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Another lead blown, another loss snatched from the jaws of victory. Another winless Bledisloe series. And there’s only one way to describe this. The Wallabies have morphed into a second-Sunday-of-the-month social fishing club. “Remember that big one we had hooked in Christchurch? It was going to be the one we finally hooked in New Zealand, and then somehow it slipped off.”
“And what about the one we had on over in Pretoria? That was going to be a corker, and we’ve never landed one there before. Slippery sucker wriggled off just as we got it to the surface.
“But we held on the get the glory shot in Bloemfontein, didn’t we? Yeah, that was a good one; we’ll be able to dine out on that tale for years. We had him in the boat and then he nearly slipped out but Kurtley pulled off the save of the year. That was a good fish, that one, just desserts I’d reckon.”
“Yeah, we deserved that one.”
“And then just as we get back into local waters, we let the really big one slip away in Sydney. We had him on toast. Dead set filleted up and ready to slap in the pan. He was so big he barely put up a fight; we had him covered from the outset. How come we never got him in the end?”
“I really don’t know. Maybe we should have left Kurtley on the net?”
“Yeah, maybe. Good season, all up, though. I reckon we proved we’re a bloody good fishing club.”
“Damn right we did.”
So another domestic fishing season finishes with a not unreasonable return, but with Australia still not convincing the armchair angling experts that they’re capable of landing that big one.
Yes, they’ve come agonisingly close, and yes, they’re still more than capable of landing the entree-sized offerings that swim down from northern waters in June, but the truth is, they’re still only pulling up seaweed and old boots whenever a line is dropped into the Tasman.
There’s no doubting the Wallabies are better anglers than this time next year. There’s not even any question that they’re fishing better now than they were in June. And they’re holding a decent return whenever trawling for the big South African tuna now too, which can’t and shouldn’t be easily discounted.
But it’s just that wily Tasman trout that continues to elude. So what are the lessons from Sydney?
Well, for starters, I’d suggest to Rocky Elsom especially, but also to a potential future leader in David Pocock, that speaking at, rather than to, the charter captain isn’t advantageous.
There’s probably not much argument that Captain Mark Lawrence had an off night at the helm on Saturday night, but at the end of the day, he’s in control of the boat, and telling him you think you know of better spots to fish is not going to get you where you want. If anything, he’ll only march you back closer to shore.
That said, I still don’t believe Elsom needs to be replaced as fishing club president. He led from the front superbly in Sydney, as he did in South Africa, and was a constant figure in reeling the All Blacks in as close to the boat as the Wallabies did.
In fact, the Wallabies backrow of Elsom, Pocock, and young Ben McCalman were outstanding again, and had the measure of their opposites for the best part of the game.
Of course, All Black captain Richie McCaw, the wiliest of all the wily Tasman trout, still played a key role in getting his school off the Wallabies hook in the end.
I was pleased McCalman played another belter at No.8 too, plenty of young Wallaby anglers have floundered (ha!) under comments like “the Wallabies may just have found their next long term No.8” which I made about him last week.
Is it time to hand the goal-kicking net to Kurtley Beale fulltime? Has he done enough to earn it, and does Matt Giteau really have the yips? It would seem, judging by the comments on The Roar, that while Beale will be remembered forever for his kick in Bloemfontein, Giteau is only being remembered for his misses in Edinburgh. And Perth. And now Sydney.
So, with the biggest event in the fishing world set to be held in New Zealand this time next year, can the Wallabies put the rods in the rack for a few months knowing they’re heading in the direction of a big catch?
Well, they probably can, yes, but they can’t just assume that the November journey into European waters will be easy pickings. The Spring Tour needs to be the fishing trip where the Wallabies can tough out wins if need be, and more so, where they become relentless when they snare a big lead and really start putting teams to the sword.
At the moment, the Wallabies are probably deserving of their no.2 ranking on the world rugby charts, but their northern encounters have to be when they convince us that they’re the … well, the ‘reel’ deal. There can be no more big ones getting away in the 79th minute.
The time for the Wallabies’ fishing stories is rapidly ending. We love that they’ve had some big ones hooked this year, and even that they’ve gone so close to getting some big catches in the boat.
But ‘so close’ isn’t going to cut it this time next year. The tales have to be replaced by actual fish well before then.