The presence of George Gregan at the first Bledisloe Cup clash at Accor Stadium on Saturday, as part of the tributes to James Slipper’s record, may provide Australian fans with some nostalgia around things long since departed for the Wallabies.

The days when John Williamson would belt out a tune at Homebush, for example. Or when the Wallabies occasionally won the Bledisloe Cup, and the prime minister would drink from it and then charge around in a green tracksuit the next day.

Or maybe the sight of Gregan will be a simple reminder of when the Wallabies didn’t change their halfback as often as their undies.

In the 156 Test matches played by the Wallabies between his Test debut and retirement, Gregan played 139 of them - starting in 133 and playing the full 80 minutes 94 times. It reflected Gregan’s centrality to the Wallabies’ successes, but it was certainly tough going for understudy Chris Whitaker, who sat unused on the bench for over 50 Tests.

Wallabies Halfback Merry-Go-Round

Gregan’s permanence is in stark contrast to the merry-go-round at halfback in recent years, where Wallabies coaches have cycled through their scrum-feeders with head-scratching frequency.

After Gregan moved on, Will Genia, Luke Burgess, Nick Phipps and Nic White shared the duties through the late noughties and the 2010s, but since the 2019 World Cup the No.9 shirt has been a hot potato.

White, Jake Gordon and Tate McDermott have consistently been the same three squad halfbacks picked by Dave Rennie, Eddie Jones and Joe Schmidt, but none of the trio has been trusted to consistently start. Or even come off the bench.

The longest starting stretch was 14 games for White in 2021 and 2022, but since that run ended with a loss to the Springboks in Sydney, the No.9 jersey has been passed between the trio 16 times in the last 24 Tests.

The No.22 (reserve halfback) has been equally rotated, and combined with equally inconsistent selection in the Wallabies No.10 role, the team has repeatedly had to re-set with new halves. Since 2020, there have been 14 separate halves combinations used.

Is Rotation Destabilising?

Last year McDermott appeared to bed down the role under Jones, and even captained the Wallabies, but under Schmidt he has only started once. Gordon has been Schmidt’s preferred halfback until White was still given the starting job against the Springboks in Perth - and then played no role in Argentina as Gordon returned.

But this week White was thrust back into the starting side, and Gordon was dropped out of the 23-man squad. The only constant has been McDermott on the bench.

Asked if the merry-go-round of halfbacks might be destabilising, Schmidt said: “Hopefully it’s not destabilising because we all train together anyway.

“Hopefully, there’s a bit of freshness as well because Nic White didn’t play in Argentina.

“All the nines have great leadership. They’ve all, at some stage, been skipper of their Super Rugby side. Nic was a pretty good fit and a good fit with Noah [Lolesio].

“They’re both originally from the Brumbies. They’ve played a fair bit of time together. We just felt that that combination would be a good one to start us off on Sunday.”

Insiders say Schmidt’s desire to use existing combinations explain some of the selections, seen with White’s connection to Lolesio, and McDermott’s Reds link with Tom Lynagh as the reserve halves.

“I feel very comfortable playing with Whitey,” Lolesio said.

“He has a real edge. And I think as a squad, we’re really spoiled with our nines.

“I’ve spent four years with Whitey, Tate and Jake. And they’re all great players and even better men. They’ve all individually got their strengths. And I think it’s just up to Joe who he prefers.”

More Than Just Combinations

White’s capacity to get under the skin of New Zealanders may have also been on the mind of Schmidt, who was in the All Blacks camp as recently as last year.

The success of the Gregan-led era came, partly, via astute Wallabies leaders who realised their best chance of beating the All Blacks came by not playing the game at their preferred tempo, and by disrupting their focus. Gregan made provoking All Blacks an art form and White is not far off as a niggle-merchant.

While the Wallabies may be spoiled for choice in the halfback department, the constant rotation may be hindering their ability to build consistency and trust on the field. With the Bledisloe Cup on the line, the pressure is on Schmidt to find the right combination, and fast.

Watch all the action from The Rugby Championship with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport. Round 5 kicks off this weekend with Wallabies v All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup (Saturday 3pm AEST) and Argentina v South Africa (Sunday 6:50am AEST).