Rugby World Cup: Wallabies to field different starting XVs for opening two pool games
WALLABIES champion turned assistant coach Stephen Larkham has revealed an unprecedented tactic that will be used by Australia at the World Cup.
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THE Wallabies have revealed the tactic driving their World Cup master plan all winter — they’ll field entirely different starting XVs in their opening two pool games.
In an unprecedented selection tactic for Australia at World Cups, assistant coach Stephen Larkham said the Wallabies squad would be split down the middle to deal with the challenge of playing three Tests inside 11 days.
One starting Wallabies side — ostensibly the strongest — will be chosen to play Fiji on September 23, while a second and entirely different XV will run on against Uruguay on September 27.
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Some will cross over on the benches but no starting players from the Wallabies’ “A” side will back up and start against Uruguay as well. They’ll instead begin to turn towards the big clash against England on October 3.
“Once we get over there (to England) it is 10 days before the first game and we are splitting into two teams basically,” Larkham told NewsCorp from the US.
In past World Cups, Wallabies’ teams to play against minnow nations have included many “reserves” but always retained a core of top-team starters. Quade Cooper played in every Test at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Changes to the World Cup fixture list after the 2011 tournament, however, mean Michael Cheika’s Wallabies have had to plan for a four-day turnaround for the first time since 1999.
Tier-2 nations complained about ultra-condensed schedules — Russia played four games in 16 days — while top nations played on weekends for better ratings. The IRB changed the rules in 2013, declaring every team would have a midweek game in 2015.
Cheika’s often confusing decisions over the past two months, it now appears, have been tailored around this change. He named two complete XVs in his 31-man World Cup squad, and all the Rugby Championship changes would seem both a ploy to trial and provide gametime for all. “That awkward start, with a Wednesday game and a Sunday game, we are training as two teams,” Larkham explained.
“We will have one team getting prepped for Fiji while the other team is prepping for Uruguay. One team will, for example, have a captains run on the Tuesday and the other team, that will be their Monday session. It is a tricky week once we get over there so this week in the US will be our last chance to train together until Uruguay.”
Bench impact has been important this year but Larkham said they’d be used sparingly early.
“The plan at this stage is along those lines, trying to give one whole team as much time as possible (against Fiji), and the other team as much time as possible in the other game, so we are not burning the players out,” he said.
Which players make the “A” squad for Fiji remains to be seen, but after months of trialling, Larkham said he now has his preferred halves pairing.
“I am pretty settled, but as a coaching group we still have to discuss it and I am sure there’ll be a little more debate before we decide on the starting side,” he said.
Australia’s victory over the USA on Sunday saw Will Genia stake a claim for halfback but Larkham said Nick Phipps’ first-half effort was mitigated by “sloppy” breakdown work from Wallabies forwards weary and slow to start after a tough “pre-season” week in hot conditions.
“It was an interesting one wasn’t it, because of the way the game panned out first half versus second half. It was two different scenarios for the no. 9,” Larkham said.
“Will did well but he had pretty good conditions compared to the first half ... but yes, that certainly has to get weighed up. It will be a talking point.”
Bernard Foley playing out the game appeared to point towards the steady Waratah no. 10 getting the nod, possibly alongside Phipps, whose up-tempo service suits Cheika’s plans to tire rivals and finish stronger.
“The whole game was Bernard there at no. 10. I think he controlled the game really well and he obviously has combination there (with Phipps),” Larkham said.
The strength of the Wallabies “B” team could prove equally vital to the “A” team, and Australia’s overall chances of progressing through the pool of death. If Australia, Wales and England all record one win and one loss against each other, the for-and-against tallies rattled up against Uruguay and Fiji could determine who makes the quarter-finals.
PAYTEN’S “A” XV
Sio, Moore, Kepu, Mumm, Douglas, Fardy, Hooper, Pocock, Phipps, Foley, Mitchell, Giteau, Kuridrani, Ashley-Cooper, Folau.
PAYTEN’S “B” XV
Slipper, Polota-Nau, Holmes, Skelton, Simmons, McCalman, McMahon, Palu, Genia, Cooper, Tomane, Toomua, Speight, Horne, Beale.
WALLABIES WORLD CUP ROADMAP (AEST)
Thursday 24 September: Wallabies v Fiji, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 1.45am
Sunday 27 September: Wallabies v Uruguay, Villa Park, Birmingham, 9pm
Sunday 4 October: Wallabies v England, Twickenham, London, 6am
Sunday 11 October: Wallabies v Wales, Twickenham, London, 1.45am
Quarter-finals — October 18-19
Semi-finals - October 25-26
Final — November 1
Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Wallabies to field different starting XVs for opening two pool games
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