The Wallabies are preparing to take the next step of their development under Joe Schmidt with a Grand Slam tour of the Northern Hemisphere.
Next year, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales will come together to tour Australia under the Lions banner, but now, the Wallabies have to line up against them one at a time.
There are scenarios where Australia can win each of these Tests. Ireland’s starting No.10 Jack Crowley hasn’t picked up at Munster where he left off with Ireland in South Africa. They’re two wins from six in the URC with European fixtures looming in the not-too-distant future. England under Steve Borthwick have experienced further change and upheaval with the departure of Felix Jones, from the facility at least. Scotland, in recent years, have only performed against the ‘Auld Enemy’ England and Wales are still rebuilding under Warren Gatland. Although, Gatland is putting together a decent starting XV.
Joe Schmidt. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
This tour is a chance for Joe Schmidt to give his players more Test reps, where they can demonstrate their grasp of his new gameplan. Geoff Parling will have targets for the set piece. What impact can Will Skelton have on the pack? What areas does he elevate and where does he weaken the team? Can Laurie Fisher cement his defensive plan amongst the group?
These are just some of the questions Joe Schmidt and his coaching group will have pinned up on their team board.
I’ve left one person out. Eoin Toolan, Australia’s back-end developer or more commonly known as the Wallabies head of analysis and skills coach. This tour gives Toolan four more games worth of data, not only on his own players but it’s an opportunity to scout potential Lions ahead of time.
The Wallabies averaged 150 tackles per game during the Rugby Championship, averaged 113 carries, with a linebreak 23 per cent of the time and won 96 per cent of their own rucks. That last statistic is starting to sound like a Joe Schmidt team.
Three of the upcoming four Tests are against teams ranked top ten in the world. What insight about his team can Toolan extrapolate against top-tier opposition? What will those numbers look like when the Wallabies are running up against the likes of Ben Earl, Bundee Aki or Jac Morgan?
There is an increasing focus on the likes of Parling, Fisher and Mike Cron after a middling Rugby Championship; however, I think this is a big tour for Toolan. I’m very interested to see what areas he highlights to Joe and company. Everywhere Schmidt has been, his level of detail in preparation has been lauded and it’s telling how much Schmidt admires Toolan’s work by bringing him back into the international arena after working in Melbourne and Japan respectively.
Schmidt is famous for instilling confidence in his players by highlighting their strengths as opposed to focusing on their areas for growth. What areas of the Wallabies play will Toolan bring to Schmidt to demonstrate their progress and strengths? Discipline is one that comes to mind. Under Schmidt, the Wallabies have definitely improved their discipline. Three yellow cards in this year’s championship compared to five last year in only half the games. Last year’s tournament was reduced with the World Cup on in France. I’m sure Eddie Jones would say if only, if only he had those three extra games! Thank god for small mercies.
While the rest of the coaching staff will have the upcoming four Tests front and centre in their minds, it will be Toolan’s job in particular to bank the learnings, not just for the following week but with an eye on next year’s Lions series.
In my previous piece, I referenced Joe Schmidt’s own goals for this tour and predicted the he won’t necessarily measure success in wins and losses. How would you measure the success of the upcoming Grand Slam tour? Will two out of four be enough for you? Are you looking for one win from Ireland and England? Is Suaalii’s presence in the squad a win in itself or would you like the conditioning team to get more minutes out of Taniela Tupou?
