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Cheika needs to use Brisbane credit for Spring Tour good

23rd October, 2017
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Lukhan Tui of the Wallabies (left) reacts following Australia's win in the Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, October 21, 2017. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Expert
23rd October, 2017
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Wallabies fans will know what I mean. Going into that final five minutes on Saturday night, with the Wallabies clinging to a 20-18 lead, I could feel the heartrate lifting, and the nerves lifting with it.

My notes page has nothing after Damien McKenzie’s missed conversion in the 73rd minute until after full-time.

This is what I refer to as the ‘dead zone’ but you might know it as something else. Whatever you call it, it means the same; it’s that nervous period in a Bledisloe Cup match where Australians realise that there is a genuine hope of winning the match, but where all too often, those hopes are killed off by a final piece of All Blacks brilliance.

You only need to go back to Dunedin in August, but there’s been countless other examples in the recent history of trans-Tasman contests.

Just when it looks like the is hope, all hope is gone. Another victim of the dead zone.

But there was something different about the dead zone in this game.

For one thing, McKenzie missed a conversion that he’s kicked on plenty of occasions, in an obvious sign that New Zealand were still feeling the pressure forced upon them by the Wallabies all night.

And then Reece Hodge nailed his long-range penalty with two minutes to play, a kick that was always going to be long enough off the tee, but with the eternal question of accuracy from beyond halfway still hovering. As the ball sailed closer and closer to the posts, the sight of the assistant referees unmoved beside the uprights, arching backward with the ball on its descent toward the posts was very welcome.

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Over breakfast on Sunday morning, I was informed that I made more noise in my office after Hodge’s kick than I did after Wayne Barnes blew time on the game. Fair enough; it was a big moment in a great Test Match.

Lukhan Tui Wallabies

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

What the Wallabies showed over those closing five or so minutes was indicative of the upward trajectory that can no longer be questioned. Wallabies teams of the recent past would’ve found a way of losing that match in Brisbane, but this one didn’t.

Hodge nailed the penalty. Lukhan Tui came forward and took the restart in front of his face like he was Tony Lockett in his prime. At the All Blacks’ final lineout, the Wallabies aimed up with Adam Coleman, Ned Hanigan and Tui in the back half covering the New Zealand jumpers, from which Kieran Read came forward before the ball went short and low to Ardie Savea. The jumpers were covered, so the All Blacks didn’t jump.

The Wallabies forwards used this to their advantage, immediately forcing the All Blacks’ maul sideways and forcing them to rescue the ball and play to the open side. The Wallabies fanned out in defence. And pressured the breakdown. For some reason, TJ Perenara stood off the last two rucks. Sam Cane found a carrier from the penultimate ruck, but knocked on at the last one.

The dead zone, so often a period where the Wallabies crumbled in the past, was now a high point in composure. It was as wonderful as the jubilation was immediate.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that a winning 2017 season is well within reach for this Wallabies group, but that it’s up to them entirely if they want to achieve it. On Saturday night’s performance, not only is it closer, but the desire to achieve it is very apparent.

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How this desire is now cultivated, how this result and the confidence that deservedly comes with it is benchmarked, is all up to Michael Cheika.

He’s done incredibly well, along with his coaching group, to pull the Wallabies out of the mire that was halftime in Sydney back in August, and the June Tests before that. The side that played the first four Tests of 2017 bears resemblance only in the colour of the jersey and the names on the team sheet to what won in Brisbane.

It makes perfect sense the rest 13 of the starting side this weekend, and the Barbarians coaching trying to draw a reaction out of Cheika and the Wallabies only highlights the craziness of the scheduling of the game this Saturday.

Michael Cheika Australia Rugby Union Wallabies 2017

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

What we need to see from Cheika over the remaining Tests in 2017 is further development of the team, of the confidence within, and the combinations that bring it all together.

While the front row, and backrow depth is there, we need to sort out the revolving door within the no.4 lock jersey. It doesn’t matter who the preferred partner for Coleman is, they just need to be identified and stuck with.

The pecking order at scrumhalf and back-three depth looks well established, but the same cannot be said of flyhalf. If Bernard Foley was hit by a truck tomorrow, who plays 10?

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Whatever the answer is – Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale, Duncan Paia’aua, whoever – they need to get serious game time at flyhalf on this tour. Foley remains the best option at 10 for the Wallabies, but the reason cannot remain ‘because there are no alternatives’.

There are certainly goal-kicking alternatives within the side now, however, and that needs to be explored, too. I can’t recall the last time Foley didn’t take a kick within his range, yet that’s exactly what happened in the 65th minute. If Foley’s kicking confidence is down, then now is the time to put more work into Hodge and others.

Israel Folau Wallabies

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Israel Folau sitting out the tour makes good sense, particularly if this becomes the chance to play Karmichael Hunt in the front line, and with Kurtley Beale continuing his roving commission in the no.15 jersey. It feels like it’s been on the radar for some time, so let’s see if it’s as good as we all suspect it will be.

The Brisbane win was the Wallabies’ biggest TV audience in two years and there is clearly a lot of goodwill toward them again currently.

Cheika and the side have a lot of credits up their sleeve for the moment, but we don’t want to see those credits wasted in the northern hemisphere. The ground work for 2018 starts in Tokyo in a fortnight.

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