have to see the merit in giving O’Connor his chance because the passing limitations of a Kerevi and Tevita Kuridrani centre pairing were glaring.

Tevita Kuridrani charges into the Argentina defence two weeks ago in Brisbane.

Still, Kerevi-Kuridrani is a smash-it-over-the-ad-line pairing so the reasoning had merit.

O’Connor may be able to get classy touches in attack to create more for Kerevi, Hodge and Koroibete and that has to be a good thing.

A player who can run at full tilt and pass well, left and right, is an asset.

Enough of the pondering. Let’s get this Test started.