Australian rugby union backs Quade Cooper, Adam Ashley-Cooper, James O'Connor, Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell remove the tape they used to prepare themselves to take on the forwards during a practice session in Sydney on Thursday, July 23, 2009. The Wallabies next match will be against South Africa in Cape Town on August 8. AAP Image/Paul Miller
“I’m a great believer in loud noise,” confessed the kilted Scot seated beside me as he raised his plastic blowhorn to his lips. There were twenty minutes to go, the Scots were bristling, the Aussies were bumbling and Murrayfield was absolutely buzzing.
My new friend was certainly not alone in his love of volume but between blasts on his plastic instrument that resembled music in much the same way as Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper resembled a composed midfield he admitted his hope far outweighed his belief.
As a Queensland Reds fan I knew what he was talking about. Hope is what you have when you’re only weapon is passion.
Belief, at least, needs a good set of second rows.
Australia had enough weapons, spearheaded again by Wycliff Palu, but our mistakes and poor option taking began to mount.
“We’d need you Aussies to keep stuffing up for us to win,” my noisy neighbour said with the sort of sombre foresight that can only be attained after four pints.
That this little gem of what he would later describe as ‘forward-thinking hindsight’ was followed by a quiet but prolonged burp seemed to me entirely appropriate and in no way diminished his authority on the subject.
It could have been the smuggled-in whiskey talking but the Wallaby backline began to annoy me. What the hell happened to Robbie Deans’ much lauded ethos of “playing what’s in front of you?”
It is wet and windy, the Scots are tackling like demons and ‘playing what’s in front of you’ somehow means tossing the ball aimlessly about the backline?
I felt a good cathartic rant coming on and wanted to tell anyone who’d listen that we should be kicking the ball to the bloody corners all night long and letting our fat men do the work.
I told the horn-blowing Scot that I feared living in a running-rugby dreamtime makes us too proud to play the percentages but he was preoccupied with a newly purchased pasty.
Riding shotgun on a bandwagon of empty praise following defeat avoidances against a broken England and an early season Ireland, the Wallabies, with a few precious exceptions, looked like they were running drills on the training ground rather than fighting for their right to wear a national jersey.
Scotland on the other hand looked exactly like what they were – an honest team aware of their limitations but fighting tooth and nail to grab a little piece of glory.
As Australia mounted their last minute attack Scotland’s passionate defence on the field was reflected off it and the pasty-eating Scot was frenzying himself towards hope’s outer edge.
I envied him. I wanted the Wallabies to play with that same passion.
Perhaps passion is best kept in the hearts of the oft defeated. Perhaps a winning culture develops a more sober approach that values the level head above the (and I promised myself I wouldn’t use this phrase) brave heart.
I don’t think its as simple as that and good teams need a healthy portion of each but what was clear on this rainy Edinburgh night was that Australia had all the possession but neither the passion nor the belief to peel off a victory.
With Australia’s final stuff up, Giteau’s missed conversion attempt at full time, the jubilation of Scotland’s win came hooting from the throats of a healthy but not sold-out Murrayfield and I left rather comforted by the result. An Australian win would have been undeserved and somehow vulgar.
This decade John O’Neil has purchased for Australian rugby the finest leaguies money could buy as well as the most successful coach in super rugby history.
What price a modicum of passion?
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.
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