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Trying times for Tuqiri
By Wayne Smith
September 22, 2007
THEY also serve who stand and wait, attracting the defence in the meantime, as Wallabies attack coach Scott Johnson reminded Lote Tuqiri's detractors.
It has been raining tries for the other members of Australia's back three at the World Cup, with fullback Chris Latham nabbing four against Japan and Wales and left wingers Drew Mitchell and Adam Ashley-Cooper two and one respectively.
But out on the right wing the El Nino system hovering over Tuqiri shows no signs of abating. If anything, it's intensifying.
Save for a two-try sunshower against Fiji in Perth in June and a light scud of rain when he belatedly crossed for his first try of the year in the New South wales Waratahs' last match of the season, it has been a dry, parched year for Australia's highest-paid player.
Desperate for an explanation, Tuqiri even hit on the fact that, by switching from the left wing to the right, he now finds himself deprived of a little time and space because right-handers pass the ball more fluently and speedily to their left than to their right.
"It does come a little bit slower, or I think so, anyway," Tuqiri said on the eve of tomorrow night's match against Fiji in Montpellier.
It sounds as though he is clutching at straws, but in fact Johnson insists there is statistical evidence to suggest that 5 per cent more Test tries are scored on the left wing than on the right.
Somewhat less strained is Tuqiri's other theory that "before" - which is Wallaby code for back when Eddie Jones was coach - the ball was relayed out to him as a matter of course.
He was The Man as far as Jones was concerned, and getting the ball into his hands by the fastest means possible was at the core of the team's game plan.
While Tuqiri is comfortable with the change in philosophy that has sent his stats into steep decline, at heart he is a winger and wingers need to score tries.
"The guys inside are putting more responsibility on themselves to be making plays now, whereas before the ball was just getting shovelled," Tuqiri said.
Johnson wastes little time on Tuqiri's lack of tries, dismissing it as almost irrelevant in any assessment of what the giant winger brings to the Wallabies.
"People get carried away with looking at try-scoring stats and they forget there are two parts to the game - defence as well as attack," Johnson said. "Lote imposes himself defensively on a game."
Just how insignificant a part try-scoring plays in assessing the Wallaby wingers is highlighted by the fact that, while Tuqiri's continued selection on the right flank is not an issue, Mitchell's place on the left remains a week-to-week proposition, despite him scoring tries with his first two touches of the football in the World Cup, against Japan.
"It's competitive out there, no doubt about that," Connolly said.
Had Mitchell done nothing more than hang on to the ball and not dangerously upturn Welsh hooker Matthew Rees, he would have had an outstanding day at Millennium Stadium.
But costing the Wallabies two tries because of fumbles in attack and a third in defence - with Welsh winger Shane Williams scoring while his Australian marker was in the sin bin - leaves the Force flyer with a lot of ground to make up tomorrow against Fiji.
Fiji coach Ilie Tabua kept the Wallabies dangling by not releasing his team until the last moment but, as Connolly reiterated, this is a match in which Australia needs to stay tight, disciplined and direct.
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Giteau." 
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