- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Wallabies were soundly beaten on Saturday night, but all is not lost. Call me an optimist, call me hopeful, call me stupid, but I think Australia still has a chance at next year’s Rugby World Cup. This year’s Tri-Nations series is New Zealand’s to lose, that much is clear.
The All Blacks are in great form and have clinically disposed of the Wallabies and the Springboks twice. And your money would definitely be on New Zealand claiming another scalp in Christchurch this weekend.
But let’s not forget that the Wallabies are missing Digby Ioane, James Horwill, Wycliff Palu Tatafu-Polota-Nau and Ben Alexander. All are virtually starting players and fill big holes.
Palu is a damaging runner and has more than 30 caps for Australia. Ditto Polota-Nau, who had dispersed Stephen Moore as the number one hooker before injury took hold.
Horwill and Ioane were two of the main stars of the dynamic Queensland Reds team which were by far the form Australian province in the Super 14.
The Wallabies simply do not have anything near the player depth of New Zealand or South Africa. They are also missing Quade Cooper. He was the best Australian player in this year’s Super Rugby competition and he is coming of age in the international arena.
You put all that together, along with a lot of under-experienced and overwhelmed players filling those spots, and you have a struggling team.
And you put them against a mean, lean and fired-up All Blacks outfit that can smell blood in the water, and add a Drew Mitchell send off, and you have the setting for the Melbourne massacre.
But before we start calling for Robbie Deans sacking we all need to take a deep breath and a step back. It might be a bitter pill to swallow but the 2010 Tri-Nations is just a tune-up to the 2011 World Cup.
If the Wallabies can snatch a victory in South Africa, and maybe one in the next three games against New Zealand, then we will be really back on track.
Considering our dismal player depth, Deans has done a great job in blooding a lot of new players, who eventually will be better for the experience.
New backs in Rob Horne and Faingaa, a whole new front row and some new forwards like Rob Simmons, have all tasted or will taste Test match rugby.
With the Melbourne Rebels coming on board next year, Australia’s rugby player depth will get a well-needed shot in the arm. Our Sevens team is also performing well, the best it has in years, so we have some hope.
The Wallabies current predicament has some echoes to England’s rebuilding phase in the late 1990’s under Clive Woodward, which eventually lead to the 2003 World Cup triumph.
Let’s just hope it won’t take as long, and we don’t have to suffer as many defeats (or concede 76 points in a match), before the Wallabies taste success again.
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.