Predictable Phipps on borrowed time as a Wallaby

He is the heart and soul of Michael Cheika’s Wallabies but Nick Phipps is on borrowed time unless he can reinvent his game.

Wallabies halfback Nick Phipps in action against England at Allianz Stadium

He is the heart and soul of Michael Cheika’s Wallabies but halfback Nick Phipps is on borrowed time unless he can radically reinvent his game.

Phipps has endeared himself to the Wallabies coach with his astonishing workrate and utter fearlessness but he was exposed as a potential liability to the side because he lacks a running game. All through the England series he did sterling work by getting from breakdown to breakdown to clear the ball but he became so predictable that the defence could virtually take it for granted he would not trouble them with a darting run from the ruckbase.

During his time at the Melbourne Rebels attempts were made, unsuccessful attempts, to add some variety to his game but when he returned to NSW, his passing game neatly fitted into Cheika’s high-energy, ball-in-hand game which he then carried over into the Wallabies.

“He’s not a running threat,” said former Wallabies coach John Connolly. “England were awake to that. It may be that team tactics were to blame, so Phipps might not be entirely at fault but he’s just adding to the pressure on (five-eighth) Bernard Foley.”

Certainly Connolly has reservations about the quality of both the Australian halves, pointing out that the Phipps-Foley combination falls a long way short of Nick Farr-Jones-Michael Lyangh pairing or George Gregan-Steve Larkham. But with Will Genia returning from France for the Rugby Championship, he believes it is Phipps who has the slipperiest grip on selection.

“The problem is, though, that Genia has not played much football for Stade Francais because of a knee injury so we’re going to need another halfback.”

Queensland Reds’ halfback Nick Frisby was Phipps’ understudy through the three-Test series but does not seem to have won Cheika’s support. He was used for only two minutes in Brisbane, 11 minutes in Melbourne and failed to come off the bench at all in Sydney. But in the time he was on the field, he struggled to keep pace with the game and if there is one thing Cheika needs, it is a highly-mobile halfback. The irony is, however, that Frisby definitely has a running game and is a genuine threat in the transition zone.

The Brumbies’ uncapped Joe Powell was the bolter of the Wallabies squad when it first assembled but the former apprentice carpenter wasn’t required for the Test series and he still has not logged an hour of Super Rugby game time.

It may well be that the Melbourne Rebels’ Nick Stirzaker will benefit from having no involvement at all in the Cook Cup series. Certainly his form prior to the break for the June Test window did not warrant selection but there were signs in the Rebels’ last match, against the Force, that he was starting to find his form again.

He now faces a critical three-week period in his career, with the Rebels finishing with matches against the Stormers at AAMI Park on Saturday, the Crusaders (in Christchurch) and the Reds (at Suncorp Stadium) this season.

Whether he plays them in company with five-eighth Jack Debreczini — who was also tipped to come into Wallabies calculations at the start of the season — remains to be seen.

He has reportedly put in some impressive work in training in recent week but Rebels coach Tony McGahan also has Mike Harris available to play five-eighth.

It’s a match that Cheika will take a keen interest in, with Reece Hodge to play inside centre. Although he remained with the Wallabies until the week of the Third Test, Hodge was not used in the series. But Cheika indicated a Test debut might be in Hodge’s immediate future.

“I didn’t want to throw Hodge in just yet. I thought he did really well in camp when he was there but I didn’t want to put that heat on him right now.”