In turn, the Australian selection had to record a major withdrawal after Jock Landale’s ankle injury on Wednesday night. In the final sprint of preparation for the World Cup, the situation is all the more problematic as the Boomers had failed the interiors Sam Froling, Thon Maker and Keanu Pinder during the preparation.
But in his misfortune, Australia coach Brian Goorjian was able to immediately replace Landale, at least numerically, by bringing 2m01 winger Jack White into his 12-man squad. Like Vincent Collet with the Blues, he had indeed kept a 13th player under his belt and even intended to take him to Japan to complete the preparation. And this even before Jock Landale was injured.
“He had asked me if he could do anything more. I told him no, that he had to keep doing what he was doing and that he had to let fate take its course. Now he’s in on it.”, said Brian Goorjiansatisfied with this precaution which finally proved to be more than useful. “I was criticized a lot because I had 13 players and didn’t make the last selection. Jack White was at the heart of the action and he is very important to us”.
Small ball in sight
The coach finally needed to resort to his luxury joker. His presence with the group from the beginning is necessarily a good thing, since Australia will not need to find a last minute replacement to integrate into a collective. It was the whole point of keeping a 13th player who accepted the challenge not to participate in the World Cup except in the event of a glitch from one of his little comrades.
“He’s played in all of our games and we made that choice because he’s a very useful player. He is versatile and if we want to play “small ball”, if we want to switch, he will be an important additional element.Goorjian continued.
Australia should indeed be forced to change its tune since there is only one valid position 5 left, Duop Reath, and it will therefore be necessary to opt in sequence for the “small ball” around wingers like Xavier Cooks, Nick Kay and therefore Jack White.
“There’s a path we’re going to have to take, and we’re going to have to be very good at some things to achieve our goals without Jock, but it’s doable. I saw snippets of it in this last match.
Australia face France on Sunday morning, before concluding their preparation against Georgia.
