So much of what David Pocock does on the field is buried under bodies

[travelling_gerry]

Wayne Smith From: The Australian September 20, 2011 12:00AM


WELLINGTON: It's all very well for the critics to hail David Pocock as the best openside flanker in world rugby but the ultimate judges are his Wallabies teammates and, if fellow backrower Radike Samo is any indication, they truly regard him one of a kind.

It was former All Blacks great Josh Kronfeld who set the ball rolling on the Pocock debate by claiming he is better at the breakdown than Richie McCaw.

But so much of what Pocock does on a rugby field is buried under a tangle of bodies and it is only his teammates who truly appreciate how great he is _ most especially when he isn't there, as in Saturday's World Cup pool clash with Ireland in Auckland.

"What he does on the field is incredible," said Samo, who started alongside Pocock for the first time in the Tri-Nations final in Brisbane last month when the Wallabies defeated the All Blacks. "He wasn't there (against Ireland) so we missed him."

Samo was quick to acknowledge the contribution of Ben McCalman, a regular number eight who was pressed into service as a makeshift seven on the morning of the Test after Pocock withdrew with lower back stiffness.


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Indeed, McCalman was one of the standout performers in the beaten Australian pack.

"You know, Ben came in and did a good job," said Samo. "Ben is a good player but it's still going to be difficult to play when Dave's not there."

So what is it that makes Pocock so incredible?

"He goes hard on the ball in attack and defence," Samo said. "Especially from the scrums. He's the first person there all the time. That's his job. He does it very well and he's a special number seven."

What goes largely unseen is how Pocock's ferocious work at the breakdown allows the Wallabies to impose their game on the opposition. Because he gets to the tackle so quickly and because nothing short of some well-placed charges of dynamite can move him once he is over the ball, he constantly gives the Wallabies a foothold on the advantage line.

Whether they're able to exploit it depends on how much urgency and determination the other seven forwards exhibit and Samo couldn't help but notice the difference in that regard between the Tri-Nations decider and the Eden Park debacle.

"To look back on playing on the weekend and playing the All Blacks in Brisbane, you know, the forwards played really well (in Brisbane)," he said. "We got past the advantage line, quick ball and before they'd set their defensive line we were already in front of them. But on the weekend that didn't happen. The Ireland forwards worked really hard, they get off the line, two in the tackle and they slowed the ball down, so we struggled a bit."

Indeed they struggled a lot. The Australian pack made little headway against the highly motivated Irish forwards and, for most of the match, what ball they fed to halfback Will Genia was delivered on the back foot.

The Wallabies now move on to the United States at The Caketin on Friday but it still is unclear whether Pocock will be fit to play.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226141216725

[Tazzmania]

....and the result speaks for itself, no more to say.

PS: Unlike our our other precouis kids, he is really needed, and makes a difference.

[NTT]

Just hope he doesn't have stress fractures in his lower back

[shasta]

Just goes to show how flawed the initial selection policy was. Easy to be wise in hindsight but just about every journo remarked on the folly of that policy. Not to mention most posters around here.

Just one change among the selections that allowed for players returning from injury could have given insurance for the most vital cog in the battle on the floor. To adopt the line that, under the current referee interpretations, that battle has changed was naive. They are way too inconsistent. Either Matt Hodgson or Beau Robinson should have been among the first picked after Pocock.

[jono]

Maybe phibbs should strain something...
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[Tazzmania]

Maybe phibbs should strain something...
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I think thats what Greg Martin said on the RWC Centre panel a few days ago as well, and remember what happened to Sharpie in the super 15 when they made a similar comment, tempting fate here.