- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
If Bledisloe One was seen as the first date, the Wallabies passed with flying colours.
They smelt fine, had cute enough eyes and managed to avoid coming across as a psychopath. Some say the first date is a lot like the first over of a Test match – the aim is simply to get through it. But if the first date is about survival, the second is about making an impact.
Here are some tips for the Wallabies to do just that.
Keep playing like underdogs.
Losing the second Test, and restoring pride in the third is a probable outcome for Australia, unless they keep taking risks. The public will accept the result either way if the team dies fighting on their feet over opting to live on their knees.
The first Test did not begin this way. It felt like the opening whistle hadn’t really gone off until five minutes before half time, when El Capitan tucked the pill under one arm, and began leading trench-like raids toward the opposition.
It wasn’t so much ‘good to see’ as it was great to feel- trucking it up the guts against the worlds best, in front of the posts, minutes from half-time. Go for goal? Kick, schmick. Debate all you like about how smart this was – it felt fearless. Deserved or not, a win for the Wallabies will have to be earned.
Get a move on
For all the talk of a common structure within a national squad now entering it’s second year, the Wallabies still looked like a team thrown together. My intelligent better-half pondered early in the match how the Waratahs, with their team unity and familiar combinations, would be fairing if they, and not the Wallabies, had taken the pitch, considering most of the same players were already out there.
Her hypothesis has merit. The misreads and collisions far outnumbered any planned moves. And while we are on the topic, when did a cheeky set move become a thing of the past? It may be still alive in South Africa with the well-rehearsed and highly complex kick and chase manoeuvres, but in the fair dinkum department, surely some pre-planned moves from set piece or otherwise can still be effective without being beyond modern preparation timeframes.
Perhaps some inspiration here is needed.
Empty the bench earlier
Higgy? Skelton? Phipps? Get them on early. Each of these energizers is bursting with talent, testosterone and talent. Sure, its touch and go who you pick to start the game between the half backs, but when one of them sustains a serious leg injury mid game from an Israel Folau headbutt, it is a no-brainer that you chuck the other fresh one on.
Choose your go-to guy
From three, choose two.
Unlike who you sit next to at Christmas, it’s a great problem to have. It makes sense to have two playmakers – one flashy, one dependable.
However, Michael Jordan didn’t have success passing up the game winning shot, and Michael Bevan did not rotate the strike when a last ball four was needed. Great teams have a go-to-guy in the dying stages of a match, the clutch player, the game winner.
The one who demands the ball at crunch time. The Waratahs understood who that player was, but it is not obvious who that is at the Wallabies. Beale, Toomua, Foley – whoever it is, choose him, and back him until the end. Don’t sub him off, or bring him on with ten to go.
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.