Michmutters

Plenty has happened in the few days since I suggested the Wallabies could win the Rugby Championship. Michael Hooper has come home, Quade Cooper could be out for the most part of a year, and despite all that Australia beat Argentina to get off to a winning start.

I’ll be honest. It’s going to be a bit more of a struggle now.

Quade brought so much direction in terms of the tactical nous and control of the game. You see that in the faith the coaching staff and players have in him.

We also don’t know when Hoops will be back and his leadership and his presence on the field is something that you can’t measure.

His talent as a player is immense but he also can galvanize a group. You just feel better when he’s on the field.

Add in the loss of Samu Kerevi and I think it’ll make things a little bit more difficult, especially because if you look at the Springboks, they were incredibly dominant against the All Blacks. They will be a tough challenge for us even though we play them here.

The Roar’s Brett McKay, Harry Jones and Jim Tucker discussed Australia’s impressive win in an Instant Reaction podcast. Stream it here

The group should still have every bit of belief they can win the competition but looking from the outside in now, because of those crucial injuries and withdrawals, I think success looks more like finding combinations that work for bigger challenges ahead as opposed to the outcomes from thisseries.

On a personal level, I’m gutted for Quade. He’s a friend and we’ve played together for almost 20 years.

I know hard he works to stay in good condition all year round. You saw Dave Rennie’s comments from him in the lead-up about how much of a difference Quade makes to that group in terms of his skill set and his leadership from him. And you saw that in the time that he played on Sunday – his ability to organize those around him and give that calming influence. It was also, after the disappointment of missing the England series, a great opportunity to build on what he did last year.

While this is shocking for Quade it could be the making of Noah Lolesio.

Rennie has an interesting call to make around the 23 for the second match this weekend.

Reece Hodge was picked to cover several positions because they went with a 6-2 split on the bench. I think if they went with 5-3 in Mendoza, Noah might have been on the bench.

You know what you’re going to get from Reece – he’s going to do his job well.

But if Quade is out for 12 months, I think they should be thinking about who they see fulfilling that role long term.

I’m not privy to training and the conversations that go on, but I would pick and stick with Noah. He had a really good Super Rugby season where he took the Brumbies to the semi-final. He makes sense in the short term as well as the long term.

They might see Hodgey as a long-term fix. If so, then go for him and put Noah on the bench.

Same with James O’Connor, although James is probably struggling in terms of his performances being up and down and, from all reports, he’s struggling with his body, and it’s breaking down a little bit. When I think about all those things put together, I like the idea of ​​Noah getting picked and them making it clear what the expectations of him are.

Quade Cooper of Australia is tackled by Santiago Carreras of Argentina during The Rugby Championship between Argentina Pumas and Australian Wallabies at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas on August 06, 2022 in Mendoza, Argentina. (Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

If they do that you get certainty within the unfortunate circumstances and that can help take Noah to another level.

He was getting picked ahead of Quade last year but he would have always known Quade was there or thereabouts.

Last year Quade was training the house down. Noah would have been feeling the pressure in training and that was transferring into the games. I don’t think he performed as well as he would have liked to last year.

I wouldn’t see going all in on him as a gamble because he’s two or three years into playing Test footy now. Now it’s a case of ‘Noah you’re our 10. We expect you to perform. This is what we see as the responsibilities within the team.’

It would give Noah a lot of confidence knowing that he has the backing to be able to build into the game.

He has to perform, that’s a given. I thought he was okay during the English series. At moments he played well in the first Test but there were things he could have done better in the remainder of it.

With Quade injured, if Noah steps into the No.10 he could look around and it’s essentially just him. It might be him, James or Reece but I would like to see him given the opportunity.

Stability in that position is important.

Around the 2019 World Cup, we chopped and changed our halves a lot. Whitey started against South Africa and I did against Argentina and in the World Cup he started two games and I did two and the quarterfinal.

You want continuity of combination and selection. You get comfortable with particular voices, different styles of play, leadership, and direction, and if that’s constantly chopping and changing it affects the guys around you and that dynamic within the 23.

Petaia ready to show he’s world class

It was so good to see Jordie Petaia get through 80 minutes in Sunday’s Test. A couple of times he was in space and I thought he’d open up and he hesitated just a bit. He’s starting to find confidence in his body but that was a positive step in the right direction.

If he gets through some more 80s, gets fit and conditioned and he’s in good shape, he’s going to be a superstar.

I genuinely believe that because of the skills, attributes, and abilities that he brings to the game. He’s excellent under the high balls. He’s strong. to competitor. He’s got great hands. He’s got great vision and good skills. He just needs time in the saddle to build confidence in his game to be able to execute at Test level.

At the 2019 RWC he played 13 for us in that quarterfinal and he was unbelievable. It’s all there – it’s just a case of building confidence in his body and then from that confidence in his game and understanding what his game looks like at Test level.

I think for the moment wing is the right position for him. But the more confidence he gets in his body from him and his game from him, I’d love to see him at 13.

The 80 minutes on the weekend was a good start. The number of injuries he’s had and the time he’s missed it’s probably affected his confidence in his body.

He’s a good kid, trains hard, and works hard. I’d love to be able to see him find some rhythm and consistency in games and then show everyone what a world-class talent he is.

bobby dazzler

I was impressed with our forward pack on Sunday although the game was pretty scrappy overall.

There were patches of good play but then there would be a little error or just disruption from the Argentina pressure or we would turn the ball over at the breakdown.

What kept us in the game was our ability at set piece. That was evident with the driving maul try and penalty try. But the ability to have parity and a good platform to attack off the back of the set piece is what kept us going.

We nailed our line outs and scrums. Being able to attack off set piece allowed us to stay in the game.

Bobby Valetini was incredible. With Samu Kerevi being out we lose a little bit of punch in midfield. It puts pressure on guys around that space to be able to deliver that and Bobby seems to have shouldered more responsibility in that space.

Fraser McReight must be the most like-for-like replacement player ever. He’s built like Hoops, has a similar game style – all energy and buzz – and is and always there in support or chasing back in defense.

He put pressure on at the breakdown, was always there in and support tackled very well and he was rewarded for his good core skills working around the set piece with a maul try.

GREENSBORO, NC – Joohyung “Tom” Kim was playing a practice round with Si Woo Kim on Wednesday at St. Andrews before The 150th Open Championship last month when he realized Trevor Immelman was following them.

The 20-year-old was nervous. He’d watched the Presidents Cup ever since his father, a golf pro from Korea, had first put a club in his hands at age 5. He knew Immelman was this year’s International captain, and he’d love nothing more than to play for him in next month’s matches at Quail Hollow.

“It was actually pretty nerve wracking for me for him to walk a couple holes,” Kim said with a grin. “Obviously you don’t want to shank one in front of your future captain, potentially.”

Not to worry. Kim recalls hitting the ball well during that practice round. And besides, Immelman had the young man who won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday on his radar long before that day.

One of his close friends, renowned teaching pro Claude Harmon III, had texted Immelman to tell him about the affable young man who is known as Tom because he loved the TV show “Thomas the Tank Engine” growing up. Seems Harmon had been out with one of his students who played with Kim, and he came away impressed.

“You’ve got to check this kid out,” Harmon told Immelman. “And so, from that moment on I started paying attention, because Claude is not only a great friend, but he’s somebody who’s been around the game his whole life. So, I trust his eye when it comes to spotting talent.

Kim did not disappoint. He finished third at the Genesis Scottish Open and seventh at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic before completing an improbable run from a quadruple bogey on his first hole at Sedgefield Country Club to his first PGA TOUR victory on Sunday.

“Isn’t it nuts?” Immelman said. “It’s crazy to even think about the fact that John Huh shoots 61 on Thursday morning and Tom starts his round with the quad. So he’s 14 behind after his first hole. … It just goes to show how brilliantly he’s played.”

“Hopefully, this gives me a close chance to make that team,” grinned the effervescent Kim, who moved to No. 34 in the FedExCup and 21st in the world.

Could be. Immelman was in the broadcast booth for GOLF Channel on Sunday, and he liked what he saw before he had to get on the road to Charlotte to catch a flight home to Orlando. Not only was Kim playing well, but Sungjae Im, a mainstay of International Teams past who ranks third in the standings, was in the mix as well, eventually finishing tied for a second.

Im, for his part, was also impressed by Kim’s performance.

“He’s a great kid and to come out here and to win on TOUR as a non-member and secure your card is really not an easy task, and he achieved that,” he said through an interpreter. “I’m really proud of him.”

Immelman said he’s enjoyed getting to know Kim, who has lived in Korea, Australia, China, the Philippines and Thailand, and speaks three languages. The two texts frequently, including on Saturday night, just as Immelman does with about 25 prospective International Team members as he tries to build a cohesive unit to take on the Americans Sept. 22-25 in Charlotte.

“He’s having a blast,” Immelman said. “He really is. He loves being out on the PGA TOUR. He told me it’s everything that he always dreamed of. He always wanted to play on the PGA TOUR, and everything is still new and fresh to him.

“And in a lot of ways, it’s kind of like he’s having to pinch himself. … He’s got this enthusiasm that is palpable.”

Immelman calls Kim, who became fully exempt on TOUR with Sunday’s victory, the “real deal.” And he sees a long future for Kim – who thrived on the support of the fans at Sedgefield yelling “Let’s go, Tom” – in the Presidents Cup.

“I’ll use Adam Scott as a role model, who in all likelihood will make our team as well and play his 10th Presidents Cup,” Immelman said. “He’s just turned 42. So, he can use Adam Scott as a role model and, and say to himself, man, I could be playing in the Presidents Cup for the next two decades.

“And by the end of it, in the next 10 years, he has an opportunity to even be one of the leaders of the team and in all likelihood he will be. So, it’s extremely exciting for me. I go back to the squad mentality of not just for this Presidents Cup, but for Royal Montreal and for Chicago and back to Royal Melbourne.

“The future is bright for us because we have all of this talent coming through from all around the world.”