Maximising the aerial prowess of Mark Nawaqanitawase and Suliasi Vunivalu at the Rugby World Cup is a tactic the Wallabies have no plans to hide.
The wingers spent plenty of time in the air against France in their warm-up match and stand-in assistant coach Jason Ryles said it’s easy to see why it’s being employed.
The former Sydney Roosters coach, who will return to the NRL by way of the Melbourne Storm later this year, said the style of play is obvious.
Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport. Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD from September 9
It should come as no surprise anyway, given Vunivalu’s history in league for the Storm and Fiji. Nawaqanitawase played league as a youth too.
Asked whether the aerial tactic was one they’d employ, Ryles joked, “You haven’t bugged our meetings, have you?
“Certainly, it’s there to see. That’s certainly one of their strengths and that’s one of the things you would have seen in the France game that Suli and Mark had opportunities in the air, one-on-one in those contestables.
LIVE UPDATES: All the scores and action from the US Open day eight
READ MORE: ‘Not the solution’: Gould shreds Latrell rumours
READ MORE: Hardwick grilled after hitting Tigers’ ‘no-go zone’
“That’s certainly something that we’re building or moving towards and building on. Again, it’s a strength of ours and it’s something that when the time’s right we want to give them the opportunity to show what they can do.”
Utility Ben Donaldson could play a pivotal part in executing those NRL-style, cross-field kicks.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones suggested he has been picked primarily as a back-up No.15 but has also trained at No.10 in the lead-up.
Carter Gordon has been picked as the sole specialist No.10 for this year’s tournament.
“My person opinion, he’s probably the best I’ve ever played with, if not ever seen while I’ve been playing rugby, in the air,” said Donaldson of Nawaqanitawase.
“Him and Suli are definitely up there. When those kinds of guys call for the ball, you want to get them the ball; whether that’s through a pass or through a kick.
“As we saw in that last game, we put a kick up and nine times out of 10 they’re going to get the ball back.
“Part of our game plan at the moment is to use that smart kicking game to win the ball back or apply pressure to the other team.
“Marky has been incredible and those wingers are working extremely hard out here. If they can keep getting the ball back for us, I don’t see why we won’t keep doing that.”
The Wallabies will face Georgia in their opening Rugby World Cup contest on Sunday at 2am.
They’ll then face Fiji (September 18), Wales (September 25), and then Portugal (October 2).
It is, in theory, a relatively straightforward run to the quarter-finals. However, Fiji has leap-frogged Australia in the world rankings in the build-up to the tournament.
In terms of how they approach the forthcoming contest, Ryles said they may employ some trial and error
“As far as rabbit out of a hat, there possibly might be one or two plays that we’ll experiment with,” he explained.
“At the end of the day we just want to keep building on what we’ve started in regards to playing to our strengths and sticking to our system that Eddie and the coaches have implemented already.”
Samu Kerevi and Marika Koroibete were not picked for the Rugby World Cup warm-up against France.
Kerevi suffered a hand injury prior to the tournament. It’s expected Koroibete will be a first-pick winger in the World Cup.
Stan Sport will carry ad-free coverage of the Wallabies’ World Cup opener from 1:30am AEST Sunday, while Nine will carry free-to-air coverage at the same time.