WARATAHS five-eighth Kurtley Beale's development into a world-class No.10 could be hindered by the absence of seasoned internationals in the NSW back line, says Queensland Reds centre Morgan Turinui.
Turinui, a former Waratah and Wallaby, said the NSW pivot's predicament was in stark contrast to his Queensland counterpart, Quade Cooper, who, like Beale, started his Super 14 career in 2007 as an 18-year-old school-leaver.
In this year's Super 14, starting on February 13, Turinui said he expected Cooper to show how much he has learnt from training and playing inside Wallabies superstars Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock during last year's end-of-year tour.
Cooper will also benefit from playing inside Wallabies stars such as the calm and collected Berrick Barnes, Turinui and wingers Digby Ioane and Peter Hynes at the Reds. Turinui said Cooper had gained invaluable experience from his star performances on the Wallabies tour.
"He [Cooper] is a guy that these tours are designed for," Turinui said on the podcast at
www.ruggamatrix.com. "He came back a much more confident, competent and more complete player. He is a lot more confident directing the team around the paddock. Everyone forgets that he has just passed 20 years old. It is important he becomes one of our leaders. Obviously, he has the calm influence of Barnes outside him."
In contrast, Beale, who will be on the bench in the Waratahs' trial match against the Fiji Warriors in Newcastle tonight, has no Wallabies experience after injury ruled him out of last year's tour.
The Waratahs backs have Wallabies in Lote Tuqiri, Lachie Turner, Luke Burgess, Timana Tahu and Sam Norton-Knight, but Turinui says only Tuqiri has the capacity to be a mentor.
"[Beale] has missed out on that mentoring that he would have received from players like Giteau, Mortlock and those style of players [on the Wallabies tour] .. It will be interesting to see if there has been any gap between Quade over Kurtley in their development," Turinui said.
Turinui's observation highlights a situation the Waratahs saw coming months ago.
Waratahs head coach Chris Hickey and assistant Scott Wisemantel have implemented a back-line strategy to alleviate the pressure on Beale. Responsibility for back-line calls, which normally rests with the No.10, will be shared.
The wingers and fullback will be the "eyes" of the back line and read the play, while the centres will make the calls. The half-back and five-eighth become "conduits" for the ball. But Turinui, who will play with Cooper, Hynes and Ioane for the Reds in their trial against the Blues in Auckland tonight, said he expected the pressure would still fall on Tuqiri to guide Beale through an important season.
"Kurtley has Lote, who is not always there because he is off on international duties, and that's about it [in the Waratahs back line] with guys who have been there done that," he said. "When I came to the Waratahs' full-time squad, the incumbent centres were Nathan Grey and Matt Burke and the halfback was Chris Whitaker. You can't ask for three better teachers than that. It will be tough for Kurtley. He has other guys around him, guys who are new to Super 14 or even rugby in Timana. He just hasn't got that really invaluable asset of experience [around him].
"I suppose Lote, a lot of that responsibility will go to him to keep helping and even build [Beale's] confidence and give him pointers."
� Waratahs captain Phil Waugh yesterday was ruled out of tonight's trial after rolling his ankle at training on Wednesday. Beau Robinson will replace Waugh as No.7, while tight-head prop Al Baxter will be captain.
