Cheika set to unleash Pocock on unsuspecting park footy players
Michael Cheika will resist the temptation to throw David Pocock in the Bledisloe cauldron as he desperately searches for a way to get his World Cup weapon on the field.
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Throwing Wallaby weapon David Pocock into a Test against the All Blacks as his first rugby in five months would be crazy and risk his entire World Cup campaign.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika must get creative and find him a run in Sydney with a club he’s never played for instead to test the most famous calf in Australian rugby.
The prized flanker finally ran at full tilt on his troublesome calf in Brisbane late last week to suggest a return to the field is imminent.
Club season calendars are conspiring against him with home town Canberra and Brisbane both starting semi-finals on Saturday.
Only in Sydney’s Shute Shield are there regular season club games on Saturday for Pocock to play 20 minutes off the bench as a guest player with a non-finals club if he’s ready that soon.
The frantic, brutal cauldron of a Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth on Saturday week or Auckland on August 17 is no place to jog into a bit of match fitness as a comeback.
He may play like a muscular Superman at the breakdown but his repairing body is like anyone else’s when stressed too soon at that intensity.
Cheika has already proved a master string-puller in getting World Cup candidates game time.
The Queensland Rugby Union agreed to a special request for young comeback centre Jordan Petaia to flip to Sunnybank for a strong cameo last Saturday to test his foot when his own club Wests had a bye.
The improving Wallabies must still go up several gears from the 16-10 win over Argentina at Suncorp Stadium last Saturday to imagine beating an All Blacks side even minus the world’s top lock Brodie Retallick (dislocated shoulder).
Cheika is upbeat that Pocock is closing in on a return date.
“I can’t tell you (exactly) right now but he ran at full speed last week, we’ll see how he recovers and how he works through this week off (for other players),” Cheika said.
Cheika has used 29 players across two Tests in a blitz of World Cup auditions for combinations and individual players like flyhalf Christian Lealiifano.
New No.8 Isi Naisarani’s two strong ball-carting games have earned him a World Cup spot, one of Marika Koroibete’s best Tests has locked up his wing role, Kurtley Beale has found his home as a playmaking fullback and Lealiifano will be the flyhalf alternative to Bernard Foley.
Beating the All Blacks is paramount but whether the line-up for Perth and Auckland is the Wallabies’ absolute best XV is to be debated by the three selectors.
“The objective (winning) is pretty clear but there may still be a place for guys who haven’t played as yet because there are a bunch like Allan Alaalatoa, Adam Coleman, Poey, Adam Ashley-Cooper and others,” Cheika said.
Cheika was happy with Lealiifano’s first outing as a starting Test flyhalf.
“He positioned people, he took it to the line well, he defended well...I thought he was very, very solid,” Cheika said.
Replacement inside centre James O’Connor didn’t touch the ball in attack yet his 12-minute comeback, after 2142 days since his last Wallabies’ Test, was invaluable.
“He didn’t do much but I just wanted him out there to get the nerves out...I can see him playing a big part for us down the track,” Cheika said.
From a player’s viewpoint, Lealiifano is valued more highly than just as the playmaker who set up his team’s only try and kicked four-from-four.
“The aura about him, the buzz he brings to the team, is second to none,” said centre Samu Kerevi.
“The resilience he’s shown through what he’s gone through to get back on the pitch (by beating leukaemia) is inspiring because at one stage he just wanted to have a normal life.
“Seeing his little one (three-year-old son Jeremiah) running around the hotel was just a really happy scene for the team.”
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