The Wallabies came, scored and were conquered

 
Spiro Zavos Columnist

By , 20 Jul 2009 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

Tagged:
 , , , , , , , ,

227 Have your say

Related coverage




New Zealand's Piri Weepu looks to offload the ball under pressure

New Zealand's Piri Weepu looks to offload the ball under pressure from Australia's Benn Robinson (left) and Stephen Moore in the first Tri-Nations rugby test of the year, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 18, 2009. (AAP Image/NZPA, Ben Campbell)

From hero to villians is the story line for Berrick Barnes and the Wallabies after throwing away their chances of winning the first Bledisloe Cup Test for 2009.

I sometimes think that the All Blacks concentrate so hard on doing a ‘good’ haka that they take some time to get into the actual game.  Whatever the reason, they started very slowly and in a mistake-ridden way for the first 20 minutes of the Test.

The Wallabies converted one mistake into a try to Barnes who sold a couple of dummies that were so obvious David Jones would have been proud to show them off in their front windows.  Then Giteau kicked a penalty from another mistake.

And then when Stephen Donald had a chip kick charged down, Giteau rather brilliantly grabbed the ball, rolled and popped up a pass. The ball went out to Barnes. He had Stirling Mortlock steaming up on the inside for an easy run-in under the posts. Barnes sold another dummy which was not purchased this time. The ball popped forward off the head of George Smith and a 17 – 3 lead was blown.

Given all the talk about the poor play of the All Blacks in the early-season Tests and the intense pressure they were under to come good, there was no way back for them at 17 – 3.  But by half-time they had clawed their way back to 13 – 10 down which was a winnable position given the fact they were going to play with a strong wind in the second half.

And so it turned out. A converted penalty to the All Blacks immediately after half-time and they were never behind again. Although there were only 6 points in it at the end, the All Blacks were well on top basically from the 20th minute onwards.

What changed things?

Essentially the All Blacks got their mauling and counter-rucking game into play, finally.

They put numbers of players into the rucks and mauls and got faster ball on their ball and managed to slow down virtually every Wallaby ruck and maul.

The statistics don’t, in fact, show this.

The All Blacks set up 65 rucks to 52 by the Wallabies. They lost 17 turnovers to 15 by the Wallabies, including 5 rucks/mauls to 6. The All Blacks also made 8 errors to the Wallabies 4 and missed 12 tackles to only 7. They also lost 3 lineouts to the Wallabies none.

So much for the statistics.  In fact from the 20th minute on, the All Blacks smashed the Wallabies in the rucks. It was total dominance and as the game went on the dominance increased.

Robbie Deans is going to have to get the Wallabies to commit more players to the rucks and mauls. But this in turn will expose his backs, especially Giteau and Barnes to more one-on-one tackling. They are expert and brave tacklers. But they get knocked around trying to stop the big players charging at them, and this is what happened in the Test with Barnes getting injured after a Ma’a Nonu blockbuster and Giteau retreating further back into the pocket.

Four players had shockers: Al Baxter, Nathan Sharpe, Wycliff Palu, Luke Burgess.

Phil Kearns and Greg Martin can go on and on with their commentary about how hard done by Baxter was BUT: one, Benn Robinson does not go down at scrum time: two, Baxter goes down several times a game.

Nathan Sharpe was dropped last year but came back into the team when Daniel Vickerman went to Cambridge University. Vickerman is supposed to be coming back next year. But Deans might have to find a replacement for Sharpe before then.

With Burgess, Deans said he’d give him 18 months when he was first selected. The 18 months are almost up and it’s time for the Wallabies to move on to Josh Holmes and Will Genia, with Burgess kept on as insurance if they don’t rise to the levels expected of them.

Palu will surely be dropped when Rocky Elsom comes back.

The Wallabies need a big ball-running player in their back three. Palu has threatened to be this player for some time. But now plays so fitfully his presence basically adds nothing to the pack in big games.

Greg Russell in a comment on one of the threads made the point that Richie McCaw makes an impact no matter who the opposition is but George Smith is brilliant against everyone but the All Blacks. He wanted to know what their relative statistics were in matches against each other.

Smith has won only one Test in New Zealand out of 10 played. And out of New Zealand, Smith has won 6 against the All Blacks (including the 2003 World Cup semi-final and 2008 Sydney Test where he captained the Wallabies to a 34 -19 victory) and has lost 5 Tests.

McCaw has lost only one Test in New Zealand so far in his career, in 2003 against England. In Bledisloe Cup matches he has won 14 out of 16, with the two losses being in Australia.

I think the statistics suggest that McCaw is more influential for his team than Smith is, great player though he is. Smith is probably the best Wallaby openside flanker of all time (fans of Col Windon will argue about this until the cows come home).

McCaw brings a  bigger bulk and more dynamic running to his play than Smith does.

The problem for Deans now is whether to start making some fundamental changes to his side now, or wait for the European tour.

My guess is that Palu will go as soon as Elsom is ready to come back. That Genia will get more game time. That Baxter will be substituted earlier. That more aggression and numbers will go into the rucks.

In other words, Australian rugby doesn’t have the depth of New Zealand or South Africa and Deans will have to try and improve the performance of the players he has, and hope that some younger talent will come through in club play to challenge the incumbents for their places.

The cliche that comes to mind is ‘a work in progress.’ After Eden Park, though, you have to wonder just how much progress had been made, though.

Get a daily rugby union email

Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it.

We value privacy. More.