A few days after Eddie Jones held his first Wallabies camp on the Gold Coast, Australian Super Rugby players will do battle in Auckland, Melbourne and Perth this weekend.
But arguably the most crucial insight into the Wallabies’ World Cup fortunes will be found a lot further north, at a suburban ground outside Osaka, Japan.
The Hanazono Rugby Stadium is Japan’s oldest rugby venue; built by the Osaka Electric Orbit Company in 1928 – and modelled on the old Twickenham – when the son of the Japanese Emperor noticed lots of space near the rail line and suggested they build a ground to play that popular new sport, rugby.
On Saturday afternoon, Hanazono Stadium will be the setting for Quade Cooper’s comeback game, with the veteran five-eighth returning for the first time since he ruptured his achilles tendon playing No.10 for the Wallabies in Mendoza last August.
After surgery and a nine-month rehab, Cooper will line up with his old partner-in-crime Will Genia at home for Kintetsu Liners, and while the game against Nick Phipps’ NEC Green Rockets may be ho-hum in the Japanese Top League (they’re the bottom two), it will be loaded with meaning for Jones and the all-important selections at No.10 in the Wallabies squad for the World Cup.
Wallabies five-eighth candidates, from left, Quade Cooper, Carter Gordon, Bernard Foley, Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson.Credit: Getty
Jones flies into Japan on Saturday, along with Wallabies general manager Chris Webb, and though they won’t make any games, the pair will be meeting with Cooper and other Japan-based Australian stars and their clubs next week to talk about plans for the World Cup later this year.
“Coming back from injury is never easy, but it’s an opportunity to grow mentally, physically, and emotionally. From the day I got injured I knew I was ready for the challenges this journey would provide,” Cooper said, via social media this week.
“The work doesn’t stop just because I’m nearing the end of the injury process. In fact, that’s when the real work begins. The goal is always progress, not perfection.”
Whether Jones lurks on social media or not (let’s be honest, he probably does), you can imagine him nodding at Cooper’s comments.
Cooper emerging from his comeback game for the Liners healthy and with a glimpse of his composed, confident self will go a long way to Jones finally progressing his five-eighth plans, too.
History tells us World Cups are won with dominant five-eighths, with surnames like Fox, Lynagh, Larkham, Wilkinson and Carter.
But without a shred of certainty who’ll wear the gold no.10 in his first Test back, Jones named five five-eighths in his Gold Coast squad: Cooper, the also-Japan based Bernard Foley, and the young trio of Carter Gordon, Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson. Noah Lolesio and James O’Connor were the notable no-shows.
Sources say Jones intends to take three five-eighths to the World Cup, and odds-on will come from the selected five.
Andrew Kellaway, Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper at the Wallabies’ camp in January.Credit: Getty
Like Dave Rennie before him, Cooper is seen by Jones as the main man – fitness pending. Jones played coy on Cooper early but he later praised him as more mature and “still gifted in terms of his ball play and decision-making”, and said on ABC’s Offsiders he’d “see where Quade can take us in the World Cup”.
Jones tried to walk it back but sources say he wants an experienced game manager with a good boot, and with an ample supply of power athletes in Samu Kerevi, Len Ikitau, Marika Koroibete, Jordan Petaia and even Suliasi Vunivalu, Jones is looking for steady reliability at No.10 and No.15.
Jones will take at least one young No.10 to the Rugby World Cup, and Carter Gordon is in prime position.
The young Rebel has leapfrogged Wallabies Donaldson and Lolesio this year, in stats and stature. Looking at the stats of Australian No.10s after eight Super Rugby rounds, Gordon has the most carries, metres, passes, defenders beaten and clean breaks, and the 93kg mullet-wearer is the best defender of the group, with almost twice as many tackles (70) as anyone else and 86 per cent effectiveness.
The most dangerous when on song, O’Connor edges Gordon in several attacking metrics – offloads, try assists, linebreak assists and defenders beaten – but the Rebel is, tellingly, the most prolific kicker in Australian rugby, with 2183 kick metres in seven games.
Jones strategically roomed the 22-year-old Rebels playmaker with Nic White on the Gold Coast, and watched to see if Gordon would immediately hit the grass with a strong voice at Wallabies training, bossing established veterans. He passed the test.
“Carter Gordon and [Brad] Wilkin, the flanker, both of those guys really impressed,” Jones said on Rugby Heaven.
Pencilling in Cooper and Gordon, then, who might Jones take as a third No.10? Form – and Cooper’s progress – will paint a clearer picture over coming weeks and months, but the choice between the known-entity of Foley and the potential of Lynagh or Donaldson, or possibly even the wider versatility of O’Connor, will be intriguing.
Goal-kicking accuracy, which proves twice as valuable at a World Cup, could potentially tip the balance.
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