This is a message for every Australian crying into their Weetbix this morning: make sure you keep a record of every single New Zealander who has a crack at you in the next few weeks. The reason? The Wallabies will win the World Cup in 2015.
Now I know we have not even begun a post mortem of our 2011 campaign, but for those who want to stick the boot in I offer a glimmer of hope.
There is no denying that the All Blacks were faster, stronger, tougher and an all round better rugby side. Even without the likes of Daniel Carter, they were clearly too good for us.
Sure we may have taken out the Tri Nations title, but if anyone can remember back to the first Bledisloe earlier this year in New Zealand, it made pretty similar viewing to the Rugby World Cup semi-final.
The Wallabies had key players not performing on the big stage, and an overall squad of players lacking composure at key times in the match.
Whether it was dropped balls or the wrong option, the All Blacks were a much slicker unit, with far more experience, who remained calm and composed under a mountain of expectation in New Zealand.
But as promising as the 2011 World Cup campaign may have looked for the Wallabies, our chances in 2015 look even better.
Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale, James O’Connor, David Pocock, Will Genia, Rob Horne, Pat McCabe, Rob Simmons, Anthony Faingaa, Scott Higginbotham, Saia Faingaa and Sekope Kepu are all currently either 25 years of age or under.
It means that the Wallabies already have an established core of players that will be available for the next World Cup, with some such as James O’Connor still young enough to go beyond that.
Another four years of Super 15 and Test rugby will ensure each player is not just more experienced, but will carry the lesson of the 2011 campaign with them.
Someone who has taken a battering for his form all tournament is Quade Cooper. Now there is no denying that Quade had a disappointing campaign, and after such a stellar Super 15 campaign, expectations were higher.
But I feel the Wallabies place too much pressure on Quade Cooper, and it is he who we look to all the time to produce that bit of magic to get us out of trouble.
When he tries it and it fails, we chastise him, yet it seems he is the only one providing any real creativity or attacking intent.
We need to remember too is that he has only played 33 tests and has only been a Wallaby for three years, of which much time was spent coming off the bench or at inside centre, as deputy for Matt Giteau.
After a disappointing first half in the World Cup semi-final, I felt Quade Cooper really came into it in the second half, and it showed his character, to fight back the way he did.
The Wallabies coaching staff should not make any knee jerk reactions in regards to who wears the number 10 for the Wallabies. Quade Cooper is still our best option, and we should continue the faith in him on the road to 2015.
But Quade needs some support, and it must come in the shape of James O’Connor. I personally feel O’Connor is wasted on the wing, as he doesn’t see enough ball, and when he does he has little room to move.
I would move him to inside centre, and bring him closer to the action. He is a great ball runner, who can run a good line and can be really damaging with the ball in hand.
He can also provide some support to Cooper in the playmaking duties, given O’Connor has played at flyhalf for the Force for the last few seasons, and may even be handed the number 10 for the Rebels next season.
The reason O’Connor did not play inside centre in the World Cup, was the fear of a mismatch, when coming up against the likes of giant centres Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith.
Some protection would have to be given to O’Connor and I feel the right man for the job would have to be Pat McCabe.
Although playing at Inside Centre, I think McCabe would be better suited in the number 13.
He is still quite inexperienced at Test level, and it should be remembered that he played a lot of the season at fullback for the Brumbies in Super 15, so he is still learning how to be a centre.
He has shown so much already, so imagine what he could be capable of in four years time. Throw in Will Genia, David Pocock and Kurtley Beale, plus any other finds over the next four years and the Wallabies looked incredibly well placed.
South Africa, England, France and others all relied on much older and more experienced players in the World Cup this year than the Wallabies, and they all must go through a period of renewal.
The gap between the Wallabies and the All Blacks might favour the All Blacks now, but I’m confident with time, that will change.
Many of the All Black players are set to call time on their careers in the near future, and a Rugby World Cup win may even push some into retirement sooner than they expected.
In saying that, for those that continue on and who are pushing into the latter stages of their careers, it is hard to put a broom through a World Cup winning side.
In 1995, the country was stunned when the Wallabies crashed out of the World Cup with an underwhelming performance against England in the Quarter Finals.
Who would have thought amid the doom and gloom surrounding our exit, that four years later we would lift the trophy in 1999.
Five minutes of action was all that stopped the Wallabies from exiting last week at the exact same stage they did in 1995.
Who’s to say we can’t win it all in 2015. When we do, remember those who wrote them off in 2011.
Mike
Guest
My "cognitive reasoning"is telling me not to expect a card from you this Christmas. ;)
stillmatic1
Guest
well again mike, if you actually open up your mind a little bit i was exactly telling you why "supporters" matter. it is increasingly stupid to think otherwise and is just your usual "plucking" of a word to justify your usually contradictory positions. did i not use the term "supporter" as to mean "all" supporters and people of the game, not just some person watching at home?? i guess you continue to not actually read what people post and this is why you dont respond adequately (which incidentally you accuse others of!!). furthermore, what makes you think that supporters dont make a difference? if you cant realise that in any facet of life, whether sport or not, what value is placed on performance is what one will get out of it. fact is, NZ wants and expects at all levels to be the best, whilst OZ rugby wants but doesnt expect to be the best. hence, your insistance on glossing over the issues. but again mike, you just keep burying your head in the sand. its simply astounding that you cant understand the relationship. i guess its too hard to think, the emotion must be too much for you. mike, there is a reason people question your "cognitive reasoning" and frankly, its easy to see why. i just had to laugh in a previous thread of you criticising Graham Henry and being quite colourful in your disdain whilst calling him a "pathetic man" for doing something not even similar about the golden boy Quade Cooper. pot kette black anyone!! lol
digler
Guest
I do believe I've read more than a dozen articles like this and they were all talking about Wales! Did Adam simply copy and paste. I just read it again and it's uncanny how similar it is to those articles. Even to the point of mentioning how certain players are under 25. Well I suppose as a rugby commentator your going to read other peoples articles aren't you. Absolutely agree with you @Mike in that 4 years time is a long time in rugby. Who WILL be the new Wales, England will no doubt be a changed side - the press over there are calling for drastic changes and South Africa will no doubt clear out the ranks and have fresh blood. Will other teams think Polish training camps are not such a bad idea after seeing how fit the Welsh were this RWC? It will all be a new RWC in 2015. Predicting it from here is futile but at least it makes us feel better after a loss.
Behind Enemy Lines
Guest
I'm with you Rabbitz. There is a great article in the SMH today by Paul Cully. The main point I took out of it is that although the core of the current group may be together in 2015, the core of the All Blacks will also still be together. So here we are thinking things will get better purely due to time but the All Blacks aren't going to stand still during that time.
soapit
Guest
nice but needs to be more punchy.
Snobby Deans
Guest
World Cups are now won by teams that dipped out in the QF of the previous tournaments - Wallabies in 1999, England in 2003, Boks in 2007 and (fingers crossed) the All Blacks in 2011. That'll mean the 2015 RWC is won by either Ireland, England, Boks or Argentina. Just sayin . . . .
Quakezone...
Guest
Agree Winston - People forget NZ U20's have not lost a match yet in the history of that age grade world cup, those players are now filtering through the senior system i.e S15 and ITM, Dagg, Cruden, Vito, Franks are the same age as the Wallabies young stars (one of these is already a world class prop!) IF the AB's win there will be young NZ'ers everywhere that will want to be the first team in history to defend it.....
Red Kev
Guest
Yeah it's understandable you forgot him - interesting that after hardly ever pulling on a Brumbies jersey in 2011 he's been asked to pull on a Wallabies jersey every game this year ... what a joke.
Shoe Shine
Guest
Give that man a Bells, nicely said stillmatic1. I don't know why, but the definition of insanity comes to mind right now...doing the same things over and over, expecting different results :)
DanSA
Guest
Lol, fair point that and definitely remember that 2007 statement ...
DanSA
Guest
Possibly, the talent is definitely there, maybe need to develop a few better (Barnes, etc.) I'd say I'm very happy that Deans is still coach for the next 2 years. I think McKenzie would have been a much better coach. McKenzie had less resources than Deans and the Reds could at play at least 3 different types of games. Also, if he can get semi retired players like Samo to have the year he had then he must be very good.
pim
Guest
not sore anymore after Saturday
Boston
Guest
Well, fair cop.. The wallabies lost.. Disappointing as the RWC Semi was for Wallabies supporters the sport results for Aussies last sunday were still pretty good.. Casey Stoner.. Crowned Moto GP world champion, Mark Webber.. Podium Korea Formula 1 GP, RWC Semi Wallabies v All Blacks.. Don't get to see many kiwis outside of Rugby season ;-)
Mike
Guest
Hi Timnaik, I'm happy to be corrected re Daley. If we can do better with other props coming through, then great Also good to read your comments about other talent.
JVGO
Guest
Why wouldn't he after what he has copped from every direction? The treatment from fans on both sides has been nothing short of sick.
Mike
Guest
Stillmatic1, thanks for the novel, but you are just dodging the issue: You complained that Australian supporters "accept second best so readily" and then implied that because you (allegedly) don't, your team is stronger. Sorry, but you don't make that much difference, and that would be the case even if you actually lived in the country of the team you support!
Mike
Guest
Cattledog, I don't think I ever restricted it to scrummaging (despite the approval of WB's comment re schoolboy push). I have talked about forwards winning space and ball for the backs, which they do in a variety of ways. I think its fair to say that AB pack outplayed us in each of those aspects on Sunday night (even though a few of them are looking downright creaky!). But our forwards' game hasn't exactly been scintillating throughout RWC. I don't have a problem with us being 2nd in the IRB world rankings, and I agree that getting to the RWC semis is a very good achievement, as is winning 3N. On the other hand, I don''t think we have really looked like being capable of defeating the All Blacks during this RWC, and I am interested in why that might be and how it can be remedied. Perhaps it can't be, and I will sleep quite well even if that should prove to be the case! But in exploring this issue, several posters have expressed the view that our forwards are not of similar standard to our backs, that in fact they have regularly lagged behind for the past 10 years. See the posts of others on this thread and on David Lord's 'Wallabies go missing' thread. I don't know if you agree or disagree with them, since I haven't seen you respond to them (which is not a criticism). But I am inclined to agree with them particularly that the pool of forwards always seems much smaller. "If we use who we have to the best of their ability and actively get out there and find and develop the right guys, within Australia, then we’ll be on the money." Hmmm, then why hasn't it been showing results before this? (ironically, you sound a bit like me defending Deans!)
stillmatic1
Guest
which kind of is my point, if you had the wherewithal to look. gee, you do struggle a bit there dont you. did a kiwi steal your baby or something champ? one question? who supports the game and grows the game? as posted before i have been involved in rugby for 30 years and most of those years happen to be in australia, and without the supporters the game doesnt exist. you seem to think that you are making a difference with your opinions on the roar, but the people and supporters involved in rugby arent? and you talk about others flawed logic!! like any business, the supporters are the customers are the lifeblood of the business and its success. why do certain products appeal to certain groups of supporters? why do companies push certain products to these different groups? only a person of severe diminished capacity could not understand the basics of supply and demand, and that different groups have different demands and thus demands of said companies!!. AB consumers/supporters demand a certain product and at all levels this is what the game sets out to achieve. the Wb consumer/supporters demand a lesser product and this is what is supplied. maybe you just sit on the lounge chair, watch a couple of games and dont care (except to blog and criticise), but there are thousands of supporters in many guises out on the paddocks trying to improve the product and supply this to more supporters. the fact that you cant grasp the idea that the supporters "are" the game, really shows you to be quite clueless. how was anything i wrote before not actually saying that the game is ingrained in NZ and if Aus wants to get better the supporters (like yourself) should actually start to do the same. so again, do you answer the questions posed? or just continue with the inane retorts. i am sorry to be continually asking questions of you, but when dealing with someone of obviously diminished intellect, it makes sense to try and get them actually thinking and help them with similies of the latent ideas posed. but i guess history has shown, and many of us have found, you simply cant be trusted to actually think. by the way, would theroar be in existance if it wasnt for us as supporters? and what standard do we try and set? and what do we want to gain from it? hmmmm, interesting. p.s. to help you along, please try and replace "supporters" with "customers/consumers" if that helps to clarify.
Timnaik
Guest
Mike, you can't be serious about Daley. He's a Ben Alexander that can't scrum. Great in the loose but tripe as a scrummager. There are more deserving props like Laurie Weeks and even old Greg Holmes is better than Daley. Also while I'm on it who's that young Rebels lock? Hugh Pyle. He's got talent in spades. He will be Vickerman's successor just you watch. Hits the rucks with venom, trundles it up, improving line-out and not afraid to give opposition forwards a bit of schtick!
Timnaik
Guest
Kiwis are arrogant when it comes to rugby and the Aussies are just plain hopeless! GO FRANCE!