Wallabies good but the real test starts at Perth
Columnist By Spiro Zavos, 7 Jul 2008 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Alan Jones, commentators, Daniel Carter, France, Giteau, Ireland, lineout, Luke Burgess, Matt Giteau, Nathan Sharp, Nathan Sharpe, robbie deans, rugby, Rugby Union, Six Nations, South Africa, Stirling Mortlock, wallabies
The headline in The Sunday Telegraph celebrating the Wallabies 40 – 10 thrashing of an inept French side summed up the Brisbane Test well: Brawls, mayhem and Giteau magic.
For a so-called ‘Friendly Test, this was a match with a lot of spite and fist fights. Judging by James Horwill’s closed eye, France won the fight but lost the Test.
The brilliance of Giteau was a plus for the Wallabies. He seems to be learning the Deans system for five-eights which is to underplay your hand from first phase play and create play for yourself and your support runners when play becomes fractured. Giteau’s pass/kick to Peter Hynes to set up the first Wallaby try was straight from the Daniel Carter/Robbie Deans playbook.
Rod Kafer dissected the play in an interesting session on Fox Sports after the Test. He showed how Stirling Mortlock came in towards the middle of the field with an off-the-ball run while Hynes drifted further out towards the sideline. The French winger was sucked infield. And a perfect kick found Hynes by himself for the catch and the plant for a try.
The scrum was a curate’s egg. The Wallabies won two tight heads, one of them with a great shove that was reminiscent of the famous push-over try at Cardiff against Wales in the 1984 Grand Slam tour. This scrum emphatically announced the Alan Jones-coached Wallabies as a new and potent force in world rugby. It’s doubtful if these two great scrums should be seen in this light, just yet. For France retaliated and monstered the Wallaby scrum several times.
The fact is despite all the blatherings from the Channel Seven commentators about the power of the French scrum, it isn’t a great French scrum. Wales out-scrummed France in this year’s Six Nations tournament. NZ has regularly monstered the French scrum in the last few years.
And on the evidence of the titanic NZ-South Africa Test played just hours before, both these scrums would destroy a French scrum, and they will give the Wallaby scrum, improved though it may be, a torrid time, especially the All Black scrum.
Was it accidental that the improved Wallaby scrum came about with the absence of Nathan Sharpe? I leave the question hanging in the air for readers of The Roar to give their views on.
The Wallabies put on a record score against France. And this represents a good result. But … France, with a bits-and-pieces pack and tired legs (most of the side has played 40 or so matches in the last 12 months) won the battle for possession. The Wallabies scored only four tries. There should have been more, especially as France played from the 64th to the 74th minutes with a player in the sin-bin.
My cousin who has seen many decades of rugby said to me as we watched the match: “This is the worst French side I’ve seen. Where is the pace and flair in the backs?”
Admittedly, players from the top four club sides were still at home. However, the best players in those sides are outsiders like Byron Kelleher.
Professional rugby, especially in France with its savage relegation system for the top club premiership, seems to have produced a type of player who is niggly rather than creative, brutal rather than skilful and safety-first rather than adventurous in his approach to playing rugby. Thugby players (and hence the Brisbane brawls) rather than real rugby players.
Oh my Bonifaces, Maso, Sella and Blanco of so long ago …
For the Wallabies, you can only beat the teams put in front of you, and this is what they have done with Ireland and France, with the victories in the three Tests becoming increasingly comprehensive.
The Deans era in summary then: Three Tests played and won. The halves, Luke Burgess (another brilliant run to his credit) and Matt Giteau beginning to provide the energy, flair, control and running abrasiveness you want from your halves.
Stirling Mortlock becoming dominant in his zones. The lineout working well. The scrum improving. The defence resilient and unyielding. The team playing as a team with an eye to creating tries. Execution, though, still leaving a lot to be desired.
As the old saying goes: Things still to be improved.
Whether all this improvement, and the improvement to come, will be enough to make the Wallabies contenders in the Tri-Nations remains to be seen.
The team is a better side that last year’s team. But its best years, one suspects, are still to come.
Read Spiro Zavos’s take on the All Blacks v Springboks match; and Inky’s analysis.
Recommend this story.
July 7th 2008 @ 7:06am
Benjamin Saunders said | July 7th 2008 @ 7:06am | Report comment
Spiro, the French props involved in the test series did not start in the recent Six Nations (Faure did – but only 3 games). The scrum that was underpowered then was even more underpowered against Australia, and although you recall the French scrum being weak in recent years I distinctly remember Les Bleus pushing the Boks around at will in Cape Town during their 26-36 win in 2006. In their day Marconnet, Milloud and De Villiers were very good scrummagers. It is unfortunate that the influx of Georgian, Italian and South African props into the Top 14 has made redudnant a classic French feature. Realistically the Bok scrum has been vastly overrated in recent years and has been dominated by the All Blacks, the English, the French, the Italians and was even held firm by Wales. I would imagine that Australia should at the least be hoping for parity with the South Africans.
July 7th 2008 @ 7:41am
LL said | July 7th 2008 @ 7:41am | Report comment
There is hope for the Wallabies if Deans can continue to mould a fit, fast mobile game more suited to the ELVs and one that the, as seen on Saturday, the Boks seem to struggle with. But as the first half of the first French game showed, (as have previous encounters with the Boks) the Wallabies have a dangerous habit of not just “playing what’s in front of them” but playing to their oppositions level. An inform Giteau against an idiotic James offers more than a chance, I hope the rest of the Wallabies have done the right kind of fitness work to cover all of the field for all of the 80 minutes and that might just get them there…
July 7th 2008 @ 9:08am
Vincent said | July 7th 2008 @ 9:08am | Report comment
As Robbie Deans put it without getting carried away, ‘there is progress’ and ‘we keep chipping away’, for maybe the first time in a while I’m finding the Wallabies unpredictable and indeed improving in important areas. I agree with Spiro that the execution isn’t quite where it should be, but these are professionals and I’m sure they’ll get it right. On to the first tri nations game and what a game it was, this was rugby at great pace and with collisions at the contact area that defeaned. I agree with LL, the ELV’x at tri nations team will really test the conditioning of the players.
July 7th 2008 @ 9:21am
The Riddler said | July 7th 2008 @ 9:21am | Report comment
I am still perplexed by the scrum issue. The Waratahs pack more than holds its own in the Super 14 against some fairly good opposition packs. Yet a Wallaby pack featuring 5 of these Waratahs continues to struggle.
I also find it interesting and intriguing that the scrum has struggled for the past couple of years under the tutelage of Michael Foley yet he is the only coach of the old guard to keep his position in the Deans team.
July 7th 2008 @ 9:25am
Andy said | July 7th 2008 @ 9:25am | Report comment
Good call on Butch James LL. He is ordinairy. No scrap that he is woeful. Imagine if the Boks had a Giteau or Carter to marry their force and directness up front with there speed out wide. I think the Aussies have a long way to go but they’ll be a world force again in a couple of years. I think they’ll beat the Boks in Perth and NZ in Brisbane but lose the rest to finish 3rd in the Tri-Nations. Would like to see Tahu given a chance. He raised his game against the Maori’s indicating he lifts his game to the level required. Deans obviously likes haveing two playmakers/controllers so this will work against Tahu but he may be a long term replacement to the excellant but agening Mortlock. When Vickerman comes back, Sharpe should go and not Horwill. The scrum will hold up well against the Boks but struggle against NZ. We shoudl be able to pressure the NZ lineout though.
July 7th 2008 @ 9:31am
Benjamin said | July 7th 2008 @ 9:31am | Report comment
The Riddler is spot on there. How do the Waratahs players not translate that form? Perhaps McKenzie is vastly underrated. I also agree about Foley, every other game you get the shoulder shrug and a “Gee, we’re getting better, pass marks tonight but something to work on at the training paddock”. That only holds true for a certain period.
July 7th 2008 @ 9:33am
JONO said | July 7th 2008 @ 9:33am | Report comment
WE NEED TO GET OUR AUSTRALIA ‘A’ PROPS ONTO THE WALLABIES BENCH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, GIVE THEM SOME EXPERIENCE AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA IN PERTH. OUR SCRUM AGAINST THE FRENCH WAS 38KGS HEAVIER [ACCORDING TO THE TV STATS]WHICH IS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE ….. OK WE TOOK A COUPLE AGAINST THE HEAD BUT WE WERE NOT IN CONTROL, WE HAD AN IDEAL OPPORTUNITY TO REALLY POWER FORWARD BUT THE ADVANTAGE WAS LOST THROUGH THE LACK OF FRONT ROW DOMINANCE. WE WILL BE MONSTERED IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE AGAIN UNLESS WE GIVE OUR YOUNG PROPS SOME REAL EXPERIENCE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
July 7th 2008 @ 9:41am
Benjamin said | July 7th 2008 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Holmes is obviously a loss. Sheperdson was given a chance but just couldn’t hack it. Who else is there? Rodzilla was a joke, Henderson is too small, Robinson lacks that killer aggression and Baxter is just… well, Baxter. I say bring back Richard Harry.
July 7th 2008 @ 9:56am
matta said | July 7th 2008 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Jono, yep we were a fair bit bigger. But there was some great vision in the 2nd half when a scrum was packed about 10 out from our line and 5 in from touch – the camera man was right next to the two packs. Baxters back arched after the hit….
it doesnt matter how big you engine is if your Chassis is split and your trans is sloppy……
July 7th 2008 @ 10:01am
joeb said | July 7th 2008 @ 10:01am | Report comment
“Was it accidental that the improved Wallaby scrum came about with the absence of Nathan Sharpe?”
Spiro, I seem to recall a couple of years ago you asked the question (smh) as to what was going on in our second row? Back then Vickerman was Sharpie’s partner in crime, and it did seem they both took breathers right when they were required to perform (basically to push — hard — and reinforce/bolster our front row), yet since then the Western Force captain has become a better player imho (seems to step up to the plate more consistently these days, and including in last year’s RWC; maybe the guy has matured; certainly his attitude has), though we still have to keep in mind this certainly was a second string French outfit, and still their scrum got the better of ours particularly in the second 40 mins.
Mumm was interesting in this 2nd Test; hardly sighted him all game yet every now and then up would pop his head and he was certainly in the trenches doing what needed to be done. Like the guy though he’s still a very young fellow. And let’s not forget Chisholm, a favourite of mine now that Kanaar is no more. Pity also that Rudi what’s-his-name who left the Force due to family commitments last year isn’t to date talking of returning — even for QLD, his home state.
“The team is a better side than last year’s team.”
We were very unfortunate in that RWC QF last year; Morty’s kick a mere metre or two to the left of the post. Who knows how far we could’ve gone if we’d made the semis? For mine Knuckles and his assistants did a pretty good job all considered.
“But its best years, one suspects, are still to come.”
Hopefully, but let’s not peak too early, and go the way of the ABs come RWC time. As Fitzpatrick said not so long ago, something to the tune “the game now revolves around RWC”, and he bitched and moaned. But it’s what nations are now remembered for first and foremost.