The Wallabies team I would pick to beat the French

After two rounds of the new Trans-Tasman Super Rugby competition, 10 matches, we have failed to win one of them.

Andrew Slack tackles Philippe Sella, the prince of centres, at the SCG in 1986

The good news is the French are coming.

The sad news? After two rounds of the new Trans-Tasman Super Rugby competition, 10 matches, we have failed to win one of them, and our champion team, Queensland, lost at home to the Crusaders 63-28.

The figures give little comfort. So far, the New Zealand teams have scored more than 30 tries and amassed more than 200 points; we have scored fewer than 100 points.

So the question must be asked: is the Trans-Tasman competition helping or hindering Australian rugby?

The answer is an emphatic: helping. It’s waking us up.

All we have to do is lift the quality of our game. We have the players. It is how we are asking them to play that is crippling us.

What more incentive is needed to play well with a French Test series coming up in July? We haven’t hosted France at the SCG since June 21, 1986, when I was in charge of the Australian team and France were Five Nations champions.

Back then, the French pack was led by their hooker and captain, Daniel Dubroca, essentially a third prop. In fact, Pierre Berbizier, their scrum half, threw the ball into the lineout.

By scrummaging with three props, the French didn’t bother to hook the ball, they just tried to power over the scrum feed.

Behind the tight five were the big and nasty Eric Champ and Laurent Rodriguez in the back row. These blokes looked like cowboy villains in a spaghetti western.

In the backline, the mercurial Philippe Sella and Serge Blanco were formidable strike players, piloted by the gifted fly-half Jean-Patrick Lescarboura, known as “Monsieur Le Drop”, after he kicked three drop goals against England in 1985.

Sella was the prince of centres; Blanco was majestic, a free running fullback known in France as the Pele of rugby. They were a real handful.

We enjoyed a good win, 27-14, in what was a memorable clash.

That same French team went on to defeat the All Blacks on November 15, 1986, 16-3, in what has become known as the “Battle of Nantes”. In that match, the All Blacks captain, Wayne “Buck” Shelford, had four teeth knocked out and his scrotum shredded from vigorous French rucking. The Shelford story has become rugby folklore.

The current French team are equally as gifted as their 1986 counterparts. Their captain and scrum half Antoine Dupont is easily the best player in Europe and has just led Toulouse to another European Championship; and his club team are definitely on track for the French and European Trophy double.

Les Bleus will be a massive challenge for the 2021 Wallabies. So, who should we pick and why?

Rugby Australia needs to abandon Giteau’s Law and select the best Australian players wherever they are playing in the world.

We have a serious player such as Will Skelton playing in the French Top 14 right now and he is keen to play for the Wallabies.

Having a player such as Skelton, who has just played in a European Cup final for La Rochelle against Toulouse, will give the Wallabies valuable information about French lineout and scrum play. These small details make a difference in a Test series.

The front row must be built around Taniela Tupou at tight head. Ask Tupou who else he wants with him in the front row. I always asked the players who they thought would be the best choices because the players want to win.

I didn’t always agree. But they certainly knew that I valued their viewpoint. The hookers and loose heads will have to keep auditioning.

In the second row, combine the talented young Trevor Hosea with the vastly experienced Skelton.

In the back row, against France, we need three big men, Rob Valetini, Harry Wilson and Sean McMahon. McMahon is currently playing in Japan.

Against a big French pack, I’m not sure there is room for a “fetcher” to start the game; I would pick an open-side flanker on the bench and bring him into the game in the second half. That would leave Michael Hooper, the incumbent captain, on the bench.

In the halves, keep the Queensland connection together. Tate McDermott is a try scorer and, close to the line, there is none better. At Number 10, James O’Connor would be my captain and main ballplayer. He received a bit of a “touch up” last weekend against Richie Mo’unga, but he will bounce back.

In the centres, recall Samu Kerevi, the former Queensland captain now playing in Japan. The French have a powerhouse centre in Virimi Vakatawa; Kerevi would look after him. Beside Kerevi take the youngster Hunter Paisami, who has had a breakout year for Queensland.

In the back three, I would build everything around Tom Banks. I saw him when I coached the Barbarians. I thought then that he was something special.

There are plenty of wing options with Jordan Petaia and Marika Koroibete, but if Suliasi Vunivalu keeps improving, he could start on the wing ahead of Koroibete.

We will need a big and well-drilled outfit against the French, who may not be at full strength in the first Test due to Covid restrictions for those French players involved in the Top 14 final in late June.

This will be a brutal three Test matches in 10 days. Squad depth will be very important.

But nothing will be more important than how we play with the football. If every time we get it, we run as far as we can and go to the ground, then we may as well stay in bed.

Talent will not be a problem; winning ball will not be a problem.

The one drawback, I would argue, in the way we play the game, is the total preoccupation with what I always thought was a foolish strategy, “pick and drive”.

In racing, if the jockey goes to the ground, the horse is disqualified. In boxing, if your opponent hits the deck, he’s counted out. In rugby, as in racing and in boxing, you are not worth two bob on the deck.

I hope we don’t have to learn that lesson again against France.