The difference in the quality of the respective wins of the All Blacks and the Wallabies on the weekend was striking. Whereas New Zealand were confident and looked happy to be on the field, the Wallabies played like they were completely lost for ideas.
Quite clearly, and by a large margin, the All Blacks have been the dominant side in this Rugby Championship.
Throughout, they’ve played with enthusiasm, passion, and most notably, enjoyment.
The Wallabies have been the absolute opposite with what seems like no game plan and – not that I blame them at this point – no enjoyment for the game. You would never look at these guys on the field and say that they look like they are loving doing what they do.
Compare that to the All Blacks and Israel Dagg in particular.
He’s a great player, always plays well under pressure, and you can see in his face how much fun he is having out there.
This makes fans pay money to turn up the next week and see what he will do next. That’s exactly what you want as a rugby supporter.
In fact, you can see that look in all the All Blacks’ faces.
And there is no surprise as to why. The team is winning, the spirits are high, and they are encouraged to play exciting, attacking rugby.
The All Blacks backline – Carter, Smith, and Dagg – are all creators. They move the ball wonderfully into space and let it effortlessly do the work.
This backline combination is priceless.
You can see the trust and confidence between them which, under pressure, allows them to remain cool and focused on their roles.
What’s more, their substitutes have contributed a lot whenever they’ve come onto the field.
The coaches should be commended. They have created a great team environment and it really shines through.
The Wallabies, on the other hand, looked scrappy and directionless against the Pumas. Sure they won, but they won ugly. They scored one try against a side they should have flogged.
The Wallabies’ players run sideways; they’ve got two centers who are defenders not attackers; and they all play like individuals, not a team. The crucial back combination is weak and is the Achilles heal for the team.
Let’s not indulge all this talk around injuries and what impact they’re having on Australian performances.
It just raises the questions: why are so many Wallabies getting hurt? Why isn’t it happening to the New Zealand players? What is happening to these guys during preparation?
Berrick Barnes goes down with cramp virtually every match, but what are they doing about it?
The other clear difference between the All Blacks and the Wallabies is competition for places.
New Zealand players are always fighting to hold onto their spot in the side, and the depth of available talent is promising. Whereas, the Australians have no competition for places.
The depth of Australian Rugby is alarming. What are we doing to breed future Wallabies?
So this means that players who can’t even get the basics right, like catching balls, throwing clever passes, somehow manage to retain their Australian jumpers.
In my day, you were on the bench if you did this. There were no second chances as there were so many players who could replace you if you slacked.
Again, this brings me to the skill factor of this team.
What’s happened with the Australian backline? It used to be unpredictable and exciting to watch. These days it’s lacking any sort of flair or creativity.
Thank goodness for Kurtley Beale, who is at least adding a few more attacking options into the mix. But he needs players around him who understand what he’s trying to do and work with him.
The gap between club rugby and Super Rugby, then between Super Rugby and Test rugby is obviously too large for many of the current Wallabies.
Robbie Deans has destroyed backline play in Australia. He’s virtually destroying Australian rugby in general.
What pattern of play is there?
The players have been coached to run at players and not into spaces.They can’t play what’s in front of them in same way we were always taught to do. We tried to do things together and supported each other.
We need someone at the helm who can get this side (and its fans) passionate and motivated again.
Note to self: Get hold of Richie McCaw’s new book and check out the interesting remarks about Deans.
Andrew
Guest
Spot on Dave Key words. Confidence, support, retention, possession - for the backs. Add unpredictability for good measure. Beale needs a man either side of him who can keep up. I actually think our forwards are far more credible.
Akann
Guest
"When Deans was appointed the Wallabies were at a low ebb. We were starting to lose easily" In 07, the wallabies beat the AB's in Melbourne and their largest loss was at the hands of the AB's in Auckland. I think the margin was about 15 points. Fast forward to 08 and the wallabies get slaughtered in Auckland and South Africa (by over 40 points in SA). Your point is not accurate based on facts.
Billy Bob
Guest
And Cliff there's the pertinent question. Unless Roarers are in the inner sanctum of the wallaby coaching staff, none of us actually 'know' what is causing what. We are all to lesser and greater extent coming from positions of ignorance. As I once heard said about discussions about faraway international politics- 'we all have passionate opinions, and all of them are ignorant'
Mike
Guest
But it still won't be much worse. And on the other hand, even if his team wins better than your example, e.g. by beating one of NZ or England and each of France, Italy and Wales, Deans' record won't be much better than Jones or Conolly either. In other words, nothing much has changed over the last eleven years.
mania
Guest
frisky - Speaking as an AB supporter we should always be in fear of losing to oz. more so now that they're desperate and have nothing to lose
frisky
Guest
Starting Point : WB lost to the AB. End point: Deans is the devil incarnate. How do I link these two points? Easy. (1) Avoid logical connections. (2) Decimation by injuries will be deemed irrelevant. (3) Maintaining the #2 position is irrelevant. (4) The AB have beaten EVERYONE this year and are close to unbeatable but this fact is irrelevant. (5) Need I go on? Simply start with a bias and then fill in the detail with unconnected observations/interpretations. Change of subject: Is the AB depth so great? When Conrad Smith was unavailable, the AB had to beg SBW to stay longer than originally planned. If Smith and Nonu were injured, who would step in. I cannot think of any outstanding substitutes. Ditto for other positions. I agree that they have quality wingers coming out of their ears, but they are thin in many positions. Speaking as an AB supporter, I fear that the WB could beat them if they had a full squad to choose from.
Red Kev
Guest
You’re quite right of course J2, Connolly had 16 wins from 25 matches in charge (64%) compared to Deans’ 39 wins from 66 matches (58%) so far. And that winning percentage has actually IMPROVED in the last 12 months (Deans is 6-4 for 2012 so far). If Deans finishes 2012 with a 2-3 split (losing to New Zealand, England and one of France. Italy or Wales) his overall percentage will be the worst of any coach in the professional era sinking even below Eddie Jones’.
mania
Guest
mike - ur obviously refering to the rugby genius
Mike
Guest
And don't tell the kiwis that one of their greatest fly-halves was born in South Africa!
Red Kev
Guest
To be fair I doubt he has time, this isn't his job or anything - it's nice to read the odd column from him, just as it is to read ones from Rathbone and Hodgson - they have very different perspectives to the rest of us.
onside
Guest
West, As mentioned in a previous post Campo has written 33 articles that have generated a best guess 6000 posts and has responded to exactly NONE. Campo's not about to start communicating with Roarers any time soon.
Ben.S
Roar Guru
Might just be me, but IMO Ben Franks has something of the journeyman about him: he's not that big, isn't that intimidating around the ruck fringe, and despite all the media hype about the Franks brothers and their Reebok programme isn't that dynamic either. Woodcock has a lot of intellectual property in his noggin so IMO Hansen needs to give an alternative at least a full 80 minutes on this coming tour.
Bono
Guest
Toby Smith.
Richard
Guest
I've said it before and I will say again. Australian Rugby is being run by New Zealand to make us look like a complete joke. Cooper is a Kiwi and he turned us into a joke in NZ with his pathetic un-Australian play during the world cup and he is doing it again with his ridiculous comments. Deans and Cooper have been batting for the other team for a long time. We must never again allow Kiwis to infect our game they way they have. I'm amazed that no one seems to have cottoned on as yet. It's like we have all been put to sleep.
Sandy
Guest
Campo lives in Durban. He does commentary for Supersport SA, provides coaching for the Murray Mexted Academy in South Africa and also does private coaching and junior rugby clinics in South Africa. May be why he doesn't bemoan Springbok rugby....
Ash
Guest
Agree 100% Kuruki. It's pathetic alright and frustrating to watch.
Jerry
Guest
Yeah, that's true. I do wonder if Ben Franks might be able to step up. He's often struggled when playing tighthead at test level (for instance the 2nd Irish test) but he seems a more natural loosehead.
Rugby Tragic
Guest
A $million per year? ... are you sure, I might apply!
Ben.S
Roar Guru
'Who are the outstanding centres then? Would Shipperley replace Chris Ashton in the England team or Tapuai Manu Tuilagi? Who are the power forwards reasonably fit aside from Timani and TPN?' Ridiculous comment. Shipperley is a different player to Ashton, as is Tapuai to Tuilagi. Further, you don't simply replace players - Test sides play different brands of rugby which require different talents. It seems Deans is the only coach not to figure this out. Rodney So'oialo played in arguably the greatest rugby side of all time, and yet he wouldn't have got near an England cap in that period. What on earth is a power forward? If you're talking in terms of plyometrics then I assume Higginbotham would come figure highly, as would Hooper.
Ben.S
Roar Guru
How do you know the 'candidates' are average? Your constant rhetoric re Tomane etc was based on potential. Some players take to Test rugby, and Morahan has proven himself to be a good Super player, and has far more 'background' at that level than those players you read about on the internet. What do you know about scrummaging? It's obvious you were never a forward. How you can you make claims about Holmes, for example, and his ability to scum against players who he has never played against in the Test arena?