Mike Cron says the Wallabies must brace for a “baptism of fire” on their grand slam tour up north, but the veteran scrum coach, who made the telling admission he was “surprised” by some of the group’s skill set, believes his new group of forwards can be “competitive” against England.
The Wallabies fly to London on Thursday evening hoping to snap their 40-year grand slam drought.
Few, if any, would dare to dream that the Wallabies can repeat the feats of Andrew Slack’s side.
Indeed, rookie Test prop Isaac Kailea didn’t want to put the cart before the horse earlier in the week when he stuck to the well-trodden line that “if we can knock off the first win then [we’ll] look forward to the next one.”
Cron, who never went into a Test match not thinking they’ll win it during a 15-year career with the All Blacks, also stuck to the party line.
“Well, I think what we do every day, really. I mean, Joe drives that a lot about being intentional every day in everything we do, whether it be recovery or weights or particularly when we put our boots on,” he said.
“You’ve got to be intentional in what you’re going to do.
“You don’t just rock up and go through the motions. And we can’t afford to do that.
“I know it’s a bit of a cliché that every day you try and be better than yesterday, but that is certainly being driven here because we’ve got, what, 16 debutants that are learning and you’ve got to learn quick.”
Fraser McReight says the Wallabies are hopeful of finding some early momentum on their grand slam tour. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Blossoming flanker Fraser McReight, who is one of three nominees for Wednesday’s John Eales Medal alongside his back-row teammates Rob Valetini and Harry Wilson, threatened to go there when he admitted results were, indeed, important.
“I think for us, it’s about going up into playing a fair, tough brand of rugby over there,” he said.
“It’s about being able to get a win.
“England is tough at Twickenham, then we go to the Welsh game, which we played a few games against them this year.
“If we can get one early, we’re building really nicely into the backend of that spring tour, which builds momentum for the Lions, I feel.
“We always want wins but, again, it’s just about us building connections and building what we want to play like.”
Their first-up challenge against England at the newly named Allianz Stadium won’t be easy.
Not only haven’t they won at the venue since their famous World Cup victory over England in 2015, the Wallabies, whose last Test was against the All Blacks last month, will come in cold against Steve Borthwick’s men, who themselves will enter the Test after taking on Scott Robertson’s team this weekend.
Joe Schmidt says the Wallabies’ scrum is in the ring after a tough start to the TRC against South Africa. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
As always in the autumn up north, winning the set-piece battle will be essential if the Wallabies are to go toe-for-toe with last year’s World Cup semi-finalists.
So how is the Wallabies’ scrum going nine Tests into Cron’s reign?
“They’re going well,” Cron said.
“They’re improving every week and we had another big day today, and we’ve got a mixture, haven’t we, of experience and youth. And that’s great. The young guys like Isaac are learning off the older guys.
“I’m actually enjoying it. From where they started, they’ve done well.
“Now, we go into another baptism of fire up there, which is great. But you know what’s coming, so that’s great. Just go towards it and I’m sure they’ll do well.”
But can they do a job on the English scrum?
“They’re capable of being competitive and that’s when you’re competitive and when you can get in the ring, you’re in the ring, aren’t you?” Cron said.
“So these boys are going good and they’ve come up against like South Africa and the All Blacks, which has given them a good lead-in, I think, up to Northern Hemisphere.”
Assistant coach Mike Cron ahead of the Wallabies’ Bledisloe clash against the All Blacks on September 28 (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
In particular, the grand slam tour is an opportunity for experienced tight-head props to not just show their experience but their quality.
Achilles injuries nine months apart over the past 24 months have meant arguably the most important position on the field has been destabilised massively.
On that journey to recovery, questions have been asked as to whether Allan Alaalatoa will ever return to his previous heights while others have questioned if Taniela Tupou will ever reach the world class status many hoped he’d already be.
But Cron said both were making strong progress.
“Well, you know, Achilles, they take a long time,” Cron said. “They reckon it can take up to a couple of years in it to get fully right again.
“I know Allan from where he came back from his injury down in Canberra from how he was playing then to how he’s playing now, he’s making a huge improvement. He’s getting around like a 21-year-old at the moment. He’s enjoying it. And his body’s good.
“I think it does take a wee while coming back from those big injuries. You’ve just got to monitor the training. You’re training a racehorse here. You can’t go too hard during the week to get them ready for race day. You just give them enough. So each week he’ll get better.”
Wallabies scrum coach Mike Cron with head coach Joe Schmidt, James Slipper and Nic White following their Bledisloe loss to the All Blacks. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
As for Tupou, Cron remembers coaching as a teenager, and the New Zealander still rates him highly.
“He’s delightful to coach,” Cron said. “I really enjoy coaching him. And great character. He’s probably the most explosive prop I’ve ever coached.”
That fact alone that Cron spent time teaching Tupou the fundamentals of the game as a teenager stands out for the veteran coach.
Asked what had surprised him most since switching allegiances and coaching with the enemy, Cron said he was surprised the fundamental skills weren’t coached from every level of the game.
“I was surprised with some of the skills they probably needed probably at a younger age,” Cron said.
“We just had to go back a wee bit to make sure we nailed that and bring them through. But rugby players are rugby players. I’ve done a wee bit of coaching in 15 countries, so you get to know different nationalities. Every rugby player, I think, in any country are a bit the same. They bar up. They love doing what they’re doing, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. And they’re very keen to get better.”
Asked for a specific example, Cron added: “The hardest thing was just to get to know the players. Like, who the hell am I looking at when you’re watching a Super Rugby game? What school do they go to?
“Back in New Zealand, you knew them. You’d coach them. I’d coached boys.
“Every All Black I’d coached at some stage in their younger career.
“So that was the difficult part, getting to know [them], trying to match the name with the face and then their background and what made them tick, and then meeting them, introducing yourself and forming relationships. So that takes time.”