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Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh (left), and Vice Captain Shane Warne (right) display the World Cup Cricket trophy. Australia's 1 Day Cricket World Cup winning team drove in a motorcade down Sydney's main street to celebrate in a ticket tape parade with over 100,000 well wishers attending. AAP Photo/ Pablo Ramire
The Wallabies are not the Bangladesh of rugby. The Wallabies are one of the top three teams in world rugby. It is but two short steps to the summit. There is no void there. The gulf is not insurmountable.
Let there be no recriminations. No witch hunt for the coach. No censuring of players that don the green and gold.
Let there be no belittling of the ardent fan who wants his team to win.
It is negative for us to accept a narrow defeat. Nothing less than victory will take away the pain. Nine straight and counting is a tale too morose to countenance.
These 15 young men dressed in a garb of black are not super-natural aliens from another galaxy. They only live across the ditch. Many kiwis call Australia home. But we should not allow them to camp on our front lawn and smile in that self-satisfied and smug manner.
The Wallabies need to take a leaf out of Mark Taylor’s 1995 West Indian odyssey. How did his team reach the summit? The Windies had not been beaten since the early eighties. The last time Australia beat them was in 1975-76. They came close in Adelaide on Australia Day in 1993, when McDermott was given out caught off his helmet.
Leading up to the first Test Australia lost their frontline pacers in McDermott and Damien Fleming. There is a message here for the Wallabies. Palu, Horwill and Ioane are injured but that is no excuse. It is an opportunity.
It hinged on one seminal moment. The instant when Glen McGrath bounced Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh in the first Test. At the team meeting the night before the team vowed: “Let’s treat their tailenders with no respect.
“Let’s bounce them upon their arrival at the crease. We’ll be the ones doing the intimidating, but we must never lose a grip on things. We must follow up this greeting with controlled aggression, to then get them out.” (From OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE, By Steve Waugh.)
Steve Waugh recalls: “Bad body language is a bit like smelly underarms in that you don’t really sense it, but those around you pick up on it in an instant.”
So what is the equivalent of bouncing tailenders in a Rugby Test against the All Blacks?
It would have to be not backing down at the Haka. This is a ritual where the AB’s throw down the gauntlet. The accepted response is one of respect by the opposition as they stand 10 metres away.
There is nothing disrespectful if the opponent chooses to pick up the gauntlet. There is nothing to stop the Wallabies from inching forward or even circling the All Blacks. It would send a message that they were not intimidated.
This response will acknowledge that the Wallabies also expected to be hit hard by an enraged AB’s team. But the clear message would be that they were up for the pain.
In the 2007 WC quarter final France eyeballed the AB’s: “We talked about it three days ago,” France captain Raphael Ibanez told a press conference.
“It was not a provocation but we wanted to show them that we are proud.”
I don’t recommend that we blow kisses to the AB’s a la Phil Kearns or do a Campese on your own try line but I am suggesting a confrontation that has aggression. This is the warrior’s response and there is no disrespect. Only affirmation of your own intent.
With this initial skirmish out of the way the next step would be to hit the All Black’s with everything the first time they have the ball. Hit them with more than one man. Hit them with support. And when the Wallabies have the ball they must get over the advantage line. This needs willing teammates.
I am not so naïve to suggest it will be easy. I am also not discounting that maybe there are structural deficiencies at the club and grassroots level. There is also the question of the inexperienced scrum and absence of a proven number 8.
O’Connor may be too small and Giteau may not be a number 10. We are missing Hynes and Palu. We lack a Daniel Herbert or Tim Horan. But these are matters the Wallabies cannot control.
They can control their own destiny with the players in the squad. They need to confront, commit and control. For eighty minutes. Nothing less will do. And it starts with the Haka.
The Wallabies can start by confronting the Springboks on the 28th of August and the 4th of September. They have not won on the high veldt since 1963. It is time to correct this. The first step.
The September 11 clash against the AB’s at ANZ Stadium will define the Wallabies as either serious contenders or just the third ranked pretenders. The second step to the summit.
The World Cup is next year and can wait. The Wallabies have unfinished business and the next two and a half months, leading up to Tokyo, October 31s ,will be a litmus test for these current Wallabies.
The Australian fans have thrown down the gauntlet to their own team. How will they respond?
Can they come up smelling roses?
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.