OK, so the Wallabies lost. To Scotland. For the second time in a row. A year after going down to Samoa. So yes, the Wallabies appear to have some major problems with the first game of the year, and also in playing poor European teams.
It’s a little bit embarrassing.
For them I mean, not for me, because I’m lucky enough to have stopped playing competitive rugby when I was 21 in favour of a career in over-eating.
So, fortunately I dodged the bullet of being a highly-paid international rugby star that could have ruined my life. Maybe.
The point is, in the aftermath of this tryless humiliation, I was reading an article on the match, and it mentioned how the Australians did, in fact, have a few excuses – the ridiculous itinerary which forced them to play midweek tests, thus necessitating an under-strength team; the nightmarish, almost Scottish conditions that turned the field into a pond and caused Will Genia to lose feeling in his fingers, and so on.
And in the comments of this article was one reader putting in his two cents’ worth, who used that well-worn phrase:
“NO EXCUSES”
And it made me think: excuses are quite unfashionable in the modern game. Players will say there are no excuses. Reporters will list the potential excuses, before emphasising that there are no excuses. And the Coaches’ Code demands that a coach never make excuses.
Hey, it was eleven/thirteen/fifteen/eighteen against eleven/thirteen/fifteen/eighteen. If you go on the field, you’re fit to play. Both sides had the same conditions to contend with.
You gotta take it on the chin.
It is agreed throughout the sporting universe. A loss is a failure of will, skill or nerve. There is never any excuse.
OK. So when are we going to get honest and admit that this is all bollocks? We all know there are excuses. Often they are good excuses. Sometimes they are great excuses. There are times when excuses are so compelling that frankly everyone involved with the losing team should be completely absolved from blame.
So OK, take the Wallabies. Not their finest hour, Tuesday night. But are we seriously saying that the only thing militating against them was their own lack of effort and composure, and maybe a dogged and determined bunch of Scots? Are we saying the absurdly short preparation, the absence of key players, the hideous weather conditions that made running rugby stupidly difficult, all played no part whatsoever?
That on a dry track, with a full week’s prep, a full-strength team full of players who hadn’t had to play the preceding weekend, Australia would still have gone down to that Scotland side?
Seriously?
The fact is, we know that any fair assessment of sport recognises there are plenty of excuses flying about, and it’s about time we acknowledged them. St Kilda lost the 1997 grand final, with their All-Australian ruckman Peter Everitt out injured. That was an excuse.
New Zealand lost the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final after half their team came down with food poisoning. An excellent excuse. For decades touring teams went to Pakistan and were fired out by outrageously biased umpires, and that was their excuse for winning. You’re telling me there wouldn’t have been a few more visiting victories if Pakistan had only been playing with eleven men instead of thirteen?
Injuries, illness, officials, weather and flat-out bad luck all play a huge role in sporting success, and it’s just a denial of reality to claim that there should be no excuses, as if every sportsman’s destiny is entirely in his own hands.
Remember the most sickening sports injury of recent times, Nathan Brown’s broken leg in 2005? Matthew Whelan fell on Brown’s leg, which took a revoltingly Dali-esque 90 degree turn. It should be noted that when the leg broke, Richmond, those perennial losers, were sitting at 7-2, and in the top 4, and Brown had been in spectacular form.
They only won three more games for the season without him – don’t you think that maybe that horrific turning point might count as just a tiny bit of an excuse? I mean, just looking at that injury on slow-motion replay would have been enough to make a man give up football, or at least television.
The history of every sport is a story of inspirational triumphs, gallant defeats, ecstatic victory and agonising defeat, but it is also a story of people who, after losing, were quite within their rights to say, “Well, what did you expect?” Sometimes fate takes a hand, and sometimes fate is a complete prick.
So I would like to call for the sporting world in general to be a bit more upfront, a bit more honest about the excuses they have every right to make. Everyone should feel free to call out the crummy hand they were dealt before a game, the strokes of horrible luck that put them behind the eight-ball from the start.
And next time a captain or coach starts to explain away defeat, it is not with a curled-lip sneer that we should say, “Oh he’s just making excuses”, but with an understanding nod that we should say, “He’s making excuses…and fair enough too.”
Excuses. We all have them. Let’s admit it.
AC Milan Players
Guest
Remarkable article. When it comes to sports there's always a winner as well as as a looser. In the part of the later it's a victory and in the former it's a big failure. Since loosing a game is inevitable, the best thing to do is to accept the fate and try again next time.
joeb
Guest
Not sure where they’ve hidden the crowd attendance figures for last Tuesday night, but you’ve hit a raw nerve here – with ever dwindling home crowd support in Sydney for the Tahs because of their lacklustre performances, (last game versus the Hurricanes, only just over 13,000 attended), you’re spot on – it’s only right to take some games next year to regional centres such as Newcastle and Wollongong where against teams such as the Crusaders or Chiefs and Bulls or Stormers properly promoted in advance they’ll probably get around the 20,000 mark through the turnstiles. It seriously needs to be looked into, and if they under-perform, they’ll be booed off the park and all the way back home to Sydney. It’s certainly one way to harden them as players in the professional era. Another venue the NSWRU could look at is Gosford, only about an hour's drive from Sydney. Good call Allblackfan, ;) Take the game to where people want to see and support it. http://www.smh.com.au/match-centre/rugby-union/match-3760071.html
Kane
Roar Guru
How do you define most successful? Most wins? He has three against the All Blacks whereas Peter De Villers has five Best win rate? He has a 20% win rate as does Marc Lievremont however Peter De Villers has 45.5%
Domo
Guest
BRAVO! My sentiments exactly, as well as most others I hopefully imagine. BTW I hear Clive Woodward is house hunting in Sydney!
Domo
Guest
haha that is funny:) you'll find though that Deans is also the most successful coach against in All Blacks over the last 4 years. he has been the right man for the job since he took it knowing he was on a hiding to nothing. I just wish he was able to bring in his own assistants also because let's be fair here he's been pushing dung up hill pretty much on his own ever since he had the balls to take on the roll in the first place. If he walks (which he won't) or is shown the door there'll be only one loser- the Wallabies!
werewolf
Guest
So you are saying that subbing AAC, McCabe in whats some say were the worst conditions for a test match ever would have given a different result? This in a game that making even one pass risked a knock on to the point that it would've been reckless. they wouldn't have seen much ball. or did you mean Phipps who is hardly a test standard player. The only other benchy not used was S Faingaa arguably the worst scrumming no 2 in history. You sir are deluded!
mania
Guest
KPM- your still detracting and belittling from scotlands effort. thats just disrespectful. if wobblies had won u wouldnt be saying scotland got ripped off, you'd be saying what a great effort aus put in. scotland didnt make the players play super rugby 3-5 days beforehand. scotland didnt put up an aus A side. scotland didnt control the weather. the scots got there and played to the best fo their ability and played better than the wobblies theres a real simple lesson to learnt here; if its pssing down with rain with gale force winds u may as well try and move the ball because they'll lose if they dont.
mania
Guest
dan - so when do the players take responsibilty for their actions? all the rest you've said is smoke and mirrors. yes deans is partly to blame but the players are more so responsible because its their lack of pride in the jersey thats causing these losses. they need to get off their a55es and fire up. if this loss doesnt inspire them to play harder then they're doomed
Ruminate
Guest
If as quite a few people seem to think, myself included, Australia has been punching above it's weight for a while now, then as with all things this debate will be decided in time. The problems facing RU in Australia won't just go away because Deans gets canned as some of you seem to think. Though I take no delight in it, I cannot wait to see what your excuses will be then.
Nunny
Guest
Frankly, the Wallabies should beat opposition like Scotland every time. Not good enough, end of story!
murph73
Roar Rookie
SA has the additional bonus of not being coached by a psycho
murph73
Roar Rookie
Picked McCalman at 7 for a game against Ireland - CHECK
murph73
Roar Rookie
There were guys on the field suffering hypothermia and the bench was virtually unused. The man is a clown
IronAwe
Guest
I was under the impression that rugby was a bigger sport than football in Wales.
murph73
Roar Rookie
The biggest joke is that Deans just renewed his million a year contract and the ARU are cutting player salaries
murph73
Roar Rookie
One sparrow...
murph73
Roar Rookie
Why the need for a sophisticated reason? The most obvious answer is usually the correct one.
murph73
Roar Rookie
Well, Logic 101 was a subject when I went to uni. But I suppose it isn't offered these days because Wymyns Studies via the Prism of Interpretive Assyrian Dance probably gets precedence. Anyhow, I understand your point that the Wallabies do well but they should and would do better if the selections were better thought out, the bench used better etc. The coaching structure isn't the only factor but, in this situation, it clearly is. The Wallabies have much more talent at their disposal than they did 5 years ago and the team is going backwards. Losses to Scotland, Samoa, Ireland and, again, Scotland do not bode well at all. They are simply not being given the best opportunity to win. We are obviously going to have to agree to disagree but the reality is that Deans's win rate of 57% is the lowest of any coach in the professional era. At some point he has to take the blame.
Chris
Guest
but did they have to 'play Super rugby three days earlier'? Over the years there has been considerable moans from NH clubs losing test players for internationals while their club season was in progress, it happens. This game was planned/on the schedule by ARU a long time ago, surely Super rugby takes second precedence to internationals?
Ben S
Roar Guru
'They have languished outside the top 10 in the world for years' Yet again totally inaccurate and wildly melodramatic. Check the IRB rankings archive.