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Why Wallaby Will Skelton is ‘one of the best locks in the world’
By Finn Morton
The Wallabies may be struggling at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped a former Australian international from heaping praise upon towering lock Will Skelton.
Former Wallaby Stephen Hoiles believes Skelton is “one of the best locks in the world” after a couple of impressive performances to start the Wallabies’ 2023 international campaign.
Skelton appears to have finally found his feet within the Australian setup.
The La Rochelle lock has been one of the standouts in Europe for several years, and that form has finally carried over into the Test arena.
Skelton was able to, at times, dominate both the Springboks and Los Pumas’ forward packs with some hard-hitting tackles, strong carries, and exceptional work at the set piece.
“Just his dominance at maul time,” Hoiles said on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts.
“And even looking at home, he looks better now than he looked two weeks ago. It helps when you’ve got someone like that in the second row.
“We always talk front row and scrum pressure, but the fact you’ve got him sitting behind a tighthead prop – that makes an enormous difference.
“He’s close to one of the best locks in the world but I can’t see a better maul attacker or defender in world rugby.
“I think we’ve got a good season in him. I’ve got a really good amount of confidence, going back to France, where he’s played most of his rugby.
“We’re going to get a good year out of him.”
The Wallabies are 0-2 under new coach Eddie Jones though, and they have just three matches to play before their opening Rugby World Cup fixture.
Australia will host rivals New Zealand in Melbourne later this month, before making the trek across the ditch to take on the All Blacks in Dunedin.
Then, after naming their World Cup squad, the men in gold will travel to Europe – and take on World Cup hosts France in Paris. Winning any of those three Tests will be a game-changer for the Wallabies.
Skelton will likely play a key role for the Wallabies moving forward. Standing at 203cm and weighing 135kg, the Australian enforcer is simply too big and good to ignore.
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Latest Comments
Willis is decent in the lineout to be fair, but definitely lacking a heavyweight ball carrier.
I think between Underhill, Curry, and Willis there isn't a huge amount between them. Maybe Willis would be good enough to start, but he wouldn't massively improve the team.
Go to commentsI'm not sure he is getting there and I don't think he will. Progress has been glacial honestly. Our attacking structure hasn't improved at all, except that he's now picking Marcus Smith who is a one man attack at the moment... And our defence for obvious reasons is now awful. I would have faith in Borthwick if I had faith in his assistant coaches... But I don't think Wigglesworth is an attack coach and why would he be? He's never been an attack coach and he spent his entire career box kicking. Our defence coach has never been employed as a defence coach and is still the head coach of a second division French side with an awful defensive record. The fact that Borthwick appointed them both is a poor reflection. If we still had Felix Jones and we had Mike Catt/Nick Evans or someone in the attack coach role, I'd be content to be patient and that results will come. With Wigglesworth and Joe El Abd, I have no faith that we will improve and I've seen no signs that we are.
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