Wallabies need more lateral thinking in selection

Australian rugby needs more imagination in selection and applying Edward De Bono’s lateral thinking is a good start.

Michael Hooper played in Japan while the Waratahs struggled in Super Rugby Picture: Getty Images

Last week the outstanding academic, Edward De Bono, passed away at the age of 88.

He was identified with the concept of “lateral thinking” which, he believed, far outweighed the traditional “vertical thinking” model that limits people and organisations.

De Bono thought tyranny was a world devoid of creative thinking.

He was the supreme advocate for teaching students to think creatively, a big ask in the current system; but what De Bono believed about education, I believe about coaching.

Our best players don’t need to be spoonfed game plans by micromanaging coaches.

Players need to be encouraged to think laterally about the game and to be creative.

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That’s why I believe Scott Robertson’s Crusaders are such a wonderful and successful team.

When you watch the Crusaders play, they win by outsmarting their opponents through innovative rugby and adventurous play.

This was once the case with Australian rugby teams which captured the imagination through spontaneity and letting loose the rugby imaginations of good players.

We have surrendered that to regimented boredom.

Enter the French who have traditionally embodied De Bono’s creative spirit.

To be successful against them, we will need brain power as much as muscle power.

Even though they start the series minus many of their best players, due to quarantine requirements, the French will be a physical and mental challenge.

I thought I might address some of the challenges we will need to overcome and some of the players I would pick to do the job.

Remember, we have outstanding players overseas, so no matter who is picked, it may not be the “best” Australian team.

At the scrum, the French will look for penalties.

We will need a pack that can not only match them upfront, but outperform them around the paddock.

The best front row to do this would be Scott Sio at loosehead, with Brandon Paenga-Amosa at hooker and Taniela Tupou at tighthead.

Tupou is good enough to play for 80 minutes.

But we could inject the lively young Brumbies hooker, Lachlan Lonergan and the dynamic young loosehead prop, Angus Bell late in the contest before, as De Bono would say, they have all of their “best” coached out of them by vertical thinking coaches!

A sad thought.

In the second row, minus the overseas Skelton, we will need two outstanding lineout forwards.

It’s a mystery as to why the experienced line out caller, Izack Rodda has been left out of the squad.

He would be calling the lineouts in my team and he would be partnered by the impressive Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.

The French will look to exert great aerial pressure at the lineout; the locks are critically important.

The French will have multiple lineout jumpers, so I would be picking a back row, (minus the overseas Sean McMahon) to match them in the air, Rob Valetini, Isi Naisarani and Harry Wilson.

It doesn’t matter what numbers they wear.

They all need to jump in lineouts, be mobile around the ground and make some big tackles.

Michael Hooper is not a lineout jumper; and he’s not turning over enough ball at the breakdown to warrant selection.

We need a big pack to match the physicality of the French.

I must say, I am mystified about the coach’s support for Lachie Swinton.

He wouldn’t make my side.

Someone has to tell him there is no room in international rugby for hotheads with zero discipline!

You can’t select a player who is likely to be yellow or red-carded in a Test match; and you can’t win anything with 14 players on the paddock.

In the halves, I would start the game with the experienced Nic White and James O’Connor.

I would then let the very sharp and energetic Tate McDermott loose in the second half, when the big French forwards are tiring.

McDermott is an instinctive player, lethal close to the line, boasting a sniping, running game.

Try scoring halfbacks are worth their weight in gold.

James O’Connor is a maverick at heart and should be encouraged to play with his eyes up and open.

The game needs creative ball players who are prepared to take risks.

My brief to him would be to mix things up, try things and play big.

Don’t be conservative.

In the centres, (no Samu Kerevi, also in Japan) it would be Hunter Paisami and Len Ikitau.

Paisami is a young man of flair and confidence.

His late minute chip and chase in the Reds v Brumbies fixture is an illustration of his self-belief and his desire to step up in the big moments.

He is a gem.

Whoever plays in the midfield with him should just follow his lead.

It’s a shame Izaia Perese is injured, but Len Ikitau is a great running centre.

We have depth in midfield.

Make no mistake, we always have the players.

In the back three, Tom Wright and Tom Banks cover the back and Filipo Daugunu is the winger who can attack on the open side.

He would get the job done.

Banks and Wright are excellent ball runners and have outstanding kicking games, though, we would always prefer counter attack to kicking.

Nonetheless, it’s a Test match, so we will need two fullbacks in defence to cover the kicks.

I have used the De Bono principle in selecting these people.

A couple of final points.

Leaving Izack Rodda out of the squad and naming Michael Hooper as captain is a double standard.

Michael Hooper clears off to Japan halfway through a four-year, $5 million contract with Rugby Australia, while the Waratahs are struggling, and yet is retained as Wallaby captain.

Rodda does essentially the same thing and is told to sit on the ‘naughty step’, when he should be starting in the first Test against France.

De Bono would not be impressed.

Nor would he be impressed with the vertical thinking currently being considered across the game.

Firstly, English rugby is outlawing tackles above the armpits for all teams under 18.

They want players to tackle below the waist, even when most of our concussions are a result of tacklers knocking themselves out by bumping their heads on the hips or knees of ball carriers.

That is not creative thinking.

We should be outlawing below the waist, front-on tackles to reduce tackler concussions.

Secondly, are the Waratahs considering their current defence coach, Jason Gilmore, as a candidate to be the new head coach.

Under Gilmore, the Waratahs have conceded 50 points a game.

If he can’t coach defence, how can he be the head coach?

You don’t have to be Edward De Bono to understand Gilmore should not be the next Waratahs coach.

De Bono believed that lateral thinking creates new ideas.

That’s what this column seeks to do – to challenge the rugby family’s thinking around the Wallabies and some of the wider issues in our game.

For the record, Edward De Bono was born in Malta and won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University where he rowed and played polo.

The game of rugby once cultivated such people.