Five burning questions for Wallabies v Wales
The relief at Rugby Australia is palpable. It has been a long and painful nine months since the Wallabies last took to the field in the World Cup.
RA’s in-tray has been filled with everything but on field matters since France. Balance sheets have been examined in far more detail than any potential Wallaby squad selections.
But that was then for the Wallabies, and thankfully, this is now. Test rugby is finally back. There is a new coach in Joe Schmidt and an opportunity to slowly rebuild the Wallabies against the visiting Wales team this Saturday in Sydney.
Here are the five burning questions that need to be answered.
Can the Wallabies connect in such a short time?
Before performing Macbeth, actors have a superstition to not mention the play’s name, for fear of invoking a curse. Similarly, the Wallabies have been reluctant to name-check either the World Cup or Eddie Jones. The two buzzwords in camp have been ‘clean slate’. Joe Schmidt has named a new-look team for his first Test in charge featuring seven debutants, the most since 1980 for the Wallabies.
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt looks on during a training session at David Phillips Sports Complex.Credit: Getty Images
Schmidt isn’t interested in doing renovations on the Wallabies, he is doing a knock-down rebuild. The coach has had the team training for only two weeks in Brisbane and Sydney collectively. Time is absolutely of the essence.
On Saturday, it will be clear whether combinations and connections need more time to be baked in for the Wallabies.
Can the team adapt to a new Wallaby way?
Schmidt’s modus operandi as Ireland’s head coach was intricate detail and that won’t change in Australia. Even with such a short lead-in to the Wales clash, each player will know their role intimately. The Wallabies’ defensive lapses of the past should in theory be rectified. Breakaway Fraser McReight also spoke during the week of the importance of becoming disciplined under Schmidt in attack.
Coach Joe Schmidt and Fraser McReight talk during a Wallabies training session in Brisbane.Credit: Getty Images
The days of the loose speculative offload are also over, unless the Wallabies want to incur the Kiwi’s wrath in his lengthy post-Test video review sessions.
“As a group, we’ve got to start understanding when is a good time when it’s a bad time (to throw an offload) and I think Joe’s especially being here next year has been able to drill that into us,” McReight said.
Can the Wallabies adapt to a new captain’s call?
Saturday’s skipper Liam Wright is used to captaincy at the Queensland Reds, but leading your country is evidently a different proposition. He has only played five Tests off the bench for the Wallabies, but he will bring calmness to a new side desperate to impress against Wales.
He will play a key role in subduing the Welsh back row, which will be led by talented No.8 Aaron Wainwright.
New Wallabies captain Liam Wright.Credit: Getty Images
Schmidt has been open that the captaincy and leadership is likely to be shared. Wright has an open audition at Allianz Stadium and alongside his talented clubmate McReight, he can make a huge difference to Australia’s fortunes.
How will the ultimate rugby frenemies fare?
Warren Gatland and Joe Schmidt are well acquainted as old sparring partners. The last time the two coaches met competitively was in 2019 when Wales defeated Ireland to clinch a rare grand slam, something Gatland wasn’t shy of bringing up at his press conference on Thursday in Sydney. Gatland’s playful jabs on his former teammate on the New Zealand Teachers XV didn’t stop.
“I thought Joe had retired,” Gatland said. “He’s had about three retirements, he seems to come out of retirement every couple of years. He went back to New Zealand to retire, then came back with the Blues and then the All Blacks, hopefully, they’re paying him lots of money.”
Wales coach Warren Gatland will reacquaint with Joe Schmidt as a head coach for the first time since 2019.Credit: Getty
In the gold corner, Schmidt preferred to meet his opponent with good grace, refusing to engage in a war of words. But off camera, he will be desperately keen to prove that as a head coach is still world-class and can mix it with anyone, regardless of the short lead-in with the Wallabies.
What of Wales?
With all the talk of the Wallabies’ brand-new faces – which include starting debutants Josh Flook in the centres, second-rower Jeremy Williams and the bench of Isaac Kailea, Angus Blyth, Charlie Cale, Tom Lynagh and Dylan Pietsch – it is easy to forget that this is a Welsh team in transition too.
Wales are coming off their seventh successive Test loss against South Africa and finished bottom of the Six Nations.
Wales’ 40-6 over Australia win at the World Cup was last September and if it represented the lowest point for the Wallabies, it was also the highest point for the Welsh. They are engaged in their own painstaking rebuild. Sydney-born prop Archie Griffin will pack down for Wales against James Slipper in the front row, with 133 caps and 13 years between them. Gatland has also started centre Ben Thomas in the No.10 jumper, where he has only played once for his club this season.
Both coaches have a brand-new set of cards to play with relatively low stakes, given there is another Test to settle any scores. There has never been a better time for both teams and coaches to express themselves.
Watch every July International Test Rugby match ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport with All Blacks v England (Saturday 4pm AEST), Wallaroos v Fijiana (Saturday 4.30pm AEST), Japan v Maori All Blacks (Saturday 6.50pm AEST), Wallabies v Wales (Saturday 7pm AEST), South Africa v Ireland (Sunday 12am AEST) and Argentina v France (Sunday 4.50am AEST).