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Something is amiss in the Wallabies camp. This is the same group of players that went to England a year ago and made the World Cup final.
On route they had some tough battles, but beat England in their back yard, disposed of a fired up Welsh team and outclassed a very strong Argentinia.
Fast forward to now. They have just been whitewashed by England at home for the first time in history and suffered a record-breaking defeat at home to an All Black side that are supposedly in a period of transition.
They have a scrum which at the World Cup, was considered one of the strongest in the tournament and won penalties and praise galore, now it is seen as the Achilles heel again and teams are starting to target that area.
A lot of Wallaby fans can point to this being a period of transition for them as well. A number of experienced, high-profile players are staying in Europe after the World Cup and are not available for the England Tests.
There have been a number of debuts handed out. Players like Samu Kerevi, Nick Frisby and Dane Haylett-Petty have seen their Super Rugby form rewarded by being given their debuts this season as well as prospects such as Rory Arnold and Alan Ala’alatoa who appeared for the first time on Saturday.
It isn’t easy to integrate so many new players, especially in some critical positions on the pitch but their performances have just not been up to it.
Obviously the big thing in the England series was the change of management. Eddie Jones is a class above Stuart Lancaster, he plays the press better than most and tries all he can to get into the minds of the opposition.
He is also acutely aware of his team’s strengths and weaknesses. Australia fell into the trap that England set for them. All the English wanted was Australia to give away kickable penalties and Owen Farrell would punish them.
They did.
Australia didn’t heed the warnings, six penalties in the first and last Tests and three in the second. The Wallabies also tried to score a try every time they got the ball. They were unable to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
In the first Test they only scored two penalties, one of which was in the 78th minute, none in the second Test and three in the third. There was too many one-out runners being swallowed up by the English defence which allowed their back rowers to get on the ball and get the penalty.
This was where the first creaks at the scrum happened. Scott Sio, arguably the find of the tournament at the World Cup, was destroyed by Dan Cole. So much so that he was replaced for the second and third Tests.
The lineouts, didn’t function that well. England disrupted enough to not allow Australia to win clean ball all the time and their attack at times was pedestrian.
Most would conclude that Cheika was completely outcoached by Jones. After seeing the same things happen in game one and two to continue to try and execute the same game plan for the final Test was foolish.
Following a relatively poor Super Rugby campaign by Australian teams, the Rugby Championship was always going to be tough. Big calls were made, Will Genia came back after injury, Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper also returned as did Quade Cooper.
The team had a familiar feel about it with the experienced campaigners coming back.
On Saturday we saw that all the problems from June have yet to be rectified. The All Blacks don’t have a metronome as a kicker but concede ball to them they will score tries. In Beauden Barrett they have one of the form players in the world at the moment and the Wallabies ailed to put him under any pressure.
Losing Matt Giteau, Matt Toomoa and Rob Horne is desperately unlucky but this was where Cheika missed a trick.
George Moala was ruled out prior to the game and in my view, as good a player as he is, Ryan Crotty is more of a stop gap until another world class inside centre comes along.
The Waratahs, very effectively, used Israel Folau at 13 during the season. He looked a threat every time he had the ball, none more so than when he put the Chiefs to the sword. At 15 on Saturday he was completely wasted.
One of the most potent attacking weapons around was forced to deal with high balls under pressure, there was no chance for his counter attacking abilities.
I would have liked to see what he could have one in the midfield with Dayne Haylett-Petty or even Quade Cooper donning the 15 shirt.
The scrum once again creaked and was moved all over the place by the All Black pack and the lineouts were a shambles. Dane Coles had to play 70-odd minutes at about 80 per cent fitness, he should have been put out of the game early, putting severe pressure on the front row capabilities of the All Blacks.
The attack once again failed to spark. The All Blacks had players running all sorts of lines as close to the defensive line as possible. This created space and isolated defenders and led to the Wallabies missing over 20 tackles, a stat that you cannot win games with. The support was always there as well.
Waisake Naholo’s try was a perfect example of players not giving up on the ball. He started the move on the right wing, after a couple of passes and break from Barrett, Naholo was there to receive the scoring pass.
Fast forward to the second half, Nick Phipps makes a break gets one-on-one with Israel Dagg, looks around for support but there was none.
Cheika has his work cut out to find the reasoning behind the Wallabies going from the second-best in the world last year to the third-best in the Southern Hemisphere. The first place he has to look is in the mirror.
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.