Wallabies tame Sonny Bill and smash Baa Baas
By David Beniuk, 7 Jun 2009
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- Barbarians, Ben Alexander, David Pocock, Drew Mitchell, George Smith, International Rugby, James Horwill, James OConnor, Josh Valentine, Lachie Turner, Luke Burgess, Matt Giteau, Matt Hodgson, Rocky Elsom, Rugby Union, Sir Nicholas Shehadie, Sonny Bill Williams, Stirling Mortlock, Sydney Football Stadium, wallabies
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The Wallabies tamed Sonny Bill Williams and thrashed a disjointed Barbarians side to open their international season with a 55-7 victory at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night.
Showing some early season rustiness against an even less cohesive Baa Baas, the Australians scored eight tries, with winger Drew Mitchell grabbing a double, to post their biggest victory in 11 games against the invitational side in front of 39,688 fans.
The Wallabies led 20-7 at the break after three first-half tries, before running away with the match, the famous Barbarians’ first on Australian soil, in the second 40 minutes.
Man-of-the-match Matt Giteau booted four conversions and a penalty goal on top of a pinpoint kicking game in general play.
Playing his first game in Australian since walking out on NRL club the Bulldogs, Williams looked dangerous on occasions with his trademark offload and only an amazing tackle from halfback Luke Burgess prevented him scoring with his first touch in international rugby in just the third minute.
But the former NRL superstar was also on the end of plenty of attention from the Australians, most notably from opposite number Stirling Mortlock, who smashed him in a big tackle two minutes later.
Williams also had a hand in the Baa Baas’ first-half try, scored by Iain Balshaw on the stroke of halftime.
He was also booed by a small section of the crowd wearing blue and white when he cleaned up by a Lachie Turner grubber in the second half.
The Wallabies have injury concerns over Burgess (hip) and Matt Hodgson, who left the field in the first half of his first game for Australia with an AC joint problem.
Robbed of Australian star Rocky Elsom, who withdrew with a leg injury on match day, the thrown-together Barbarians attempted to play with their trademark flair but predictably struggled for combination and pace.
The Wallabies opened their scoring through James Horwill in the sixth minute, before Mitchell got his first in the 16th and Giteau dummied twice and strolled over untouched in the 23rd.
Their attack lost some momentum until the 57th minute, when hooker Stephen Moore finished some good work from George Smith and Josh Valentine to push the floodgates open.
Prop Ben Alexander strode over in the 66th minute, Mitchell got his second in the 72nd, while David Pocock and James O’Connor bagged tries in the final three minutes.
Australia take home the new Sir Nicholas Shehadie Cup with the win.
Mortlock said Williams “held his own” while Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said the step up had been huge for the Kiwi.
“The toughest thing for Sonny was going essentially from club rugby into an international,” Deans said.
“You just don’t get the license to play and you could see he was often looking to offload and play a game that you can probably get away with at club level, but you just don’t here because the channels close and the contact is more significant.”
Deans was pleased with the first hit-out but will look for more patience from his side.
“It was a good start, there was some really good stuff,” he said.
“We were a little bit impatient, put the ball on the ground a little bit too frequently where if we’d just been a little bit more patient we would have profited.”
Barbarians captain Phil Waugh, who will join the Wallabies squad on Sunday morning, was impressed with the Australians.
“They certainly finished off well … that pressure into points really hurt us,” he said.
Deans confirmed Elsom would also join the Australian squad on Sunday and his injury would be assessed by medical staff.
Hodgson is likely to spend a lengthy time on the sidelines, while Burgess’ injury is considered minor.
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June 7th 2009 @ 3:07pm
Spencer said | June 7th 2009 @ 3:07pm | Report comment
Matt – Sharpe still has googly eyes. Love it. Chortle, chortle…
Gits & Barnes! This will further develop into one of Australia’s all time great combinations. If: Ben Alexander can be converted to a tighthead, we find a good replacement for “Googly” ( not convinced about Chis or Kremlin yet), and JOC developes as our 15 then we may just “Bring Bill back in 2011″.
Oh..and isnt Mortlock an ispiration. I watched the Baabaas match with Kiwi and SA mates and they think he is awesome. Hope his head can survive another 2.5 seasons.
June 7th 2009 @ 3:19pm
Sam Taulelei said | June 7th 2009 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
Yep a 76 cap test veteran monstered an inexperienced rookie league convert who’s still learning the finer points of the game. Who would have guessed?
SBW attracted and created a lot of attention in the buildup but he remained humble and grounded in his expectations in facing one of the best centres in the world. If people are prepared to write him off on the strength of that one festival exhibition game fair enough. I was surprised with how natural he looked playing union unlike other high profile league converts and the defensive requirements at centre are difficult to master even for those who have always played the game let alone for a rookie.
There’s no doubting his athletic ability but I don’t know if he has the speed to get on the outside of a sliding defence. His height and skill at offloading in the tackle will become more effective and selective with greater experience and will pose problems for sides who will be forced to double team him in a tackle to prevent him from doing so which will create space and opportunities for support players. Similar in some respects to the traits of English midfielder Will Greenwood.
I didn’t have any great expectations for SBW so I’m more than amused at the amount of attention given Mortlocks performance against him. If Mortlock dominates his opposites to the same degree in the Tri Nations then that will be something worth shouting about. Like the game itself, it’s a bit of an anticlimax.
June 7th 2009 @ 3:47pm
Jerry said | June 7th 2009 @ 3:47pm | Report comment
Working class – nah, I reckon SBW will be thinking international union is a lot like international league to be honest.
His team gets together about a week before kick off after being assembled from various leagues around the world, beats England and then gets flogged by Australia. Sounds a fair bit like the vast majority of his experiences with the Kiwis. They even had a leading player ruled out in the lead up to the test (though in this case it was injury rather than the NRL judiciary that was to blame).
June 7th 2009 @ 3:56pm
Working Class Rugger said | June 7th 2009 @ 3:56pm | Report comment
Yeah didn’t think of that. Except as you said they beat England the week before. By the beginnig of last night’s game the BaaBaa team had been together for 2 weeks. One week longer than than the Wallabies.
June 7th 2009 @ 5:42pm
ohtani's jacket, said | June 7th 2009 @ 5:42pm | Report comment
Williams went all right. He was better than Tahu.
June 7th 2009 @ 5:49pm
Bay35Pablo said | June 7th 2009 @ 5:49pm | Report comment
“He was also booed by a small section of the crowd wearing blue and white when he cleaned up by a Lachie Turner grubber in the second half.”
And heckled by a large portion of the crowd wearing gold for most of the game.
SBW got shown up several times, and played a part in letting in several of the tries. However, it was a big ask, and I think he will have learnt a lot from it. The kid’s a talent, and union is better for having him.
I was actually disappointed in the game. The Barbars were very disjointed, as you would expect, but to let in 8 tries and be in their own half most of the game actually got boring. I couldn’t believe this was mostly the same team that knocked over England. They must be playing really poorly. Australia has all the structure and panache, but had only been in camp a week. I didn’t think it would produce such a result against a bunch of awesome players. The BarBars gave the Wallabies a torrid time late last year with little prep, and that was against a team at the end of a tour.
Having said that, I hear the BarBars were enjoying the Sydney pubs pretty well in the week before, so perhaps all the talk about them being super serious was just that, talk.
This looked to me like litle more than a training run. Italy will be slightly tougher, but we should touch them up too. It’s all very well to blow the rust out, but is it going to be too much of a step up when we start playing the “real’” Tests in the Tri-Nations?
June 7th 2009 @ 6:02pm
Working Class Rugger said | June 7th 2009 @ 6:02pm | Report comment
Pablo
I’m beginning to think that the SANZAR nations are using these all the upcoming test series as tuners. I don’t expect the French to trouble the AB’s that much. If they do then the AB’s will have to play sub par. And the Lions will need to find something if they are going to be anything but tackling bags for the SA’s. I can’t remember which british write said it but ” Tri-Nations is the real A Grade of International Rugby”. At the moment the two strongest Nations in the North are split between a increasingly dubious Lions tour or running around in the States and Canada.
June 7th 2009 @ 9:54pm
Knives Out said | June 7th 2009 @ 9:54pm | Report comment
‘Yeah didn’t think of that. Except as you said they beat England the week before. By the beginnig of last night’s game the BaaBaa team had been together for 2 weeks. One week longer than than the Wallabies.’
.. And had never played together as a team. Have a look at the Baa Baas team sheet versus England – only 4 players remained. Then have a look at the quote from Jerry Collins where he admitted the team had done no training for the Australia game. Then have a look at the 3rd string team England put out, and then look at the changes in the xv for the Argentina game.
June 7th 2009 @ 10:21pm
Spencer said | June 7th 2009 @ 10:21pm | Report comment
KO – From my quick view of the teamsheets it seeems that about 16 of the guys played in the same 22 against England and Australia. Having said that the England team were Enlands 3rd team and once they settled they did pull back the score.
I enjoyed the Baabaa V Wallaby match as a bit of light hearted entertainment (which is what it should be). Baabaas were esiappointing, even considering factors such as motivation, training and combinations. I thought a bit of persoanl pride may have got them motivated.
OJ – Williams was better than Tahu?? Splitting hairs, as both of them have failed to show much. SBW needs to get into S15 to learn to operate within limited space and time windows. From what I observed last night he must have a lot of time/space in T14 rugby.
June 7th 2009 @ 10:50pm
Knives Out said | June 7th 2009 @ 10:50pm | Report comment
The starting xv contained 4 survivors: Lewsey, Dermody, Jack and Tito.