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In an interview last week, Stirling Mortlock told journalists that the best way to defeat the rush defence of Wales was for him to smash through the first tackler and then for the Wallabies to re-cycle the ball quickly with the attack to take advantage of being behind the Welsh defence.
The theory sounded fine. But unfortunately after 2 minutes and 4 seconds of this absorbing and well-played (by Wales) Test there was Mortlock leaving the field with yet another head injury.
Without Mortlock’s smashing and barging runs and his two-shouldered defence in the middle of the field, the Wallabies were exposed. Wales, cleverly coached by Warren Gatland and highly-skillful especially with their running angles and off-loading, ran at the soft Wallaby middle. Two terrific ensemble tries were scored, and more threatened.
The opening sequence of play, in hindsight, revealed the pattern of the dire afternoon for the Wallabies and sheer pleasure for Wales.
The Wallabies kicked long. As with virtually every kick in the Test, there were no chasers. Wales banged the ball well into the Wallabies half. Why didn’t the Wallabies do what the All Blacks did and kick to the small Shane Williams and take him out of the game for the next phases?
Drew Mitchell knocked on the return kick. Phil Waugh won a turnover. But from the scrum, which was reset several times with the Wallabies having difficulty (which continued throughout the Test) holding Wales, which won a tap penalty.
The ball was moved across the back line. Mortlock, going for an interception, was injured.
The ball was then kicked into the Wales 22. Luke Burgess was somehow shunted off the ball. Wales regained. Then Wales kept on recycling the ball with phase after brilliant phase until Shane Williams (a worthy IRB Player of 2008) put Jamie Roberts through a hole about 40m out. A phase or so later with Stephen Jones firing a long clearing pass, Williams was over.
This tended to be the pattern of the Test. The Wallabies found it difficult to make breaks against a fast Wales defence. Matt Giteau’s kicking was poor. The chase was even poorer. And there was no menace to the Wallaby attacks.
The first Wallaby try came from a Welsh mistake from a lineout move that went wrong for Wales with everyone in the backline.
The second Wallaby try came right at the end of the game when instead of kicking the ball back and not chasing, Drew Mitchell scythed through. Now the Wallabies went through their phases and a try was an almost inevitable result. Why wasn’t this done earlier in the Test?
Unfortunately, only moments earlier Wales had gone into a 21 – 13 lead when Stephen Jones kicked a penalty following a very poor decision from the referee Alan Lewis (an Irishman, despite his name) who missed a Welsh player coming into a ruck blatantly from the side. When Ryan Cross (rightly) complained, the penalty was marched 10m forwards.
But let’s be fair and honest.
Wales deserved to win 21-18. They played the more enterprising and effective rugby, on attack and defence. Right at the end when the Wallabies had one last chance to snatch the game out of the fire, they could not move the ball, despite a series of phases, more than 10m forward before conceding a turn-over.
With Mortlock off the field and with George Smith on the bench until the last 20 minutes or so, the Wallabies did not have a world class player on the field. This assertion includes Giteau who was outplayed by Stephen Jones in all facets of the game.
Wales in fact have a number of players of world class: Lee Byrne, an outstanding running fullback; Shane Williams; Stephen Jones; Gareth Cooper a long-passing and sturdily-built running halfback; Ryan Jones, the abrasive, hard-working flanker and captain; and Andy Powell, big, fast, skillful, tough, the best number 8 currently in world rugby.
This nucleus of world class players, if they are around in 2011, could give Wales a tremendous shot at a Rugby World Cup victory.
And the Wallabies? At the beginning of the season I wrote an article suggesting that the Wallabies had a great coach but the coach had ordinary players to work with. This assessment remains true at the end of the Test season. Two players who have really come on, though, are Stephen Moore, arguably the best hooker in the world right now, and certainly the best lineout thrower, and Peter Hynes, a winger who has done everything right for the Wallabies this year.
But a coach can only do so much. Throughout the year the Wallabies have refused to chase kicks, even kick-offs which were all too deep against Wales. The scrum came right for a while against England, and then slipped back a bit against France, and a bit more against Wales. Sooner or later, sooner presumably, Al Baxter has to be replaced with someone who can hold his side of the scrum up Test after Test.
There has been little menace in the backs and no blinding new talent has emerged. Luke Burgess, who was better with his passing on Saturday, has regressed from the splendid runner who ignited the Waratahs in the middle of the Super 14 season.
Still, the All Blacks were comprehensively defeated at Sydney, the Springboks thrashed in South Africa for the first time in 8 years (before the Springboks wrecked a terrible revenge), England was defeated at Twickenham and France at Paris.
Moreover, the Wallabies were within four points of defeating an outstanding Wales side at Cardiff with the singing and the roaring for the home side.
To come so close to winning an Euro-Slam suggests that the Wallabies are within reach of becoming a very good side. Next year, perhaps.
If I were grading the Wallabies and the coaching staff, I’d give the coaches a B and the players a C+ for a season where there were some notable triumphs, but not enough of them.