The Wallabies have named what appears to be their full strength team for the first big assessment of the season, facing only the fifth team to win in New Zealand since 2000.

 

On this result, expectations are high that the French will provide a stern test for Deans, who remains firmly entrenched as the darling of the Australian media.

 

One only has to look at the team that was rolled out to play the Italians in the second test in Melbourne. 

 

Here was an opponent outside the top ten nations of the world; it is in the early into 15 match international season, you want to try your less experienced players, and some of the big names such as Captain Stirling Mortlock needed a rest. 

 

So why not make 16 changes to your match day squad, and wield out probably the weakest—in terms of experience—Australian test team in modern history.

 

Only 20,280 souls turned up, and there were a host of reasons that were not rugby related that could explain what the ARU said was a poor crowd.

 

Socceroo’s had just played in Melbourne, Victoria is in the middle of a pandemic, or both are a flooded sporting market.

 

Most indicative though, according to most theorists, including the ARU, was that it was Italy, who was soundly beaten in Canberra, and was not going to draw a crowd.  In comparison to say the 2010 Bledisloe test in Melbourne. 

 

This is a moot point, as on pure numbers, an All Black Wallaby clash guarantees “full house” signs.

 

But no one mentioned the fact that Deans himself had actually treated the Italians with a small measure of contempt by happily rolling out the second tier Wallabies (Australia A should be playing in the Pacific Nations, not in a test match), and in essence, did what his boss John O’Neill had said last year must  never happen again.

 

A midyear test with under strength test teams.

 

But didn’t Deans do this?

 

Could some of Melbourne have stayed away because it was a weak Wallaby team?

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