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Wisemantel identifies Wallabies positions up for grabs as Cheika's Pumas loom
By AAP
The Wallabies say their former coach Michael Cheika is making his mark on Argentina, who they face in two tests next month to open their Rugby Championship.
Wallabies assistant Scott Wisemantel is part of the brains-trust plotting to bring down Cheika, who steered the Pumas to a test series victory over Scotland in Argentina earlier this month.
The Australians, meanwhile, were disappointed in another series loss to Eddie Jones' England.
Cheika headed the Wallabies for five years until the 2019 World Cup and was elevated to the top Argentina job this year, bringing on board former NRL star forward David Kidwell as his defence coach.
Wisemantel said the Pumas played more football against Scotland than relying on their traditional kicking game.
"They had a really good series against Scotland, obviously winning the series two to one," said Wisemantel, with the Wallabies going into camp on Tuesday on the Gold Coast.
"The style ... they're playing a lot more rugby, they're holding the ball for longer periods and they're doing really well so they'll test our defence.
"Conversely, from an attacking point of view, they're filling the front field so there's 13 in the front line and their spacing is really broad so we've got to come up with a plan to attack that."
Wisemantel said that Cheika had evolved since his time at the Wallabies, with the likes of ex-New Zealand representative Kidwell contributing to that.
"You're always going to have some philosophical points that you can lean on but Cheiks changed with these assistants.
"You look at all the all the coaches with longevity in any code - (Kevin) Sheedy, (Craig) Bellamy, I look at those sorts of coaches. They all evolve by turning over their assistants and Cheik's done that as well with Argentina and they're playing some good footy."
Falling 21-17 in the deciding test against England, Wisemantel said the players would do a "hard review" before turning their minds to the opening match in Mendoza on August 7 (AEST).
He said the obvious learning was for the Wallabies to take their chances.
"We had two tries that went begging," Wisemantel added. "The thing that the biggest difference between Super Rugby and test level is at test level you probably get four chances in a game, maximum.
"You got to take them so it's good learning, it's something that we've got to be better at."
Wisemantel declared that two key positions - five-eighth and fullback - remained up for grabs.
Youngster Noah Lolesio started at 10 in all three England Tests following injury to Quade Cooper and James O'Connor out of sorts.
Tom Wright and Jordan Petaia are the frontrunners to play fullback.
"We don't know - we want to see them come in, see them train, see them compete," Wisemantel said of the contenders.
- Melissa Woods
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Latest Comments
There's no easy fix here. From a geography standpoint, South Africa is kind of on an island alone in the rugby world, much like Argentina.
They don't have enough talent to have a top tier domestic league of their own, and it won't support the union financially. Best case you could hope for would be the five extant franchises (including Cheetahs) and perhaps a team from Namimbia. Gives you a 6 team league, that's not enough. Plus again, it's just not financially sustainable either.
At the same time, it's not really great for them to be involved in either the European or the Pacific rugby set up. That said, as bad as the travel is, at least Europe makes more sense from a time zone perspective. I still think it's the least bad option. Also has done wonders for the URC.
I don't think though, that it makes very much sense to have 4 teams from the URC excluded from European qualification. Not to mention, being able to compete in the Champions Cup was a big draw for the South African clubs anyway.
So yeah, I don't really see a change that makes more sense than the less than ideal situation that already exists.
Go to commentsMoriaty refused to play for wales also he’s injured, France’s is being coy about wales, North in the dark but Sam David and jerad are you joking their not good enough
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