Wallabies great George Gregan believes it’s a ‘horses for courses’ regarding who should start at scrumhalf for the Wallabies, believing coach Joe Schmidt has several solid options depending on how he wants to play.
Gregan is one of the best scrumhalves in the professional era, with his record for most caps for the Wallabies only broken last year.
Final tickets still available! Get your tickets for the British & Irish Lions tour here
The Hall of Famer was starting at scrumhalf the last time the Wallabies defeated the British & Irish Lions in 2001.
With Jake Gordon, Tate McDermott and Nic White battling to start in just under a fortnight for the opening Test in Brisbane, Gregan believes it’ll come down to what style of play Schmidt wants to implement.
“It's really up to Joe how he wants to play the game,” he said.
“Having watched him and done a bit of work with Tate, Tate brings speed into the game, brings his running game into it, brings the real energy. Jake's going to coordinate the game and manage that really well.
“It just depends how he wants to play it. Is he going to be kicking a bit more? Who knows. Does that bring Nick White in? It really is a horse for courses type situation.
“They're probably the two distinct differences between Tate and Jake. Tate brings that little bit more speed into the game. They're both great nines and they'll do a great job with either of them. or either three of them get picked.”
Gordon has been the preferred option for Schmidt in the past 12 months; however, he missed the Fiji Test with injury.
It gave McDermott the chance to start for just the second time under Schmidt, despite being selected in almost every game.
Gregan confirmed the Reds captain had sought out the World Cup champion on how to improve his decision-making.
“He asked a lot of questions around leadership, and the best form of leadership is performance,” he explains.
“I've worked with some wonderful players in this country and outside of it, especially with nines and tens, just their instincts are always very, very good so back those, particularly when you play big games and the pressure's on and you don't have too much time to think and you shouldn't have too much time to think because you're playing the best players in the world.
“Tate's got good instincts, they all do. If you're playing international rugby, you've got good instincts.”
Gregan also took the chance to praise Lions scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park after he established himself as the clear starter for the combined team.
“I don’t think you ever really shut down a player like Jamison Gibson-Park, you don’t really shut down someone like an [Antoine] Dupont or an Aaron Smith, they’re just quality players and they see the field,” Gregan said.
“He [Gibson-Park] sees the field very well ...he’s got a very good kicking game and he’s just got a really good feel for the game, when to run, when to pass, when to kick,” he added.
“If he’s got good playmakers on either side of him, which he does and which he will, it’s really, really hard. If you focus too much on him, then the players around him have more space, so that’s what makes him such a great playmaker and that’s why he’s been consistently one of the best nines in the world for a long period of time now.”
