Australia teams may not be in Super finals but Wallabies still strong
BY Andrew Slack
May 17, 2009 No matter how the final hours of the Super 14 regular season played out, it has again been a relatively disappointing tournament for Australia.
There are three perspectives from which to view our performances.
First, it is disappointing that there is no local action during the last fortnight of the tournament. Representative rugby goes missing in Australia for three weeks in a prime time for the winter codes.
Second, the players, officials and supporters of the Reds, Waratahs, Brumbies and Force will be ruing another season of not being good enough. Each team has its if-onlys, but the bottom line is unchanged.
The third perspective is the Wallaby one.
What do the mediocre Super 14 results mean when it comes to selecting our national team and what effect will they have on the Wallabies' chances over the next six months? Miniscule or none at all would be my answer to that question.
While our player depth may be improving slowly, it is still not good enough to sustain four teams that can all vie for the big prize at the pointy end of the Super 14 season.
However, barring an unprecedented injury run, the depth at top level is sufficient to allow some optimism for the international season. If Robbie Deans can keep most of his top 25 players healthy, there may be cause to dust out the Australian Rugby Union's trophy cabinet.
Unfortunately, the injury curse has weasled its way in early, with Hugh McMeniman and Digby Ioane, arguably Australia's best Super 14 performer this year, already out until the end of year at best.
Nevertheless, the development progress that began in 2006 is about to reap some benefits.
There will always be disagreement on who gets chosen and who misses out, but whatever mix the selectors settle on for the first squad of the year, it looks unlikely any of the players picked won't be up to the rigours of Test match rugby.
In the forwards, and particularly in the scrum, where the Wallabies have for so long had questions asked of them, there looks to be definite potential.
Al Baxter has copped plenty of barbs over the years but he was vastly improved last year and now the likes of Benn Robinson and Ben Alexander are coming into their own.
Both only 24, they will only get better in their main job at scrum time. But they are already very good footballers.
The backline personnel is impressive although there is some concern about halfback.
I'd expect Luke Burgess and Josh Valentine to be chosen and both are fine players. They are also inconsistent.
If someone makes the No.9 jersey his own over the next few months, any Super 14 disappointment should be washed away in the wake of excellent Wallaby results.
A potential 30-man squad could look like this: Ashley-Cooper, Mitchell, Tuqiri, Hynes, Turner, Cummins, Cross, Tahu, Mortlock, Barnes, OConnor, Giteau, Burgess, Valentine, Palu, Brown, Smith, Waugh, Pocock, Mumm, Sharpe, Horwill, Kimlin, Caldwell, Alexander, Robinson, Henderson, Baxter, Moore, Polota-Nau.
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