Will Deans’ bubble burst as first real Test looms?
Roar Guru By James Mortimer, 24 Jun 2009 James Mortimer is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- All Blacks, French rugby, Marc Lievremont, robbie deans, Rugby Union, wallabies
108 Have your say
The Wallabies have named what appears to be their full strength team for their first big assessment of the season, facing only the fifth team to win in New Zealand since 2000.
On this result, expectations are high that the French will provide a stern test for Deans, who remains firmly entrenched as the darling of the Australian media.
One only has to look at the team that was rolled out to play the Italians in the second test in Melbourne.
Here was an opponent outside the top ten nations of the world. It is early into the fifteen match international season, you want to try your less experienced players, and some of the big names such as captain Stirling Mortlock needed a rest.
So why not make 16 changes to your match day squad, and wield out probably the weakest – in terms of experience – Australian test team in modern history.
Only 20,280 souls turned up, and there were a host of reasons that were not rugby related that could explain what the ARU said was a poor crowd.
The Socceroo’s had just played in Melbourne and Victoria is in the middle of a pandemic, are just two.
Most indicative though, according to most theorists, including the ARU, was that Italy, who were soundly beaten in Canberra, was not going to draw a crowd. In comparison to, say, the 2010 Bledisloe Test in Melbourne.
This is a moot point, as on pure numbers an All Black-Wallaby clash guarantees “full house” signs.
But no one mentioned the fact that Deans himself had actually treated the Italians with a small measure of contempt by happily rolling out the second tier Wallabies (Australia A should be playing in the Pacific Nations, not in a Test match), and in essence, did what his boss John O’Neill had said last year must never happen again.
A mid-year Test with under strength test teams But didn’t Deans do this? Could some of Melbourne have stayed away because it was a weak Wallaby team?
So France will try to pull off an unlikely Test triumph against the Wallabies. They are at the end of a long season, have been on the road for over a month, and have just toured statistically the most difficult rugby country to play in.
Les Bleus clearly hold the Australians in high regard, and if you believe French assistant Emile Ntamack, claim that the Wallabies are a better team that the All Blacks.
But any French rugby aficionado will tell you that there is no team they would rather beat than the men in black.
So the questions going into the Sydney Test are simple:
Will the French repeat their documented history, and arrive on the turf on ANZ stadium with no mental edge after performing in a big match? Have they already exceeded their expectations on this tour? Will the sight of gold jerseys opposite them inspire them as does the grim pallor of black?
For all and sundry, we hope that the same France that tore into New Zealand executes the same ferocity on the Wallabies.
It will benefit all parties if this is the case.
Les Bleus will, if they win, return home with an Australasian slam, something very few if any Northern teams could ever hope to achieve.
It will also be the turning of the proverbial corner for Marc Lievremont, who has still to convince as a saviour of French running rugby.
The Wallabies though, whatever the result, will be able to be far more thoroughly assessed by all concerned. They have been untested in three matches so far, plain and simple.
Even the All Blacks, who have had vulnerability revealed in the last month, may destroy any debate about their mixed form if their under strength team defeats Italy more handsomely than the Wallabies did.
Yet for no apparent reason, many are claiming that this Australian team is on the verge of greatness. Perhaps they are, but results are the final caveat on such a statement.
In 2009, as things stand, at least two out of the Tri Nations, Bledisloe or Grand Slam must be won.
Otherwise the bubble may well and truly burst.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- All Blacks, French rugby, Marc Lievremont, robbie deans, Rugby Union, wallabies
June 24th 2009 @ 10:14am
ohtani's jacket, said | June 24th 2009 @ 10:14am | Report comment
Yes, you can win the Tri-Nations without winning the Bledisloe Cup. New Zealand did just that in 1999 and 2002. Australia would have to sweep all three TN games against NZ to win back the Bledisloe.
Jameswm,
I think there’s better ways to blood young players than putting a makeshift squad on the field, especially when you’re playing guys out of position. If you’re going to blood Pocock, for example, it’s stupid to play Smith at 8 and Kimlin at 6, because you’re unlikely to ever play that backrow again. The Alexander/Polota-Nau/Pek Cowan front row was OK, because at least those guys are playing in their actual positions, but it would’ve been better to play one of those props with the first choice hooker and tighthead/loosehead. And will Cooper ever be used as a 12?
June 24th 2009 @ 10:16am
ohtani's jacket, said | June 24th 2009 @ 10:16am | Report comment
LAS,
They might want to, I dunno, beat NZ before thinking they’re better than them.
June 24th 2009 @ 10:31am
Jameswm said | June 24th 2009 @ 10:31am | Report comment
OJ
When you have your big tests, like NZ in NZ – is that the time to give Pek Cowan a run at loose head? Or try Quade Cooper at 12?
Maybe Deans went overboard, but the other point to what he did was that the main players would have turned up expecting an easy game, so you pick the guys with something to prove.
Was Kimlin out of position at 6? I think Smith was the only one playing out of position.
AAC and JOC have alternated at fullback, which means we’re building up two 15s. That has to be good. They have had a look at Turner, Mitchell, Hynes and AAC at wing.
The ABs get injuries and they can bring in other guys who are experienced, because they have drawn from a wider squad for many years.
As I said, in this day and age you have to have depth at that level, and the Italy test was a great chance to rest half the top guys and give others a go with a point to prove.
June 24th 2009 @ 12:00pm
Even looser said | June 24th 2009 @ 12:00pm | Report comment
” Will Mumm, Brown, Moore, Sharpe and Baxter be shown up as soft? ” I don’t expect that they will. The French will be sore and pretty much knackered.
I believe we will do enough in that department to handle the French. My fear is that we will then be tempted to think we’re good enough and rest on our laurels. That’s up to Robbie to sort out. And he looks like the right bloke for the job.
June 24th 2009 @ 1:05pm
retired rucker said | June 24th 2009 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
LAS, I do hope you are right! I’ll be waiting to give an opinion after the French test.
It strikes me that on any given day the Wallabies are a chance against any team, I just think the chances are much smaller against the AB’s at home!
June 24th 2009 @ 6:15pm
Peter K said | June 24th 2009 @ 6:15pm | Report comment
OT – I agree. You cannot claim that Wallabies are better than the ABs until they beat them. They play them 4 times and the better team will need to win 3 of them.
Honestly I actually think France will win this game. I expect that the conditions will be wet. It will be a forwards game and the french should win that contest. The Wallabies forward pack is missing 2 of their best forwards ESPECIALLY in the wet Elsom and Palu.
June 24th 2009 @ 7:34pm
Ruputt said | June 24th 2009 @ 7:34pm | Report comment
Definately have to agree with others in here. To be the best you have to beat the best and the series is best of four so only three wins to the Wallabies or a complete 4 zip sweep will prove they are better.
As for the French they are pretty good at spinning tall tales they get off the plane in wintry New Zealand and proudly proclaim the All Blacks to be their greatest foe and no other team comes close to them. They win a game over what many would deem a makeshift all black squad they then lose the second test to a still very much depleted All Blacks and now claim Australia to be better all this after three average wins over below average teams one with a serious party hangover. Oh watch out Aussie, it will be interesting to see what wild accusations the French will do to grab publicity.
I don’t believe the French will be up for this test after the intense battle they had here in NZ, they’ll be battered and bruised and some will be thinking about the early hours of saturday morning. Team dynamics will be greatly challenged.
Australia while untested so far this year are heading into this match very fresh with a few training runs under their belt and in my books have to be hands on favourites to win this match.
June 24th 2009 @ 7:45pm
Nird99 said | June 24th 2009 @ 7:45pm | Report comment
Jameswm, I agree. there are tests to blood young players and that is one of the big reasons that the ARU organise tests against these other nations. 15 tests in one year is quite a few and it is going to take its toll on the front line players. we need experience in a range of positions and i guess what Deans was trying to do was find some combinations that had not been tried and that worked.
I think cooper will eventually make a better 12 than 10, so i think that was a good experiment. JOC did not show the flair at fullback as he did in canberra but again his combination with the wingers was good, so i think it was another good experiment. as for the front row, i guess there is plenty of room for improvement but at least we know that now, and are not trying an inexperienced front row against the black or boks who would have slaughtered them.
Bring on the french i think it will be a hard physical contest.
June 24th 2009 @ 7:48pm
Knives Out said | June 24th 2009 @ 7:48pm | Report comment
15 Damien Traille, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Julien Puricelli, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Romain Millo Chluski, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Mmm… not a very good looking French team: Traille at 15, Mermoz at 12, a new half back partnership, Puricelli at 8.
June 24th 2009 @ 10:08pm
Bonza said | June 24th 2009 @ 10:08pm | Report comment
KO – It does not look too bad to me – the bench will have Martin, Mas , Chouly, Dupuy, Tranh- Duc etc so there are good players coming on. Mermoz has played his best rugby at 12 this season and is the form French centre, Traille has an excellent and long kicking game which will be required given how often the Wallabies kick long. Agree on Puricelli but Beauxis and Yachvilli have plenty of experience and both are good goal kickers which was the only difference in Paris last year