As I was going to bed on Saturday night, 5 minutes before the end of the Wallabies v Springbok debacle, I couldn’t but help thinking, if this was a horse race they would probably be having a Steward’s inquiry.
How is it that a team that was so dominant last week was so submissive this week?
A thought begins to take root – yeah, there’s something in this … maybe they slipped a mickey into the sandwiches or the drinks in the dressing shed that would make the boys just a bit lethargic – just enough to be off the pace. Yeah, that’s it. Everyone else will have seen it.
Hopefully by the time I wake up from my Sunday sleep-in the websites and the news articles will be running hot, as the local cops have been called in to take swabs and some notorious local criminal has been caught up in a betting scandal (I did have a few wines during the evening!).
So I got up this morning, ready to see the headlines touting the scandal and there weren’t any. Can’t these people see the obvious? The boys must have been nobbled.
Nuh!
Plan B (fall back position) – what’s our excuse?
Well, here is where I think we fell down.
1. Vickerman wasn’t there
2. George Smith should have been the “horses for courses” pick, rotation or not
3. Polota-Nau is a great hooker but a lousy thrower
4. Tahu’s debut was premature – he was lost in the traffic (with the benefit of hindsight and no disrespect to Timana)
5. Mortlock at 12 and Cross at 13 was a better option on the day (with the benefit of hindsight)
6. Giteau was expected to do too much
7. We kicked way too much
8. We were thin on the edges
9. The Wallabies did not seem capable of adjusting their game plan
10. They didn’t handle the altitude as well as the Boks, and, of course…
11. A loss for the Boks would have meant that they all might as well have started looking for other jobs, overseas, especially the coach!
Sure, it’s a kicking game nowadays, but what is wrong with holding the ball and playing the phases?
Putting the ball through the hands gives you options, because you can keep the structure in your game. When you kick, you have less structure.
When you are that many points down, you don’t dig a hole and crawl into it, you run over the top of the trenches with bayonets fixed and CHARGE!
All of those things combined, not counting the massive home ground advantage, and maybe in the back of the guys’ minds was the fact that a) they had climbed their mountain the week before; and b) it was a dead rubber. These combined to make it all too hard. I bet that is what Robbie comes up with.
Can they regroup in two weeks? This is Robbie’s first real big test. Talk about peaks and troughs – he has had a few peaks from day one, and now he has this trough that not many other Australian coaches have been through. They’ve had a complete shocker. Poor guy.
It’s nothing if not interesting.
Etienne
Guest
Suzie did it... hahahahaha!!!!!
B Johnson
Guest
The last 3 weeks have been a very gloomy time in the Republic but this was not envisaged in even the most optimistic Bok supporter's mind. I thought the boys were very competitive in the 1st 20 min but somehow were unable to cope with the Boks at the breakdown. Spies, Smith and Burger were immense and the backline played a fast and flowing running game. I still think the Wallabies can win the Tri Nations being at home but how do you come back from the biggest defeat in 109 years to beating the All Blacks?
kenneth mortimer
Guest
To be fair to Robbie Deans, given that the Wallabies had already retained the Mandela Plate, he needed to experiment with combinations that had not been tested so that he could more or less complete hi performance/combination portfolio. While they did not work they needed to be tested before the crucial AB game in Brisbane. I continue to have complete faith in the man.
Jerry
Guest
I think you're overstating the Wallabies dominance last week. The Boks had plenty of attacking opportunities last week, they just blew them through dumb option taking and people going it alone. They took every opportunity on Saturday.
sheek
Guest
Gatesy, I can think of one word that can hide many flaws in an ordinary team, & expose holes in a good team. A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E.
Rich_daddy
Roar Guru
Yeah, It definently seems strange the dramatic score reversal occured over a one week period, but it may have just been a case of the Wallibies having an off day. A player may be 5% off, but if every player is 5% off then it makes a huge difference. Also once the home side gets a head of steam, it can be pretty hard for the visitors to stop it, particulary in front of a parachial home crowd. The Wallibies form has also fluctuated a bit during the tri nations, just look at the two results against the All blacks. Finally form fluctuation occurs in every sport, I mean look at Collingwood's 80 point thumping of Geelong in the AFL this year.