Reds flanker Ed Quirk holds off Waratahs fullback Israel Folau on his way to setting up the winning try Picture: Darren England Source: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
EWEN McKenzie looks at the world's best rugby team, the All Blacks, and asks what reason there is that Ed Quirk can't play blindside flanker for the Wallabies.
The top 49 Wallabies candidates assembled in Sydney yesterday for a logistics camp ahead of the British and Irish Lions series and Quirk wasn't one of them.
Granted, the players invited to attend the camp were chosen ahead of Saturday's interstate Super Rugby clash at Suncorp Stadium in which Quirk emerged as the man of the match. But even if that had been known in advance, Quirk might not have been called up. There doesn't seem to be much call in Australian rugby for a 191cm, 108kg blindside flanker.
Yet put the suggestion to McKenzie that Quirk is too small to play Test football in the position he occupied for Queensland and the Reds coach, as he is wont to do these days, answers the question with one of his own. "Tell me this . . . who plays in the back row for the All Blacks?" That would be Kieran Read (193cm, 105kg), Richie McCaw (187cm, 106kg) and, depending on fitness and form, generally either Liam Messam (190cm, 108kg) or Victor Vito (192cm, 112kg).
"I always start with the All Blacks and work backwards because they're the benchmark," said McKenzie. "Do they have 120kg locks? Do they have an amazingly tall back row? It's not always about size."
The Reds demonstrated that with their 25-17 victory over a far bigger and heavier Waratahs side on Saturday night, while Quirk drove home the point with a powerhouse game in which he made a pest of himself at virtually every breakdown before finishing the match with a run in which he smashed through four defenders in a 40m gain that almost took him to the tryline.
But even when Israel Folau grappled him to the ground just short of the chalk, he couldn't prevent Quirk releasing the ball for acting Reds captain Ben Tapuai to stroll over for the match-winning try.
"A Quirk of Fate" read the inevitable headlines but there was nothing quirky about the run that decided the match. By that stage, with the Tahs clearly fatigued across the board, he was always the player most likely to break the game open.
Last season, Scott Higginbotham (195cm, 110kg) dominated the No 6 jersey, not just in the Wallabies Test side but for Queensland as well, which effectively shut Quirk out of the game, while the Australian blindside flanker currently earning most kudos is Brumbies captain Ben Mowen, whose physical stats are identical to Higginbotham's.
But the question now is how prepared Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is to look outside the square in selecting his 22 to play the Lions -- and not just where Quirk is concerned. Reds openside flanker Liam Gill also is disturbing well-settled plans by, at worst, breaking even with David Pocock in the Brumbies match and then outpointing Michael Hooper on the weekend.
But it's not just Deans with the pleasant selection headaches. McKenzie has them as well as he prepares to turn the Reds around quickly for Friday night's clash with the Hurricanes.
Anthony Fainga'a is expected to be fully recovered from a hand injury he suffered in a pre-season trial victory over the Blues in Toowoomba, but it will not be easy for him to reclaim a centre spot considering how well teenager Chris Feauai-Sautia teamed with Tapuai in the midfield.
And a place has to be found for Mike Harris because of his goalkicking but it was evident when Luke Morahan came into the fullback position late in the NSW match how much Harris's lack of speed at 15 is detracting from the Reds attack.
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