In hindsight, it’s no huge surprise Joe Schmidt plucked Carlo Tizzano from relative obscurity to replace the injured Fraser McReight as the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship campaign began.
Schmidt didn’t use the phrase ‘like-for-like’ in outlining Tizzano’s elevation to the squad, but was certainly full of praise for the Western Australian’s work rate.
“His energy is relatively positive, he’s more than abrasive, but he fights for everything, and that’s what first caught our eye,” said the coach.
McReight’s thumb injury required surgery, and ruled him out of the opening tournament matches against South Africa. It quickly became apparent, as the Wallabies slipped to two heavy defeats, he was probably the one player they couldn’t afford to lose.
The Queensland back-row hasn’t made the trip to Argentina either, with the Wallabies ruling him out, alongside centre Hunter Paisami, when naming the 35-man squad which departed for South America late last week.
It led to more mention of a recall for Sean McMahon, just the latest example of the working assumption among Australian fans that anyone playing overseas must be playing well. And that’s especially true of McMahon, with these latest mentions either ignoring or just plainly not knowing he hasn’t played a League One game in Japan since March 2022. It truly is time to let this idea go, people.
But with Schmidt electing to leave Brumbies on-baller Luke Reimer at home as well, the Wallabies have just one specialist open-side flanker in the squad: Tizzano.
He’s quite a dynamic competitor around the breakdown and I think in the context of losing Fraser, we needed someone who could bring elements of Fraser’s game but probably not all of them.
This will be something of a gamble. Force lock Jeremy Williams is fit again and could be called on to cover blind-side, while Brumbies tyro Tom Hooper has played seven at Test level before and would be seen as another option. If push came to shove, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto could pack down on the side of the scrum, though that feels a bit like weakening a strength in moving him away from lock.
The back-row is the ultimate barometer of how well Los Pumas are going as a whole, and you only need look at the stunning win over New Zealand earlier this month for proof. In Wellington, the trio of Pablo Matera, Marcos Kremer, and Juan Martin Gonzalez were almost super-human at the breakdown and inflicted grievous problems on the All Blacks pack en route to yet another memorable win. A week later, both the back-row and the team as a whole were well beaten in Auckland.
What the Argentina loose trio will encounter in Tizzano might best be described as Puma-like.
“He’s quite a dynamic competitor around the breakdown and I think in the context of losing Fraser, we needed someone who could bring elements of Fraser’s game but probably not all of them,” Schmidt said before the Springbok Tests.
Tizzano came into the Wallabies squad after a hugely consistent season for the Force, and finished leading tackler in Super Rugby Pacific by a good way. His 240 tackles averaged out at 17 per game, and he made more than 20 in a game three times in the Force’s last seven fixtures.
That carried over into his first two Tests, making 19 tackles in Brisbane and another 16 in Perth. Tizzano didn’t miss a tackle in either match, making him the most effective defender in the opening rounds of The Rugby Championship. Opta Stats also had him hitting 60 rucks in those two games – again, more than any other player.
35 – @wallabies’ Carlo Tizzano has been successful from 35/35 tackle attempts in the 2024 #TRC, the most of any player yet to miss one, with only Ethan Blackadder making more tackles overall (40); he has also hit more rucks than any other player in the competition (60). Shield. pic.twitter.com/y8ELyLTi01
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) August 19, 2024
But making loads of tackles and hitting plenty rucks is only part of the open-side’s role.
McReight produced similar tackle numbers, and at similar effectiveness, through the July Tests against Wales and Georgia, and even conceded a similar number of penalties and a yellow card. The big difference is what McReight did with ball in hand.
In those July Tests, McReight carried 24 times for more than 100m, averaging almost 4.5m per carry. But he also made line breaks, beat defenders, and got an offload away too.
Tizzano does carry, even at a similar volume per game, but he’s very much a middle channel ball-carrier, a sleeves-rolled-up, pick-and-drive packhorse. He doesn’t have the support line running with which McReight seems to produce weekly highlights, and doesn’t try to exploit the wider channels either.
Wallabies defence and breakdown guru Laurie Fisher was only being honest when he offered his “I don’t think there’s anything in our game… that’s world-class at this point” quote over the weekend.
Tizzano’s carry rates for the Force over the back half of the year were more than acceptable in quantity, but his meterage was less than half of McReight’s in July. That’s not a criticism, simply an explanation of what is a clear difference between two players. And this is just another challenge for the Wallabies in Argentina this week and next.
Defence and breakdown guru Laurie Fisher was only being honest when he offered his “I don’t think there’s anything in our game… that’s world-class at this point” quote over the weekend, before rightly adding all elements are still being worked on.
A big part of that will be the Wallabies shape around the breakdown, both in terms of positioning and their ability to compete for the ball.
And if they want Tizzano to be that on-ball presence, he can’t also be the one making 20 tackles a game. Clearly, defensive load needs to be shared and work rates lifted so ultimately, the fetcher can have a crack at fetching.
That in itself won’t be easy, with Opta Stats also revealing last week Los Pumas have won a greater share of their attacking rucks than any other side over the first two rounds.
97% – @lospumas have won a greater share of their attacking rucks than any other side in the 2024 @SanzarTRC (97.1%) and have also won more jackal turnovers than any other side in the competition (6) in addition to averaging the most metres gained per maul (3.9). Pack. pic.twitter.com/ec9ZgwhtO3
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) August 20, 2024
Tizzano has had the ultimate trial-by-fire start to his international career, but any player who makes 35 tackles and hits 60 rucks in their first two Tests is not someone Schmidt will easily discard.
Australia need to figure out how they can get the most from his workhorse game. The question for the Wallabies is what else they need to be doing in defence, to free Tizzano up to be the proper fetching open-side he can clearly be.
Nice one Brett. His work rate is there, but as you allude to the effectiveness or impact of that work still needs to develop. He is making his tackles but are they bone rattlers that put players behind the gain line? He is hitting rucks, but is he sealing them off single handedly in a line break situation? I think Schmidt will be happy with the lump of stone he has to work with in carlo, its now about moulding and developing him into a finished piece. Mcreight had a very similar arc in his early days where he would try and jackal at every ruck but end up giving away more penalties than he won. Harry wilson would made 15 tackles and 15 carries a game regularly for rennie, but he would still get dropped because they weren't dominant. I'd like to see carlo work on getting a couple of steals a game (and probably tackle less as a result as harry said on the pod), and be more dominant in the tackle. I don't think he has that attacking flair like mcreight, but maybe he can be a mongrel in d in the sam cane/hooper mould cutting guys in half 5m behind the ad line... that's the type of player I see in him. He could be a good kick chaser like hooper also. Also - really appreciated that line on mcmahon brett but you missed the opportunity to plug liam gill, the one true wallaby 7! ;)
The Sam Cane model is a good one, NH - but he's got other people around him making tackles so that he can pick his moment to pilfer.
This is the big progression in McReight's game now, that he's much better at knowing when to attack the ball and when to hold back when the moment's not quite right.
The McMahon discovery surpised me - I knew he missed all of last year and a chunk of the year before, but I didn't realised he's missed 2.5 League One seasons. Back listed on the Suntory roster for this season though, I note..
Both McMahon and Gill would still be better than the tough but dimunitive Cinzano. But our kiwi coach wouldn't want that.
So Brett I get what you are saying but i feel like a lot of people are putting Tizzano under too much pressure. The man has 2 caps and people are already talking about him being at his best, making impact and emulating Mcreight who by the way has just 17 caps. These lads are both so green yet the Wallabies are looking to them to be the point of difference. Look at SA, Ireland or the All Blacks and the players making the difference are closer to 100 caps than 50. The lad hit 60 Rucks and made 35 tackles against the best team in the world and thats what needs to be focused on. It was a heroic effort from a debutant. Talk of him not being a multidimensional player or not being the matchwinner Aus need does nothing for him, his confidence or development. South Africa have youngsters coming into the team like Wessels, Grobbelaar, Steenkamp, Nortje and others but nobody expects them to win matches. They just expect them to learn and get better and be ready for the day the old guard needs to step down. This is Tizzanos time to learn and improve and get better game on game so that one day he could become a top rate experienced international. I fear all the pressure being put on these young players in Aus will lead to nothing more than them not living up to expectations, getting dropped and then them leaving for foreign climes. Lolesio is such a talent but one wonders if he was just exposed to the circus that is rugby in Australia too early. Have they ruined him by expecting him to be something he is not? Carter Gordon already decided he had enough and left for league. I fear Tizzano may just end up in the same boat soon enough
I feel like that's what I focussed the article on, SK. My point being, Tizzano can't keep up these kinds and tackle and ruck numbers AND be expected to win turnover ball, too.
Clearly, the tackle and ruck loads need to be shared across the pack in particular, but the whole team in general..
(Also, teams know that one of the best ways to nullify a fetcher is to make them tackle - the Boks used to do the same thing against Pocock)
You make some good points SK, but I haven't really seen Carlo getting dragged over the coals... I see the rugby public of the view that he is making a fist of it, but that he is also no mcreight either. Which is a fair statement I think. These comments were made of mcreight when hooper was still in the picture. I think your argument is more valid for the 10s in noah/carter and also a guy like paisami who all cop plenty of flack no matter the performance.
Bringing Nella into the starting side isn’t going to help with defensive workrate. I’m hoping BPA gets a start and his on ball presence makes a differnece
Have we got over the relevance him being a step too slow to back into the D line against the Drua yet?
Neither played for a good while and neither played a test for even longer. Reports Nella may start but I wouldn’t be suprised if both are on the bench. Seems like the more sensible approach unless they’ve been training the house down and fit enough.