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“Bonjour et bienvenue au retour les bleus royale – hello and welcome back the royal blues”.
And yes, I did use Google to make sure I had the words right.
As a traditionalist it was so pleasing to see the French back in their royal blue jerseys (although slightly darker than I remember) plus their red stockings.
So thumbs down to those marketeers who thought it might be an ‘idee fixe le grande’ to have the French imitate the All Blacks by playing in a deep navy blue. Instead it turned out to be an ‘idee fixe le petit’ (google it).
So much for misguided obsessions.
Obviously the French players themselves must have liked playing in the royal blue again because they totally shut out the Wallabies on awkward surface conditions at Stade de France.
It’s difficult to imagine this was basically the same Wallabies outfit that crafted a tryless but gallant 18-18 draw with the All Blacks in their previous outing. Les Bleus dominated across the park – at the scrum, at the lineout, at the breakdown, at the tackle and even showed more enterprise in attack.
In his most recent article for The Roar, David Campese lamented the Wallabies’ overuse of the pick and drive and regretfully, it was on show again last night. For me a poignant period of the match occurred about 20 minutes into the first half with the Wallabies trailing 3-10.
After a sustained period of attack, the Wallabies were awarded a penalty which they kicked to trail 6-10. But this was a wasteful period for the Wallabies who could have and perhaps should have scored a try plus conversion to make it 10-10.
I found myself screaming at the TV for the Wallabies to play it wide left and later right, then left again, where the French defence was skinny. However, they continued with the pick and drive up the centre.
The lack of variety in their play was suffocating for a fan. It was only in the last quarter, trailing 6-30 with the game lost, that the Wallabies began to consistently play with width.
I call this ‘cowardly rugby’, whereby teams only adopt adventure once the cause is lost. If you’re not willing to take chances when the game is there to be won, then you simply don’t deserve to win at all.
Also last night I witnessed a thrilling football contest between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. Despite trailing 0-2 with just 12 official minutes remaining, Victory never gave up on a game in which they had dominated but failed to convert.
Then in 12 minutes or so, they converted three times to pull off a deserved victory. It was a win for the brave, the gallant, the adventurous.
As the SAS motto says, “who dares, wins.” (Certainly most often).
Last night the Wallabies failed to dare (until it was too late) and they lost. The French deserved the victory. Their basics, especially at the scrum, were superior. They were also more enterprising and it resulted in a comprehensive victory.
I found it interesting in the past week that Roar expert Spiro Zavos has been more political than usual, chiding anyone who is a “non-believer” in the healthy state of Australian rugby.
I greatly respect Spiro as a writer and as a person. When I disagree, I disagree respectfully, as I do now.
I think Australian rugby is in a mess which will take time to sort out, but firstly, those running the game need to firstly acknowledge they have a few problems.
The on-field problems of the Wallabies might seem to be easily fixed by some fans who say “sack Deans and all will be well”. If only it would be that easy.
The fall-off in basic skills will take a while longer to rectify. Our game has serious domestic structural flaws which very few are even willing to acknowledge, let alone attempt to fix.
I read just this weekend that for the first time some GPS, CAS and ISA schools will have an organised Australian football comp at year seven and year eight The headmaster of St. Aloysius College was quoted as saying words to the effect that the private schools were being ignored by rugby, while the AFL and NSW/ACTFL were eager to help.
Only dumb people will wait until things hit rock-bottom before doing something about it. There are sufficient warning signs that Australian rugby is beset by myriad problems which, left unattended, will fester into bigger issues.
The wayward Wallabies are just one symptom of those many problems.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.