Jordan Uelese and Taniela Tupou of Australia run out onto the pitch prior to the Rugby World Cup 2019 Quarter Final match between England and Australia. Photo / Getty Images.
Jordan Uelese and Taniela Tupou of Australia run out onto the pitch prior to the Rugby World Cup 2019 Quarter Final match between England and Australia. Photo / Getty Images.
COMMENT:
There is one player capable of challenging the All Blacks like few others, and if the Wallabies are to win in New Zealand for the first time since 2001, they will need him to shine.
When the Wallabies take to Wellington's Sky Stadium pitch to the face the AllBlacks on the afternoon of October 11, they will do so under the care of Kiwi coach Dave Rennie, a man his employers hope will bring a methodical stability to the Australian game in comparison to his predecessor Michael Cheika's explosive flamboyance.
Cheika could be entertaining and there was no question that he had the best interests of the Wallabies at heart. But the results failed to materialise and coming second to the All Blacks at the 2015 World Cup was probably his coaching highlight with the national team.
There was baggage that came with it too; Rennie, for example, is unlikely to be found abusing pitch-side camera operators or entering a referees' changing room at halftime as Cheika did.
Dave Rennie speaks during the 2020 Super Rugby Media Launch at Rugby Australia HQ on January 23, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Photo / Getty Images.
Certainly, the former Chiefs coach and mentor of new All Black captain Sam Cane has done everything right so far in the eyes of his extended squad and wider rugby community.
His blunt "unacceptable" reply to the requirement for Australia to play after following restrictive quarantine rules in New Zealand may have gone some way towards forcing a compromise from the Government here, and, if nothing else, his bullish attitude has won support across the ditch.
Former Wallabies centre Morgan Turinui, in replying to a post from the All Blacks' official Twitter account saying Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had in this case relaxed regulations on gatherings in managed isolation and that the Aussies would be playing two tests here, added with tongue in cheek: "It's not official until our coach agrees. I think he should end all of his interviews with 'And that's the bottom line because Dave Rennie said so'."
It’s not official until our coach agrees. I think he should end all of his interviews with “And that’s the bottom line cause Dave Rennie said so” https://t.co/wahGtI1psp
So the Wallabies have their off-field hero, but as they prepare to re-visit Wellington for a daylight kick-off 20 years after the exploits of their remarkable former skipper John Eales, the big question is, who will be their on-field hero in their mission to win in New Zealand for the first time since 2001?
As a quick recap, Eales, the goalkicking lock, was successful with a penalty after time was up to clinch a 24-23 victory. He had form, of course, but for a tight forward in the modern game to even consider such a responsibility is one thing - to do it at the end of 80 minutes quite another.
Eales' intervention which cemented his place in Aussie sporting folklore was forced by the withdrawal from the pitch of first-choice kicker Stirling Mortlock. It wasn't an easy shot either, but it never looked like missing and the Cup stayed in Australia for another year. The Aussies had won it in 1998 and relinquished it in 2003. Infamously, they haven't held it since.
"I was very, very glad it went over," Eales would say later, "because I think my life and people's memories of me as a rugby player would be very different if I had missed that kick."
Among Rennie's young squad (16 uncapped players in 44) there is one player capable of challenging the All Blacks like few others: tighthead prop Taniela Tupou, the 24-year-old who can do things few other tight forwards can and who, interestingly, played the full 80 minutes for the Reds in their Super Rugby Australia semifinal victory over the Melbourne Rebels last weekend.
Taniela Tupou walks onto the field during the Wallabies captain's run at Suncorp Stadium on July 26, 2019 in Brisbane. Photo / Getty Images.
The man known as the Tongan Thor has the feet and handling skills of a midfielder and is improving all the time as a scrummager.
He is a key part of Brad Thorn's rejuvenated Reds, who face the Brumbies in SRA's final in Canberra on Saturday, and is a man who has known the spotlight since his days as a one-player highlight package in Auckland's Sacred Heart first XV.
He has X-factor like Eales did and that ability to consistently do something out of the ordinary will be imperative for the Wallabies to get close to an All Blacks squad which has real depth, skill and pace.
