Cape Town — Beware, Springboks: this is a proper Wallabies team that will front up at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
Coach Dave Rennie said upon announcing his team on Thursday that it was “great to have a number of experienced players back in the mix this weekend”, and they come at just the right time.
For all the talk about the Wallabies being soft touches upfront, that couldn’t be further from the truth. They proved that against the Boks in last year’s Rugby Championship Tests at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and Cbus Super Stadium in Gold Coast.
And Rennie was able to bring back some heavy artillery on Thursday. First-choice hooker Folau Fainga’a and tighthead prop Allan Alaalatoa will add considerable grunt to the pack of forwards, especially at scrum-time. Alaalatoa is not as flashy as reserve tighthead Taniela Tupou, but he is much more solid in the set-piece and will hit the rucks.
Matt Philip is also a lineout specialist who is back to disrupt the Bok lineout, which was under pressure from All Black veteran Sam Whitelock at Ellis Park. Joseph Dweba is under the spotlight for his throw-ins, and he will also have to avoid Wallaby loose forwards Jed Holloway and Rob Valetini.
Props Scott Sio and Tupou will provide real power as reserves on what is a six-two bench split, with Rob Leota the extra ball-carrying loose forward who will try to add some physicality in the second half alongside Pete Samu and lock Darcy Swain.
Rennie has also had to tinker with the backline to find a solution to their kick-receipt woes from their 48-17 drubbing at the hands of Argentina in San Juan, and he has gone for a pretty solid bet in Reece Hodge at fullback.
Hodge is 1.91m tall and won’t be scared to get up into the air to handle those Bok box-kicks, but he will hope for better support from Tom Wright, who shifts to right wing after enduring a nightmare with fielding up-and-unders against Argentina.
As expected, Noah Lolesio was named at flyhalf in place of the dropped James O’Connor, and his main job will be to unleash those dynamic runners such as Marika Koroibete, Hunter Paisami and Len Ikitau.
His decision-making will be seriously tested by the Bok rush defence. Lolesio’s natural instinct is to either run or pass the ball and try to create some magic, but his coaches have told him all week that he needs to be the game manager and not be too outrageous.
Also, will he utilise his boot to good effect as well?
Scrumhalf Tate McDermott and utility Andrew Kellaway are the only two backs on the bench, so that may also affect Rennie’s strategy if he wants them to make an impact in the second half, due to possible injuries.
There is no doubt that this Wallaby pack can win enough ball for that dangerous backline to flourish, so the question is whether the Bok forwards can stop them in the set-pieces and on defence…
Wallaby Team
15 Reece Hodge 14 Tom Wright 13 Len Ikitau 12 Hunter Paisami 11 Marika Koroibete 10 Noah Lolesio 9 Nic White 8 Rob Valetini 7 Fraser McReight 6 Jed Holloway 5 Matt Philip 4 Rory Arnold 3 Allan Alaalatoa 2 Folau Fainga’a 1 James Slipper (captain).
Bench: 16 Dave Porecki 17 Scott Sio 18 Taniela Tupou 19 Darcy Swain 20 Rob Leota 21 Pete Samu 22 Tate McDermott 23 Andrew Kellaway.
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