It has been a wild few months for Noah Lolesio, the 21-year old fly-half who has been tabbed by Wallabies coach Dave Rennie to replace Quade Cooper, who opted not to travel with the Australian team due to commitments with his Japanese side Kintetsu.
Lolesio was considered by many to be a lock for the initial Wallabies squad, with his omission shocking much of the Australian rugby landscape.
Debuting against the All-Blacks over a year ago during the Bledisloe cup, the youngster was then dropped from the side, with Rennie claiming he wanted to give Lolesio a proper pre-season.
This has now, however, gone out the window, with Lolesio set to line-up against the Scottish team on Sunday, a feat that according to ex-Wallabies coach Michael Cheika will be a great opportunity to prove his worth to the national team going forward.
“I think these experiences, getting picked, getting dropped, having those experiences, it’s all part of understanding how to be a footballer first at this level, because that’s what happens it’s about selection,” Cheika said.
“Maybe coach Rennie has been giving him a taste of it then letting him earn it, come back again, you know, I think that’s where players get their experiences from, and then what it is is it’s how the player uses that.
“They can either sulk because they didn’t get picked, or they can say ‘right, I’ve been given that opportunity, now I don’t have it, now I’m getting it again I’m going up a level and taking it to another level’.”
Pointing out that this situation has played out many times before, Cheika likened the selection to a similar instance with the All-Blacks.
“You look across to new zealand and you’ve seen beauden barrett go up to another level because he’s been met with the challenge of richie mo’unga, and you want to see that across your team, you want to see high quality players competing against each other, whether that’s the return of Quade Cooper, you’ve got Kurtley Beale coming on this tour, you’ve got James O’Connor, Noah Lolesio,” Cheika said.
He was also defensive of his fellow coach, saying that Rennie was acting in the best interest of the team, and also aiding the development of Lolesio.
“We often talk about how, and maybe I’m standing up for coaches here, but we often talk about how coaches can pick and choose like that, but I think they’re almost giving the invitation to players to use that experience and say ‘now you’ve had a taste of it’, which he did, and I thought the kid did quite well in those games, and he got selected game after game, now he’s had that taken away from him, there’s some competition, and now he’s got another opportunity,” Cheika said.
“So how will he perform, how he performs given that opportunity inside that competitive environment is exactly where the coach wants him to be.
“Now all of a sudden you’re going ‘hang on, there’s options here’ and as a player you look at it and go ‘I better not take anything for granted here, I’ve gotta go up a level’.
“And it might just be that one or two percent, or slightly longer kicks, or better kicks at goal, you don't know what it is but it can turn into winning matches.”
