The Australian Rugby Union has got Robbie (Dingo) Deans, the man they were after to bring back glory to the Wallabies after a disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign.
John Connolly’s tenure finally came to an end when the Wallabies returned home with their tails tightly between their legs after being beaten or bulldozed by the unstoppable English pack in quarter final of the ’07 World Cup.
The Wallabies performed reasonably well in the 2007 Tri Nations as they were able to beat the then world number one team, the All Blacks. No one gave the Wallabies much of a chance to do well in the ’07 World Cup and they proved all of them right.
The Australian public, some former players and part of the ARU had been blaming Eddie Jones for the downturn of the Wallabies forward play, but under Connolly’s reign there was not much improvement as they threw in the towel so early against the Poms.
While the All Blacks and the Springboks had gone for younger blood, the Wallabies, with the blessing of Eddie Jones in 2003 and Connolly in 2007, had stuck to aging players throughout the season.
It is important that a team has some experienced guys to guide the youngsters or else its going to be the same story as the much fancied All Blacks were bamboozled by the impervious Wallabies defence in the 2003 World Cup semifinal.
Nevertheless, whatever happened that night, it was England who reigned supreme the following week and took home the most prized trophy in modern rugby.
It took Rod Macqueen, the most successful coach in Australian rugby, about three years to build a successful team.
He molded a batch of young players like Stephen Larkham, Joe Roff, Mathew Burke and Ben Tune to finally reap the rewards in 1999, winning the World Cup, and in 2001 when he guided the Wallabies to their first series triumph over the British and Irish Lions. He was the creator of multiphase play and added that extra dimension to the Australian rugby.
On the other hand, Eddie Jones had worked tirelessly since he took over from Rod Macqueen in 2002.
He took the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final and nearly won it when the majority of the Aussie public had written them off. Maybe because of that, Jones remained the coach of the Wallabies for so long.
The game plan that he used against the All Blacks was just awesome.
The All Blacks backline was so devastating that they destroyed their opponents, until they met their match in the semi-final.
Jones instructed his ‘boys’ to starve the All Blacks of any quality possession and that was it, he didn’t worry about the symptom, which was the All Blacks’ fast backline, but went directly for the disease, which was to out-muscle and outplay the All Blacks forwards.
He really shattered the All Blacks’ engine room.
This clearly showed that he had more than enough capability to guide the Wallabies to the 2007 World Cup. But unfortunately that dream of his was destroyed.
John Connolly also persisted with the older blokes in the team, so fringe players hardly got any game time.
Young Berrick Barnes, the last player to be picked in the Wallabies squad, found himself playing in the quarter-finals of a World Cup and he was lost amongst the forward power of the English.
Connolly didn’t have much to show in the Wallabies trophy cabinet either. Though he had so many experienced campaigners, most of them were aging and prone to injuries – the biggest causality being Stephen Larkham.
The ARU should do a lot more at grassroots level instead of poaching players from the NRL.
Upcoming stars like Tatafu Polotu Nau and Lachlan Turner were not even considered for the 2007 season.
It would be difficult for any new coach to build a great team in a limited period of time, but the Wallabies do have a couple of players in their side, namely Lote Tuqiri and Mat Giteau, both of whom have achieved so much in a short span of time and who are now considered the seniors of the side.
Tuqiri switched code in 2003 and in the same year did extremely well, helping the Wallabies reach the World Cup final. While in 2002, young Mat Giteau went directly into the Wallabies squad to tour Europe from club rugby without even playing in the Super 12 competition.
He became so successful that one of the Aussie commentators nicknamed him ‘Kid Dynamite’.
The major problem faced by the Wallabies for the past few years has been the forwards, especially the front row who have not been able to gain any ascendancy over their counterparts.
The scrum was never steady all throughout the Tri Nations series and the World Cup and that really affected the Wallabies performance as they depend so much on set plays to get tries. It was really painful to see the bigger nations destroying the Wallabies pack.
As for the backline, they didn’t do anything extraordinary but their work will definitely become easier once the forwards start giving them quality possession. Imagine players like Mat Giteau, Lote Tuqiri and Mortlock consistently getting quality balls on the front foot.
The other important factor is the Wallabies ‘never say die attitude’ was nowhere to be seen. We are no longer seeing those last gasp lunges towards the trylines and those penalties being converted from difficult angles after the siren. Aussies in every sport are known to fight till the end, so the new coaching panel and the senior players will have to do their utmost to get that fighting spirit back in the Wallabies’ game.
Even at Super 14 level, the Australian teams (barring the Waratahs) are doing poorly.
The ARU should really consider opening a scrum school and start breeding players. The Australian Provincial Championship should also continue as it would give players on the fringes more game time towards the end of season.
In the meantime, rugby lovers Down Under can hope that the Wallabies under the guidance of a new coach can get back that winning formula which made them the most feared team in the world a few years ago.
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