It is critical that the Wallabies’ finish the year on a high against Ireland this weekend.
The feelgood factor from the wins against England and Wales will fade if the Wallabies struggle against an Irish side clearly looking for a statement performance of their own before coach Andy Farrell begins his British and Irish Lions duties.
Wallabies captain Harry Wilson and teammates react after the defeat in Scotland.Credit: AP
It has become evident over the past month that Ireland and Scotland are going to provide the bulk of Farrell’s Lions squad. After a disappointing performance against Scotland, the Wallabies have to fire against the Irish but to do so they’ll have to contend with Ireland’s choice at No.10 and a warning contained in a column former referee Wayne Barnes wrote this week.
“Dangerous territory,” was how Barnes viewed the World Rugby-pushed interpretation of the breakdown in a piece for the Telegraph in London.
It was a succinct summation of the November Tests and captured in two words something that had been previously hard to put a finger on.
Barnes was referring to a directive from World Rugby to give the defensive team more leeway at the breakdown, and the breakdown mess seen during the November Tests suddenly made a lot more sense.
There has been a clutter of bodies all over the breakdown, and unless your name is Antoine Dupont the influence of halfbacks has been noticeably muted recently.
Barnes wrote that World Rugby wanted to stop rewarding attacking teams with penalties if they were “trapping” an opposition body on their side of the ruck, which is all well and good, but it has turned the breakdown into a real bunfight in several Tests.
Halfbacks have been forced to get into physical contests just to get access to the ball, and for those whose game is built on getting to the ruck and quickly passing it has been hard work.
It has clearly affected the Wallabies’ ability to play their rugby at times, especially against the Scots last week. Attacking sides are already being heavily scrutinised for use of the crocodile roll, which has now been deemed a red-card offence.
On the other side of the coin, it has arguably been beneficial to teams who already had the capacity to target the breakdown.
Even though they lost to the All Blacks three weeks ago, Ireland made life complete misery for New Zealand halfback Cortez Ratima, resulting in an ugly, stop-start Test with little attacking flow.
The Wallabies can only hope that young Italian referee Andrea Piardi is trying to please his World Rugby bosses instead of letting a game of rugby break out at the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland five-eighth Sam Prendergast.Credit: Getty Images
Ireland’s selection of 21-year-old Sam Prendergast at No.10 is the other big talking point, and gives weight to a whisper that reached the Herald from Ireland a few weeks ago.
Johnny Sexton, the Irish great who is now working with the next generation of five-eighths, is said to rate Prendergast’s ceiling as higher than Jack Crowley, who started the November Tests in the No 10 jersey.
With that in mind, it is not altogether surprising that Prendergast has been given a start, especially as he is in many ways the Baby Sexton, a player with similar attributes.
While not the most athletically gifted – just like his current mentor – his ability to identify space and his pass selection are well beyond his years. Given the way Ireland play, with multiple runners providing options for the No.10, Prendergast’s skill set is well suited to take the baton from Sexton, even though Crowley had an impressive Six Nations campaign.
The Wallabies Test will also be something of a Lions audition for Prendergast, given the amount of faith Farrell has in him.
The Wallabies’ task this weekend, therefore, is twofold: to navigate the officiating at the breakdown that could act as a handbrake on their attack and to stop a rising No.10 whose ability to pull the strings on attack can elevate Ireland into the sort of side the world has found difficult to stop.
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