What awaits the Wallabies on their grand slam tour

The Wallabies are just over a week away from the start of their grand slam tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the excitement at least from the Australian side is building nicely.

There has been some shade thrown the Wallabies’ way in recent months, with English halfback Ben Youngs going as far as saying that the British and Irish Lions tour should find a new destination for 2025.

Sticks and stones, but the fact is the Wallabies are building in the first year after a horror World Cup and in the first year of a new World Cup cycle.

The Lions’ tour is a double-edged sword for Joe Schmidt and Australian rugby, on one hand, the commercial windfalls from the marquee event are helping keep the game above water but on the other hand, it condenses the timeline for improvement of a team in its infancy.

Nevertheless, the die has been cast and Schmidt and his group of experienced coaches knew what they signed up for.

This tour is the opportunity to bring their vision together for the final dress rehearsal before the Lions’ tour in July.

While the Wallabies are ranked well below some of the ‘home nations’, they are still a side littered with talent, work ethic, and x-factor and have a good chance of springing some upsets.

Preparation is key as each of the sides have vastly different styles and so tailoring their game plan to each opponent will be crucial.

England 10 November – Allianz Stadium, ‘Twickenham’

Key players: Joe Marler, Dan Cole, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl, Marcus Smith, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

Steve Borthwick’s side is built on direct forward play, purposeful kicking, and suffocating defence.

Their recently departed defence coach, Felix Jones, installed a fast and oppressive rush-defence, like the one he coached into the Springboks during their successive World Cup wins.

Their game plan is traditionally English, simple but effective, and Borthwick is starting to get a little extra out of his players now.

There is quality right throughout the squad and the Wallabies will find it hard to go toe-to-toe with the English in the direct style they have been playing.

Marler and Cole are the glue that hold together the English scrum, although they are rarely on simultaneously, they are the older heads who steady the ship.

Itoje is the lineout general, who’s skullduggery around the field is world-class, while Martin is the muscle.

He plays a similar game to former England captain Courtney Laws; the young Leicester Tiger is brutal with a big motor.

The Wallabies will do well to keep the locking duo as quiet as possible.

The loose-forward trio is full of power, attitude, and work rate, whoever is selected in the Wallabies’ backrow at Twickenham will have their work cut out for them.

Finally, if the Wallabies don’t find a way to slow down England’s ball then Smith will play on top of them.

His fleet-footed play will send the Wallabies back pedalling and there is no doubt the speed and power of Feyi-Weboso will see them standing under the sticks.

Wales 18 November – Millenium Stadium, ‘The Principality’

Key players: Dewi Lake, Adam Beard, Jac Morgan, Taine Plumtree, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Anscombe, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer, Cameron Winnett.

Wales is the side the Wallabies have had most contact with in the past two years, having played them twice in July and once in the world cup.

Their captain Lake will lead from the front, nightmare fuel for the men in gold seeing as how easy Lake and his pack walked in a handful of maul tries in July.

The addition of Beard, who was missed the July Tests, will improve their maul’s efficiency and potency.

Unless Geoff Parling and his men have fixed their defensive maul woes, the set-piece could dictate the result entirely.

The backrow won’t take a backwards step, especially Plumtree.

The towering backrower is the hardman while Reffell tackles anything that moves and causes havoc at every breakdown.

An injury-stricken past 12 months has kept Morgan sidelined but the young man who has already captained Cymru is granite tough, a complete player who poses a threat in attack and defence.

Wainwright is their strike man, whose runs left the Wallabies battered and bruised in Sydney and Melbourne.

The recall of Anscombe to the squad adds calm and composure to the game-driving stocks and will require the Wallabies’ back three to be on their guard.

Tompkins will run the hard lines to give Anscombe space to ball-play whilst freeing up space for the two whippets out wide, Dyer and Winnett, to run riot.

Scotland 25 November – Scottish Gas Murrayfield, ‘Murrayfield’

Key players: Finn Russell, Darcy Graham, Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Duhan van der Merwe.

The Scots will be led by Melbourne-born Sione Tuipulotu, who has been given the captain’s badge after successive years of impressive form and growth.

Scotland are a side who just go about their business, leaving the master planning to the attacking genius of Gregor Townsend and his right-hand-man Russell.

The maverick playmaker and his coach have not always been great chums but when their relationship is good the rugby is great, and Russell can make the impossible happen.

The Wallabies may be Scotland’s banana skin game as they set their sights on an upset win at home against South Africa, two weeks before their encounter with Australia.

The Scottish forwards have a simple yet crucial task; get Russell clean ball.

Should the Scots succeed in this mission then Russel will play on-top of the Wallabies’ passive defence, releasing the deadly combination that is his captain and Jones, known as the ‘HuwPulotu.’

Out wide, Graham is the greyhound whilst van der Merwe is a rhino, both equally as deadly for different reasons.

The Wallabies will want to keep this game tight and take the Scots head-on in the forwards, in phase play and at set-piece time.

Keeping the runners going down Russell’s channel may just frustrate the playmaker enough to throw him off his game.

Ireland 1 December – Aviva Stadium, ‘Lansdowne Road’

Key players: 1-15.

The number one side in the world is the best drilled side in the world, and as Schmidt goes head-to-head with his old side he will be envious of their ability to nail the basics.

It seems difficult to imagine a situation where the Wallabies find a weakness in the Irish defence, even less so to be able to expose it.

Ireland use a rush defence and as evidenced against South Africa and Argentina, it’s the defensive system the Wallabies struggle with the most.

The tackle and ruck work of Ireland along with the speed of their rush-D will overwhelm the Wallabies unless they, like South Africa, manage to secure gainline metres in-tight to blunt the rush.

Whilst the Irish defence will be oppressive their attack will be efficient and fierce.

The layers in their attack is likely to pick the passive Wallabies’ line apart.

Their set piece is world class, the talent and accuracy in the pack is immaculate, they get lightning delivery from the base, the power of their centres (of which there is an embarrassment of riches), and the elite technical finishing of their back three makes them almost impervious to anything the Wallabies have thus far managed to muster.

The Wallabies must take them on in the scrum, kick deep and out, and find a new gear to their defence.

The Irish are technically flawless, but they lack the brute strength of the Springboks, this an area the Wallabies can aim to contest.

Another aspect to consider is even if overseas picks Will Skelton and Samu Kerevi deliver key performances throughout the tour, they will have returned to their clubs by the time the Wallabies visit the Emerald Isles.

If the Wallabies can find a way to play 80 minutes of the rugby they played in the second half of the first Bledisloe, or the first half of the second Argentina Test, then they have a chance to cause a stir up north.

Schmidt must show faith in his players, and his players must in turn have his systems imprinted on their brains so they may transcend the basics and add their own flair to the gameplan.

As much as a grand slam would be great, this tour is about showing the year’s lessons to date have been learned and implemented, if process is followed the results will come.