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“Play what’s in front of you.” It was a line that Robbie Deans was derided for during much of his time as Wallabies coach, but I’d reckon the former mentor would’ve enjoyed the way all four tries came to be in Mendoza on Sunday morning.
The Wallabies spoke a lot last week in the lead-up to the match against Argentina about creating their ‘identity’, something that we know Michael Cheika is big on. Indeed, he employed the same methods in rebuilding the Waratahs, and that brought a decent amount of success with it.
But what exactly is this Wallabies’ identity? What is it they would like us to notice and instantly recognise it as being the ‘thing’ the team now stands for?
And there obviously is some ‘thing’. As a team, we’re hearing that the ‘character’ and ‘trust’ within in the team is developing nicely, and that everyone on the field now knows that the bloke next to him is working hard to achieve the same results. There’s no doubt that’s all very important.
If the ‘thing’ is self-belief, then it certainly is building nicely. Over the last two weeks, they’ve put away two pretty handy international sides by continuing to work for each other right until the final whistle. They’ll go into next week’s first Bledisloe Test, and Rugby Championship decider in Sydney with some well-placed, and well-earned confidence, rather than the sort of confidence you say is there, but is quickly shown up to be little more than a sound bite.
There can also be no doubt that the squad depth is genuine, and that they’re keeping each other honest, both within and outside the selected squad of the day. The 31 that went to Argentina may look completely different when it reconvenes in Sydney, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Every jersey must be earned, as last year’s marketing campaign had us believe.
But the Wallabies are also starting to back themselves to create the necessary opportunities to win games, and this is what I think the ‘thing’ might actually be.
Last week in Brisbane, it was backing themselves to win the game against South Africa. On Sunday, it was backing themselves to find try-scoring opportunities where nothing necessarily looked ‘on’ at the time.
And happily, their finishing of these opportunities in Mendoza was from the top shelf.
For Joe Tomane’s try, it was great to see Israel Folau not just running to the other side of the field, but actually running at pace to get to the left flank and create the three-on-two overlap. Seeing Folau in full flight made me realise how rarely we actually see it on kick returns.
But it was an opportunity created, and just as important as Folau’s initial run was the way he and Bernard Foley straightened and engaged the defenders directly, both of them drawing and passing, and ultimately, putting Tomane away down the sideline. Well worked and well executed.
It was similar for Dean Mumm’s try on the hour. When Adam Ashley-Cooper fielded the surprising high ball inside the Pumas’ forty, the Wallabies noticed how compacted the defence was around the ruck, and that there was space down the short side if they could get there.
Before Nick Phipps even at his hand on the ball, Mumm could be seen in the background motoring over to the far sideline. Phipps saw this too, and by the time he did get to ball, Tevita Kuridrani and Michael Hooper were already in place. The ball went through the hands, Mumm was in space some 35 metres out, and he showed both surprising pace and fly swat-like fending to crash over the line.
The final pass may or may not have been forward, but it was certainly no worse than plenty let go in 2015. And we’ll know more about Hooper’s activities after the pass from 5:00pm AEST tomorrow night.
It was something of a surprise to see Australia had less than a third of second-half territory and possession, because it still doesn’t feel that way even two days on. But that being the case just makes the Wallabies finishing all the more impressively clinical.
Even with Quade Cooper on the naughty chair, it still felt a matter of ‘when’ the Wallabies would score again in the closing stages. By the 77th minute, an excellent lineout drive had already earned penalty advantage when the ball spilled free to Hooper.
This is what my Cheap Seats podcast co-host Ryan O’Connell would call ‘free rugby’. The penalty is coming one way or the other, but the opportunity is there to have a crack with no real consequence or risk of coughing up possession.
So Hooper sort of just flung the ball to Kurtley Beale, on replacing Cooper, but Beale very cleverly offloaded back inside to Foley, taking advantage of the slow inside defence. And in fairness, if the Hooper pass to Mumm maybe was forward, then the Beale pass to Foley definitely was.
Foley burst through the gap and was posts-bound before swivelling in the tackle and handing off basketball style for Kuridrani to score. Great skills. This was a try I’d wager the Wallabies would have bombed more often than not in the last few years.
From the kickoff, the Wallabies’ focus was all about finding the fourth try, and the opportunity came almost immediately. Again, it was Folau putting the pedal down that created the space, and as he accelerated through the contact, he and Beale were in clear air. Beale again got a great ball away in traffic, and Ashley-Cooper finished it as he often does.
Four great tries, all from opportunities that suddenly presented. It’s the ability to finish those opportunities that separates the Wallabies of 2015 from teams of the recent past.
There’s a new clinical edge developing, and it’s great to see.
But that’s not to say they’re the finished product – oh, Lordy, no. The scrum still has issues, and the breakdown presence still needs work as does discipline. Soft penalties that allow an easy exit are bad enough, but penalties being reversed because of stupidity? Come on, these guys are supposed to be professionals.
And if the ARU genuinely has a $5 million bonus ready and waiting for the Wallabies should they lift the Webb Ellis trophy on November 1, they should cut that back to $4.9M and hire a kicking coach. Seriously.
The Wallabies will not get anywhere in 2015 with 56 per cent goal kicking success and it simply must be addressed immediately. Foley’s ball striking in Mendoza was about as bad I’ve seen at this level, and as a Wallabies fan, I shouldn’t have to watch a game thinking I might be a better goal-kicker. And I don’t mean better in my distant playing days.
I mean right now, aged 40.
It’s not good enough.