Top Candidates to Make Wallabies World Cup Squad Following Overseas Alterations
Australian rugby took on a drastic change in April after the ARU announced its plans to ease its policy on selecting overseas players, a transition which stands to benefit a very elite sample of Wallabies.
With England hosting the Rugby World Cup later this year, the Australian Rugby Union confirmed it would "allow an elite group" of foreign-based players to once again pull on the green and gold.
The new rules are still rather specific, with a player allowed to represent "if they have played more than 60 Tests for Australia and have held a professional contract with Australian Rugby for at least seven years."
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Their involvement at the World Cup is still far from assured, but we've picked the standout candidates who could be in line for a recall to the squad in time for the global tournament.
Drew Mitchell
Thankfully for Drew Mitchell, he accumulated 63 Australia caps across an eight-year spell before departing for Toulon in 2013, meaning he just about qualifies for an international return under the new rules.
It's great news for Michael Cheika, too, as the Wallabies coach gets to examine the prospect of recalling a back-three utility arguably playing his best-ever rugby, as was shown in this season's Champions Cup triumph.
Having scored 30 tries for the national team before taking his leave of Australia two years ago, Mitchell possesses a Wallaby scoring ratio of just under one try every other game on average—nothing to shrug at.
What's more, one might even suggest the 31-year-old has taken his game up a notch since moving to the Top 14 and his barnstorming score from deep against Clermont in this season's European final was nothing short of sublime:
It's dazzling moments of magic under intense pressure such as this that Cheika will surely analyse and look upon as something he needs, especially with the threats of Wales and England looming in Pool A.
OptaJonny points out just what a prolific figure the winger-cum-full-back is when it comes to beating his opponents with ball in hand, just shy of being the Top 14 leader in that regard:
The wide areas were something of an issue for Australia last summer and during their November series, where Nick Cummins' absence left Cheika waiting on Henry Speight to qualify for national selection.
What's more, cover for Israel Folau at the back certainly wouldn't go astray, with Mitchell even possibly bringing the Waratahs talisman competition for the starting berth.
George Smith
Experience is something that never goes astray at a major tournament and with 111 Australia caps to his name, they don't come much wiser than breakdown specialist George Smith.
Smith, an ex-Toulon man himself, is currently plying his trade with Lyon after leaving Japanese outfit Suntory Sungoliath last year. Former Wallabies assistant coach Tim Lane has vocalised admiration for the back rower, per the Daily Telegraph's Jon Geddes (via Fox Sports):
"George has been judged one of the best players week in-week out by the French rugby magazine Midi Olympique. The Top 14 is a good standard of rugby and George is physically as good as he has ever been. At the breakdown he wins two, three, four penalties a game and his turnover rate is also as good as ever.
Had he been playing Super 15 and Test rugby in that period it probably have would have been a different story for him. He played the majority of the time at No.8 for us just because of his skill level with the ball at the back of the scrum.
You can play a lot off the back of the scrum with him. With his experience, with his workrate in defence and in attack he is still up to it. And if they were to look at him he wouldn’t let them down, he would kill it.
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Falling short of expectations isn't really a process that runs through the mind of a professional like Smith, who would be coming back into the Wallabies team for a third time after a recall in 2013.
The fact selectors saw the veteran as fit for a return against the British and Irish Lions that year showed what an evergreen talent he was, and at 34 years of age—he'll be 35 before the World Cup—Smith is still fit as a fiddle.
Captain Michael Hooper isn't a replaceable figure right now and Smith may not be an outright case to start, but if ever a down and dogged fighter was needed to help seal a lead, there'd be few as reliable as he.
Smith even earned his way into the most recent Barbarians squad to take on Ireland and England later this year, showing just how strong the faith remains that he is still up to an elite challenge:
Able to play across the back row and to a high standard at that, the Wallabies centurion could yet make for a sensational story if his Top 14 form earns him another run-out in national colours.
Matt Giteau
Possibly the most obvious case in point to make his way into Cheika's setup, Matt Giteau has arguably been the most critical driving force behind Toulon's success in recent years.
But despite winning three successive European titles with the French giants, he still casts an admirably humble figure, telling Fox Sports (via Telegraph's Nick Mulvenney) he's uncertain as to whether he can make the grade:
"It is different – there is no question it is different. The game over here is a bit slower to Super Rugby. As far as Test rugby, it’s really, really hard for me to say. The last time I played was in 2011. If am chosen, if I am selected, I would love to be a part of it but I haven’t played at that level, so I don’t know if I am up for it. That’s probably the biggest question.
I would certainly love to test myself and give myself every chance to have a go at it. But there are certainly no promises there. If you’re not up for it, you’re not up for it.
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People may look upon retired Jonny Wilkinson or any of Toulon's Southern Hemisphere stars as most critical to their cause in past seasons, but the terrifically versatile Giteau has always been there in a pinch.
After again playing a lead role in the club's Champions Cup victory earlier this year, Giteau called it the "best feeling" of his career, showing he's sampling every bit of his time in Europe:
Following a staggered experiment with Quade Cooper and with neither Bernard Foley nor Matt Toomua standing out as elite choices at fly-half, the 32-year-old could yet be the answer Cheika needs in that position.
It merely helps the Australia coach that Giteau is so capable at inside centre and could assuredly be counted on to do a job elsewhere if need be, the perfect sort of asset to boast at a Rugby World Cup.
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