Wallabies put the boot into their Grand Slam

The Wallabies only have themselves to blame for last weekend’s draw with the Irish at Croke Park. They were superior at the breakdown, more threatening in general play, but were let down once again by their ineffective kicking.

Australia were shown up by the boots of the Irish backs, particularly fullback Rob Kearney, who continually punished Australia’s errant kicking from inside their own half.

This is not a new problem.

Throughout the season the Wallabies have been put under unnecessary pressure because of their inability to find space with their kicks.

The question must be asked why the Wallabies continue to kick on the counter when the end result is so often a territorial gain for their opponents.

This refusal to change tactics can only be at the directive of coach Robbie Deans, who appears to want the ball booted back down the field at every opportunity.

This is not a bad play, it’s just that 90 per cent of the time when Australia goes to the air, their kicks are too deep and do not give the chasing players enough time to put pressure on the kick receiver.

Kearney was gifted a number of easy takes from high balls and then returned serve by roosting some thunderous left foot torpedoes back into Australian territory and into touch.

The result for Australia was a negative territorial gain and a lineout throw, which at the moment appears to only be a 50/50 prospect.

The Wallabies really only tried to run from an Irish kick on two occasions, one was the bustling line-break from fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper and the other was a solid run from Quade Cooper.

From these two plays, the Wallabies moved the ball further up field than from any of their extended kicking battles with the Irish back three.

The Wallabies will have no doubt reviewed the video from the Irish match and seen how much pressure they put themselves through their poor kicking.

This weekend’s match against Scotland at Murrayfield presents Australia with the opportunity to alter their tactics.

The Scots are the weakest of Australia’s Grand Slam opponents and will definitely give the Wallabies a number of chances to counter from inside their own half.

Scotland boasts no real attacking threat outside of their scrum-half Chris Cusiter and will look to kick for territory.

Therefore, whoever makes up the Wallaby back three this weekend must be given the green light to chance their arm on the counter.

They will probably turn the ball over at some point, maybe even a few times but they will also find holes in the chasing defensive line as Ashley-Cooper did against the Irish.

A simple coaching approach has always been for a team play to their strengths, and it appears that every top rugby nation besides Australia is doing this at the moment.

Maybe it’s time Deans put some faith in their backline and allows them to challenge teams from inside their own half.

It’s clear that kicking isn’t a Wallaby strong point, but perhaps a ball-in-hand approach could be?

After all, wasn’t the catch-cry of the Deans coaching regime to “play what’s in front of them?”

Maybe it’s time they were given the chance to do so.

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