Izaia Perese’s freakish strength has been compared to Ardie Savea as the Waratahs centre continues to give Wallabies coach Eddie Jones a welcome selection headache.
The 25-year-old played three Tests under previous coach Dave Rennie and was a late call-up to Jones’ camp on the Gold Coast in April following Len Ikitau’s concussion.
While Perese remains behind Brumbies standout Ikitau in the No.13 pecking order, he underlined his genuine X-factor in Friday’s crucial 21-20 win over the Highlanders.
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Perese dragged multiple Highlanders across the try-line at Allianz Stadium, pumping his legs and buying time for hooker Dave Porecki to lend a helping hand.
“He’s got a never give up type of attacking attitude,” former Wallaby Stephen Hoiles said on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts.
“It was a lot of help from Porecki, but at the same time, no other player stays up to give Porecki that opportunity. Porecki had three or four seconds to realise, ‘I can add some impact here.’ Yeah, you’ve got to give a bit of the credit to Porecki but Perese is a freak.”
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Morgan Turinui – a former Wallabies and Waratahs centre – was just as effusive in his praise for the former Reds and Broncos powerhouse.
“It’s like doing the running man,” Turinui said of the Perese try.
“He was pretty stationary for a long time. Ardie Savea and Perese are the players in the comp that stay up there. Everyone else finds the ground, looks for the safety of the ground and recycles. Both of them would just refuse there and it gave Porecki that opportunity.”
Turinui didn’t think it was likely that Perese and Ikitau would start together in the same Wallabies midfield – albeit with one caveat.
“Where you would look at it is if they’re going to play, say a Tom Wright, who can be a secondary ball player at 15,” Turinui said.
“Eddie might go ‘I want two running backs’ and Eddie has that in him, the way he plays his game sometimes. If he’s got enough out of his 15, you may well do.”
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