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The Bledisloe Cup will stay in the land of the long white cloud for yet another year. And while we, the Wallabies faithful, believed the men in black could be bested, the night unquestionably belonged to the home side.
The All Blacks were fantastic. They were simply superb and those who questioned the ageing squad’s ability to maintain dominance may wish to reach for the face wipes and start removing the egg.
It would be easy to take the 51 points from the All Blacks to our 20 as proof all is lost. In contrast, I’m cautiously optimistic that this massacre is exactly what we need to encourage coach Ewen McKenzie to review his less orthodox selections.
Make no mistake, it’s Link who must be convinced. Nick Farr-Jones recently described McKenzie’s arrangement with the ARU as making him “essentially the sole selector”. This is good, the national coach should have the right of selecting his side, but the challenge is that sometimes even a great coach can lose perspective, as appears to have happened at camp Wallaby.
The most controversial of the selections was Kurtley Beale at number 10, which I wrote about last week. He did show attacking promise in the opening stanza, in particular one brilliant a set piece around the 39th minute mark. However, as the score line mounted in favour of the home side, that glimmer of hope was extinguished as KB’s confidence faded, along with his control of the game.
Therein lies the lesson McKenzie must learn if we are to salvage the 2014 season. Nick Phipps and Bernard Foley took the field at 51 and 55 minutes respectively, and with Toomua removed, pushing Beale back to his native 12 meant the Super Rugby winning combination dropped into place like reels on a slot machine.
From that moment on, we watched a dramatically different game. The Wallabies’ attack straightened thanks to Foley, which allowed Beale to finally find some rhythm and Phipps outplayed starter Nic White at every turn.
Once working in tandem, each of the Waratahs’ inside backs also created at least one quality opportunity to for teammate Israel Folau to enter the game, which resulted in him scoring one try and threatening another.
Perhaps the most striking difference post the 55 minute mark was the way the visitors started offloading in the tackle and the opportunities this created. It demonstrated a shift in attitude from the Wallabies and the appearance of some desperately needed confidence. And so, behind a pack who had been beaten up all night and confronted by an All Blacks side with home-crowd advantage and all the momentum, the Wallabies held the score for the last 25 minutes to a respectable 14-14.
Though the halves are key, there are other selections that Link should review. Save for the specialist open-side Michael Hooper, Scott Higginbotham has been the choice of the Wallabies’ loose forwards and earned a starting spot at six or eight So too has young Will Skelton who, despite a couple of uncharacteristic handling errors, lifted the pack and brought some much needed physicality.
The other key consideration for Link is accepting that selecting two wingers who are defensive specialists is a failed experiment. At the top level a team will simply not be competitive without even one world class finisher on the wing. Rob Horne is the form player, but perhaps Tevita Kuridrani could adapt to the wing. Perhaps not.
At the end of the day, we cannot know the outcome if the Wallabies XV was different. What we do know, is that the Super Rugby championship combination of Phipps and Foley has proven itself at Test level and made a strong argument for both of their teammates in 12 and 13 to be maintained as well. If we make these selections the Wallabies have the ability beat any team in the world, such are the synergies of the combo.
Though the Bledisloe is gone and the campaign for the Rugby Championship is in critical condition, there is a silver lining to be found looking up from our backs at the long white cloud.
Let’s all say it together, ‘We’re with you Link, swallow your pride, pick the right inside backs and let’s show the world what the Wallabies can do’.
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.