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‘He’s earned it’: The Brumbies enforcer set for first start in Wallaby gold
By Finn Morton
At just 23 years of age, ACT Brumbies bruiser Charlie Cale has been handed a maiden Test start by Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt ahead of this weekend’s clash with Wales in Melbourne.
Cale debuted off the bench in last week’s 25-16 win over the Welsh at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium but has received a promotion to the First XV. After an injury to skipper Liam Wright, a backrow reshuffle has opened the door for an exciting new challenge.
Wright officially became the 89th Wallabies captain five days ago but will sit out the upcoming Test with a shoulder injury. Queenslander Fraser McReight holds onto his place at openside while Rob Valetini shifts from No. 8 to blindside to accommodate Cale’s selection.
Earlier this year, rugby fans and pundits around Australia were singing the praises of young Cale who was in the midst of a breakout campaign with the Brumbies. Cale started 10 matches in Super Rugby Pacific, including the Brumbies’ quarter and semi-final.
Heralded as a Wallaby-in-waiting, the Beecroft junior was thrown into the Test arena by Schmidt last time out, and while Cale didn’t exactly set the world alight, the loosie has done enough to make the No. 8 jersey his own for at least one week.
“There’s obviously a bit of fortune with Liam being injured but you earn what you get and I think he’s earned it on the back of Super Rugby form,” Schmidt told reporters on Thursday.
“He was relatively quiet when he came off the bench last week and I think, to give a young player real confidence – to get the training week, to get the clarity… he can get his head around the requirements.
“Inevitably, when you’re coming off the bench you don’t get the same reps in the team and so, for lineout clarity where he’s so quick into the air, for clarity around his role in the defensive system or in the attacking shape… it’ll be a nice runway into Saturday’s game.”
The backrow change is the only real tweak to the Wallabies’ XV that handed Wales their eighth loss on the bounce. Schmidt has gone with the same backline and tight five, with the only difference being the captaincy to James Slipper.
Wales are in a bit of similar situation with world-class No. 8 Aaron Wainwright ruled out of the remainder of their tour Down Under with an injury. Wainwright was one of the visitor’s best last weekend before picking up the injury in the dying stages.
These changes present an exciting matchup at the back of the scrum between Cale and four-Test loosie Taine Plumtree. The pair will go head-to-head in what should be an exciting clash between two young players with a point to prove.
“I haven’t heard what the reason is with Liam in terms of the captaincy, I don’t know if he’s got an injury,” Wales coach Warren Gatland questioned when asked about the Wallabies’ backrow.
“But Charlie, I thought he’s been pretty outstanding in terms of his carries and the impact he’s had in some of those games in Super Rugby.”
With Cale coming into the side for Wright, there is that change at captaincy with Test veteran James Slipper taking up the position. This will be the 15th time the loosehead prop leads the Wallabies into battle.
Wright will be disappointed with the injury after forcing his way back into Wallaby gold for the first time in almost four years, but there is good news with Schmidt saying the flanker should be in the mix to play Georgia next weekend.
“It’s frustrating,” Schmidt said when prompted about Wright’s injury. “We’ve got confidence in the squad.
“We thought it would come right pretty quickly. He got the whack in the game and post-match, we thought the progress would be pretty quick and it’s just a little bit slower than we would’ve liked.
“Once he wasn’t fully fit to be named to train on Tuesday, we just felt it was better to give certainty to the guys that were going to be there – particularly a young guy like Charlie Cale, his first Test match last week, his first Test start this week. You want to support that run in as best you can with a nice, clean entry into the game through the training week.”
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Go to commentsI can see arguments for both Kinghorn, and Keenan starting for the Lions. But I’m less convinced by some of the claims (clearly partisan) supporters are using to argue the merits of one over the other.
For example, a number of Ireland supporters have suggested Kinghorn is ‘defensively weak’. That’s patently false - or at least on the evidence of this 6N, he’s certainly no weaker there than Keenan is, who is presumably the comparative standard they’re using. Keenan was both shrugged off in contact, and beaten on the edge for pace, a number of times during this competition.
Equally, Scotland supporters arguing Kinghorn is the more capable ‘rugby player’ seem to have overlooked the (frankly sizeable) body of evidence demonstrating that Keenan is an excellent ball in hand distributor and decision maker. So that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny either.
I don’t think there’s all that much to choose between them, and either would be a strong choice. I think it would be really interesting from a pure rugby perspective to see Keenan playing a ‘Scotland-esque’ style of high tempo attacking rugby. Either coming into the line more routinely as first receiver, or being swung as a pendulum and getting the ball on the edge against a stretched defence.
That’s assuming Andy Farrell goes that route, of course. He may well just opt for his Ireland system instead, and populate it with the likes of Henshaw, Ringrose, Lowe and Keenan. I’m sure that would win the series. Quite what effect it might have on a Lions audience who were expecting something other than ‘Ireland on tour, but wearing red’ would remain to be seen.
As for the debate at FB, the only ‘eye test’ difference I feel exists is in the pace of rugby Kinghorn (Toulouse? Scotland?) tends to play. His passing/offload game feels crisper and higher tempo than Keenan’s - and as we saw in Paris, his pace and eye for a gap from deep are superior.
But again, that will only prove a decisive factor if Andy Farrell wants to play that way. If all he wants from his FB is to sit deep, field high balls, and mop up then there’s little between these two equally excellent players.
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