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The Roar

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Now is not the time for the Wallabies to panic

That's it Cheik, teach 'em how to kick. (Image: Tim Anger)
Expert
25th November, 2014
34

Like everyone else, I have watched the Wallaby Tests with great interest and I have read a few articles which talk a lot about player changes. I would caution against this for in my experience, teams need stability and consistency to secure and maintain success.

It might be worth remembering that Michael Cheika was thrown in the deep end a few days before the Wallabies were due to leave Australian shores and to my knowledge had no input into the selection of the squad when it was first chosen.

So, we have a situation where a new coach did not select the squad, and had no time to prepare that squad.

Make no mistake. Michael’s task has not been an easy one but in my humble opinion there are signs of real promise.

The Wallabies only narrowly lost to France on French soil and anyone who has played France at home knows just how onerous a task that is – irrespective of how poorly or otherwise the French may have played in Australia or elsewhere.

The French also engaged in less than savoury tactics in an attempt to upset the Wallabies, which comes as no surprise, but is somewhat regrettable in this day and age.

I was not surprised that Ireland defeated the Wallabies, albeit once again, by a very narrow margin.

The upside was that the Wallabies put up a hell of a fight. From my point of view, the tight five also played the best I have seen them play for some time and that is encouraging.

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Approximately a month ago I teamed up with Tony Melrose to coach a team of players from rural Queensland on a tour to Ireland. We all went to Aviva Stadium to watch Munster play Leinster. The standard of the play was superb and every bit as good as (if not better than) any Super Rugby Rugby match I have seen in the last 12 months.

The Irish lock Paul O’Connell was magnificent and his command of the game personally and in his role as Munster captain was very evident.

This carried through in the game against the Wallabies where he justifiably won man of the match, as well as leading Ireland superbly as captain. We also need to remember that Paul O’Connell first played for Ireland in 2002 and first captained the Irish team in 2004 and the British and Irish Lions in 2009.

My point is that he has a wealth of knowledge and experience that the young Wallabies captain Michael Hooper does not as yet have.

Having said this, that is not to say that Michael Hooper cannot obtain this over time – but it is going to take precisely that – some time.

We need also to remember that Ritchie McCaw became All Black Captain at 23 years of age, and nearly quit in 2007 after New Zealand lost to France in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Look at him now.

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Irrespective of what happens against England – and yes it will extremely tough and there is every chance that we may not succeed, my advice to Michael Cheika for what it is worth, is to work out your best starting XV, hold your nerve and stick to your guns.

To the Wallabies on tour I say, keep your heads up and have faith. Things are getting better – and if you have time, read this Man in the Arena excerpt from Teddy Roosevelt’s Citizen in the Republic speech he gave at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1910.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Go the Wallabies!

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