'He is such a big presence in our team': Wallabies ironman reveals secrets to success

WELLINGTON: It has become a weekly conundrum for Stan Sport's Between Two Posts crew as they unpack the weekend's events.

In dishing out their 3-2-1 best on ground 'Posty' votes, Rob Valetini's name is metronomically in the mix.

The Wallabies and Brumbies bruiser simply doesn't do bad games anymore - a fact reflected in his status as Australia's reigning John Eales Medallist.

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"I've left him out of these a couple of times because he's always rolling out good performances," Wallabies great Michael Hooper, himself a model of consistency, said on the show.

"He is such a big presence in our team. He's probably first picked, every week, at the moment."

Bob Dwyer, the 1991 Rugby World Cup-winning coach, holds the view that a nation needs at least five genuinely world class players to be in contention to win the tournament.

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Valetini - who has only missed two of Australia's last 45 Tests - is arguably the country's only lock in that category at the moment.

Marika Koroibete, who is tipped to lose his starting spot to Dylan Pietsch for Saturday's Bledisloe Cup rematch in Wellington, has been in that class but may be losing his battle with Father Time.

Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou have the potential to enter that discussion but need their injury-plagued bodies to play ball.

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Fraser McReight is very quickly rising the ranks and in combination with Valetini and new captain Harry Wilson, the Wallabies have their backrow for the next five years.

"They (McReight and Wilson) know each other very well, so I'm just trying to fit in with them, trying to fill in the blanks there," Valetini told Wide World of Sports.

"Watching them play together, the connection with each other is unreal. They know each other inside out. That cohesion with each other will get better as we train and as the campaign goes on."

Born in Melbourne to Fijian parents, Valetini found his rugby home in Canberra with the rock solid Brumbies development program.

Now 26 and with 47 Tests to his name, Valetini just keeps churning out quality performances on both sides of the ball.

Even his trademark big hairstyle is consistent.

"It's something I've been trying to work on the last couple of years, just consistently going out there and performing," Valetini said.

"Doing the jersey proud for the squad and the supporters. I strive to have the trust of my teammates as well, just knowing what they're going to get from me each week and play hard."

The reality is that Valetini knows he will be one of the first names - if not the first - on Joe Schmidt's team sheets each week.

The challenge for a world class player in a rebuilding team often comes from within and it's mental.

He refuses to cut corners.

"It's obviously a hard challenge and the games can take their toll on the body as well. When I first came in (to the Wallabies in 2019), I had a lot of old heads above me and you get to learn the tricks and the trade. Simple things that you can do off the field to be ready and mentally prepped to train and then put a performance out."

The man known as 'Bobby V' admits he loves his sleep and would love to linger in his hotel bed each morning.

But he's now pushing himself to get up and about early for walks, swims or saunas to aid recovery.

Sitting next to Valetini's massive arms in his Wallabies singlet is a humbling experience but the All Blacks forwards he is colliding with are equally imposing.

"They've got some real good individuals there and we just had some misreads in our defence," he reflects in the wake of the 31-28 loss to New Zealand in Sydney.

"Unfortunately you can't let a team like New Zealand get 28 points early in the first half. I was proud with the efforts in the second half to fight back and get ourselves back into the Test but ultimately we fell short.

"That probably our biggest work on, just being able to switch on early and take the game to them. Obviously disappointed the Bledisloe is not up for grabs anymore.

"But any time you represent Australia, you have to put your best foot forward. It's the last All Blacks game on home soil this year and a sold out crowd as well. So they want to go out with a bang and for us that's quite exciting."

Australia was far too passive in defence early in the afternoon sun at Accor Stadium.

Schmidt later explained that he is not yet asking the Wallabies to match the line speed of other major nations as he looks to first bed in his defensive structures and increase continuity of selection.

But Valetini agreed there needed to be a sharpening of intent.

"We found ourselves out of position three times in defence and we weren't able to get off the line because we weren't in position early," he said.

"So that's been a work on for us - just our urgency to work off the ball, to get in position so that we can get off the line. Some of the tries that they scored, we weren't ready to get off the line and bring line speed and they were just cutting us into pieces there. Damian McKenzie and Will Jordan have got good feet on them so it's pretty hard if you're not set."

Meanwhile, the Wallabies announced on Wednesday that winger Max Jorgensen had not recovered from illness and will return to Australia.

Jorgensen has been replaced in the squad by Darby Lancaster.

The 'Ironman': Wallabies backrowers used since 2021

Rob Valetini - 43 games

Pete Samu - 23 games

Rob Leota - 21 games

Michael Hooper - 20 games

Fraser McReight - 20 games

Harry Wilson - 12 games

Tom Hooper - 10 games

Langi Gleeson - 9 games

Lachie Swinton - 6 games

Carlo Tizzano - 4 games

Isi Naisarani - 3 games

Josh Kemeny - 2 games

Charlie Cale - 2 games

Liam Wright - 1 games

Luke Reimer - 1 game

Seru Uru - 1 game

- Stats courtesy of Stan Sport's Kate Lorimer