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Australia's Rocky Elsom, right, tries to charge down the kick from Wales' Martin Roberts, left, during their international rugby union match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Tom Hevezi)
‘Australia were superb.’ That was the old curmudgeon himself, the UK Sunday Times rugby writer Stephen Jones’ response to the emphatic and occasionally brilliant 33 – 12, four tries to none, victory over Wales.
Although the praise from Jones the rugby writer for the Wallabies is as extravagant as it is rare, it was well-deserved.
It is rare for Wales to be out-classed so comprehensively at home. A fervent Welsh crowd could only muster some sporadic singing as the pride of the valleys (admittedly without the Little Magician, Shane Williams, for most of the Test) were made to look as second-rate and as clueless on attack as England.
Just before the half-time whistle we had the first and really last glimpse of the 2009 ‘Woellabies’ when Adam Ashley-Cooper fielded a kick inside his 22. Instead of doing the obvious thing and kicking the ball out and ensuring his team went into half time with a 23 – 9 lead, he booted the ball down field.
The inevitable happened. Wales put in a high ball. The Wallabies offended at the ruck and Stephen Jones kicked the penalty. The scoreline tightened just ever so significantly to 23 – 12.
Why did Ashley-Cooper make such a stupid play?
We’ve been asking the same question of him and all the other Wallabies throughout the season. I got an email before the Test from a famous former All Black, who is a noted thinker about the game. ‘Why are the Wallabies playing such dumb rugby?’ he asked. ‘Is it because they just aren’t as smart as Wallabies in the past?’
There is I reckon something in this.
This generation of players have only known professional rugby. They haven’t had to get on with their life outside the game during their careers as older generations of Wallabies had to do.
Perhaps, too, they have been over-coached throughout their careers. The modern player tends to look to the coach to work out what the tactics should be. When things turn to custard on the field, they often don’t seem to be able to work out how to solve their problems.
This seemed to happen in the second half of the Wales Test when, inexplicably, the Wallabies gave away their running game that had given them three tries in the first half and reverted to the kicking game that has been so unsuccessful throughout this season.
Perhaps it is a mark of how the young Wallabies are finally understanding the Robbie Deans philosophy of ‘playing what is in front of you’ that they got their running game back into action and began to threaten the Welsh defence, especially out wide with sweeping passing movements.
The official Man of the Match award went to Matt Giteau who, according to the curmudgeon was ‘magnificent.’ He was that, especially when he ran from the inside centre position. Wales had no defensive answer to the backline attacks set up (legally) behind the flat front line of forwards. Giteau was able to isolate tacklers and ran around or inside them to set up scoring moves.
But my Man of the Match and the best Wallaby all year, in my opinion, was tubby Benn Robinson.
The Wallaby scrum monstered the Welsh pack, with Robinson leading the way. He was good with the ball in hand, catching, forcing a hole, drawing and passing to set up a try with the aplomb of an outside centre. And then on defence it was not unusual for him to make several strong tackles in one sequence of plays.
The Wallabies end the year as they started, with a strong, convincing win.
The first three Tests were won and then only two Tests were won in the next 10. The nadir was reached against Scotland when the Wallabies contrived to lose a Test in which they were (statistically) at their most dominant. Against Wales, they finally turned the dominance into tries.
So despite all the failures and abject play, the Wallabies were able to record convincing victories of the Springboks, England and Wales, and achieve a 20 – 20 draw against Ireland in that team’s only Test this season that was not won.
Deans has cleaned out most of the dead wood left over from the 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign.
He has developed a scrum (with the help of Patricio Noreiga). He has finally got a loose forward trio who complement each other’s play.
Will Genia has solved a perennial halfback problem going back to 2004. Giteau is being forced out of the play-making role that does not suit his instinctive and intuitive skills. Digby Ione has given some bite to the attack.
Taken as a whole, 2009 has been a poor year in terms of results for the Wallabies. For the first time since 2005, the team has had a losing season.
But in terms of getting through the transition period in developing a strong team for the 2011 Rugby World Cup there has been some significant progress. Apparently only 9 of the Wallabies were in the beaten side at Cardiff last year against Wales were in the same that won so splendidly at the Millennium Stadium at the weekend.
If all this sounds too upbeat in a year when most of the rugby, especially that played by Australian sides, was simply unwatchable, I give the last words to the old curmudgeon: ‘Welcome back the Wallabies. And welcome back the concept of rugby as something you would like to go and see.’