Picture: www.rugby.com.au
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt’s fast-track selection of former NRL Rooster Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is asking questions of England.
Australia takes on England at Twickenham early Sunday morning (Australian time).
Rugby Australia’s website (www.rugby.com.au) reports that England captain Jamie George is uncertain about Suaalii but is prepared to meet his threat.
Suaalii will play outside centre with Len Ikitau on his inside as he prepares for his first game of rugby in five years when he was a schoolboy.
George noted that Suaalii had been given the green light by coach Joe Schmidt, himself a former Ireland coach.
“Joe Schmidt is someone that I’ve been a massive fan of, I respect hugely in terms of his understanding and knowledge and I know that if he wasn’t ready to play, then he wouldn’t be playing,” George told rugby.com.au
“So that’s something that we’ve got to be very aware of. There’s this element of the unknown, but at the same time we’ve got to make sure we’re as clued up as we possibly can be.
“We also need to make sure that he knows what Test match rugby all is about.”
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii
The English midfield pairing of Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence (used in last weekend’s 22-24 loss to New Zealand) has switched, with the latter shifted to the outside.
England assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth suggested it was only a “slight tweak” to a partnership with 94 caps between them.
He said the hosts wanted to get “great strike runner” Lawrence on the ball more.
“We’re trying to get him on the ball in as much space as possible in transition, we missed a few chances to do that (in the narrow loss to New Zealand) and hopefully we’ll get more opportunities and we won’t miss them.”
Of Suaalii, he added: “It will be really interesting, won’t it? I don’t think Joe Schmidt, the world-class coach that he is, puts him in unless he’s ready.
“He’s played at school and has been ready for this move for a while. He’s obviously an incredible athlete and talent, which is why he’s come over with the reputation and the price tag he’s got.”
Kevin Sinfield, the former rugby league great now running England’s defence, is the man they’ll turn to figure out how best they nullify Suaalii.
“We’ll look at him in his rugby league. Kev (Sinfield) will give us a good insight there and we’ll make sure we do our due diligence in the next couple of days,” said Wigglesworth.
