Big Will just can't tick all the boxes
Will Skelton's imposing frame, all 132 kilograms of the 203cm giant, is simply not enough to secure him a spot in the Australian tour squad.
Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie, in a teleconference call with the media after naming the 28-man touring squad for the trip to South Africa and Argentina, suggested Skelton's current conditioning is simply not good enough for the demands of the two-match Rugby Championship trip.
The Wallabies will assemble in Sydney on Friday, before flying to South Africa on Monday - ahead of Tests against the Springboks in Cape Town on Saturday, September 27 and Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday, October 4.
The 22-year-old Skelton is a juggernaut with ball in hand, a forceful presence at ruck and maul, while he has also produced some neat touches.
However, he lacks some of the core skills McKenzie demands from his second row forwards.
The Wallaby mentor said because Australia play a "pretty up-tempo style of game", Skelton needs to work on some of the aspects of his game.
"Will's a young guy and we threw him in at the deep end a bit against France to see where he was up to," he said in the teleconference, when asked why the Waratahs lock did not make the cut for the final leg of the Championship.
"He's a guy we like, he's got a lot of character, he adds a lot to the group, but he's still a young player.
"So he doesn't tick every box and we've been working on various skills."
One of the key areas where Skelton is falling short is his set-piece work, especially when he comes up against the Springboks' world-class line-out.
"There's a multitude of things you need to cover," McKenzie said, adding: "The line-out is an important area of the game, we have to get possession.
"Playing against the [Victor] Matfields and the like, you've got to have a lot of microskills.
"The scrum is another important sector of the game, we've seen that in the last few weeks."
However, the biggest issue around the young giant is that he lacks the general conditioning.
In order to improve his fitness, McKenzie decided that Skelton must play in Australia's new National Rugby Championship.
Skelton is set to be subjected to a gruelling schedule with the Sydney Stars.
"Part of it is just basic match fitness. He hasn't been getting a lot of time on the pitch," McKenzie told the media.
Skelton, after starting and playing 56 minutes in the third Test against France, was used just twice more this year - both times off the bench. He played 10 minutes against the All Blacks, when coming on for No.8 Wycliff Palu in Sydney, and the had a 16-minute run against the Kiwis in Auckland a week later, in place of flank Scott Fardy.
"If you're not playing, it makes it harder to maintain your match fitness
"If you look at the way we've been playing, we cover a lot of territory and that is physically challenging.
"The cameo bits can be important, but we have people doing that who have different skills as well.
"His contribution around the squad has been on the fringes of late, so we've made the decision that the best thing for him at the moment is to play.
"By not going [away on tour to SA and Argentina] he can play three games over the next three weeks and get some decent football under his belt."
McKenzie admitted that Skelton will need to manage his conditioning carefully.
"He's just a huge guy and he's still growing, but he needs to learn to control his condition. Because the game is aerobic, it needs skill, it needs power, it needs condition. He's got a bigger challenge because he's just a massive guy."
The Wallaby coach said the year-end tour would be the best time for Skelton to be re-introduced, as the Wallabies have five matches - against the Barbarians (London, November 1), Wales (Cardiff), France (Paris), Ireland (Dublin) and England (London) on successive weekends.
By Jan de Koning