{"id":314267,"date":"2023-07-07T01:05:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T01:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=314267"},"modified":"2023-07-07T01:59:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T01:59:34","slug":"under-used-weapon-explains-surprise-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=314267","title":{"rendered":"Under-used 'weapon' explains surprise selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Hoiles is tipping Quade Cooper to send a bombardment of cross-field kicks to Suliasi Vunivalu in the Wallabies winger's first Test start on Sunday (AEST) in Pretoria.<\/a><\/p>\n

Eddie Jones' selection of the former NRL star is a contentious one \ufeffgiven Vunivalu has mostly underwhelmed and struggled with injuries since switching codes in 2021.<\/p>\n

He made a brief cameo off the bench against Jones' England last year in what is his only previous Test experience but the Wallabies have \ufeffbig plans for the former Storm man.<\/p>\n

Watch Springboks vs Wallabies and Pumas vs All Blacks in the Rugby Championship on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Suliasi<\/p>\n

"I would be surprised if we don't see any crossfield kicks to him," former Wallabies loose forward Hoiles said on Stan Sport's Rugby Heaven<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"That's where I think his weapon has been underutilised. I'd imagine Quade's got that up his back pocket. Every (penalty) advantage might be a cross-field kick. Keep the winger on the paint."<\/p>\n

Vunivalu was selected ahead of Waratahs wingers Mark Nawaqanitawase and Dylan Pietsch\ufeff while Andrew Kellaway and Jordan Petaia remain on the comeback trail after injuries.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Legend's call after Marsh blasts sizzling Ashes ton<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Simple' problem that's 'losing England the Ashes'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Carey drowned in boos by savage English crowd<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1675685795708157953?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

Jones defended Vunivalu's selection by saying he'd observed "good habits" in Super Rugby Pacific which had flowed into his training work with the Wallabies.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"He's an exceptional player, strong in the air, big guy, got good pace. I've got no doubt he's going to do a good job for us," he said.\ufeff<\/p>\n

But former Wallabies lock Justin Harrison warned that a cross-field kicking strategy needed to be "\ufeffvery carefully thought out" against the world champions.<\/p>\n

\"Springboks<\/p>\n

Kurt-Lee Arendse will mark Vunivalu while veteran Willie le Roux and young gun Canan Moodie round out the back three of a largely second string side that is still being backed to extend a perfect Pretoria record against the Wallabies to 8-0.<\/p>\n

"Cross-field kicks have got a huge amount of risk involved, particularly up there," Harrison said on Rugby Heaven<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"You know that they're going to grow extra bodies everywhere because of the crowd in Pretoria. It's such a cauldron of aggression and there's all sorts of adversity that you're going to have to cope with if you invite risk into the game too much as well.<\/p>\n

\"Harrison's<\/p>\n

"South African sides want to play a power-based game – slow it down, speed it up, run over the top of you every opportunity they get."<\/p>\n

Wallabies centre Reece Hodge – who has a massive boot – hinted at plenty of kicking in his midweek press conference while Jones has \ufeffalso aired his thoughts in the buildup.<\/a><\/p>\n

But Wallabies legend Tim Horan said the lure of thin 1350m air could also prove a trap. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

"The challenge when you play at altitude is you think the kicking game's going to win you the match," Horan said.<\/p>\n

"So the less kicking you do – you've actually got to run the ball a bit more and try and score tries because otherwise you end up kicking too much ball away and the South African back three, they're pretty sharp."<\/p>\n

Jones lost all five of his Tests in South Africa in his previous term as Wallabies\ufeff coach.<\/p>\n

\"Coach<\/p>\n

But \ufeffrival Jacques Nienaber appears on edge ahead of their first meeting.<\/p>\n

"It is going to be tough for us to prepare for what Australia will bring," Nienaber said.<\/p>\n

"We are not sure."<\/p>\n

\ufeffSPRINGBOKS (15-1):<\/strong> Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Manie Libbok, Cobus Reinach, Duane Vermeulen (c), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco van Staden, Marvin Orie, Jean Kleyn, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> Joseph Dweba, Thomas du Toit, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Evan Roos, Deon Fourie, Grant Williams, Damian Willemse<\/p>\n

WALLABIES (15-1):<\/strong> Tom Wright, Suliasi Vunivalu, Len Ikitau, Reece Hodge, Marika Koroibete, Quade Cooper, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Michael Hooper (co-c), Tom Hooper, Will Skelton, Nick Frost, Allan Alaalatoa, Dave Porecki, James Slipper (co-c)<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> Jordan Uelese, Matt Gibbon, Zane Nonggorr, Richie Arnold, Pete Samu, Tate McDermott, Samu Kerevi, Carter Gordon<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Hoiles is tipping Quade Cooper to send a bombardment of cross-field kicks to Suliasi Vunivalu in the Wallabies winger's first Test start on Sunday […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=314267"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314272,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314267\/revisions\/314272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/314269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=314267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=314267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=314267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}