It wasn’t quite Armistice Day in Paris when the France-Australia Test kicked off, and while it was by Australian time, there really wasn’t anything worth remembering in Les Bleus’ 33-6 thumping of the Wallabies.
This has been a weird column to put together. It’s not that any of this has never been said before, of course, but it’s certainly becoming a question of how often does the same thing need to be said before the penny drops.
For that reason, I found myself walking away from this piece numerous times since Sunday morning. Where usually these things come together reasonably easily, this latest Wallabies performance has given rise to the two-day post mortem.
Sunday
‘Disappointing’ is a word that will be used a lot to describe the Wallabies performance at Stade de France. So is ‘lacklustre’. I won’t use it, but I bet ‘disgrace’ has made an appearance somewhere by the time you’re reading this.
Up front, it needs to be said that France were simply outstanding. They carried on in that hard-nosed, loose forward-led direct method of operation that very nearly landed them a Rugby World Cup in New Zealand last year.
In Louis Picamoles and Yannick Nyanga, they have easily filled decent portions of the holes left by absent No.8, Imanol Harinordoquy, and inspirational captain and flanker, Thierry Dusautoir.
Picomoles’ own display was as memorable as the Wallabies’ was far from. He was brutal in defence, always looked likely to offload in attack, and showed some shrewd awareness to stroll over for France’s first try for the game.
Even France’s second try came from an awareness of the situation that was considerably better than Australia’s was. Freddy Michalak spied only half an opening and went for it, while “Kurt” Beale stood there and allowed him past. Michalak suddenly found himself in open space with support, to ultimately send Wesley Fofana over.
That moment pretty well summed up the Wallaby performance in general. Where all they had to do was get the ball out of their own territory and defend, the Wallabies did neither very well, presenting Michalak with a broken line of defence and room in behind, which he happily took advantage of to put Fofana away.
Earlier in the game, Michalak potted over one of the least-pressured international drop goals that I think I can recall. The reaction of the Australians was as if they’d never seen a drop goal kicked before, ever, let alone against them.
There was no evidence in the defence that they saw it coming, despite Michalak showing a penchant for sneaky early-game drop goals when playing Super Rugby for the Sharks.
That was the alarm bells ringing for me, right there.
It took until the 77th minutes for the Wallaby scrum to show any semblance of parity with the powerful French pack. However, by that stage, they’d already conceded three scrum penalties and a penalty try.
Any scrum lessons they may have taken away from the All Blacks draw either went missing in transit, or didn’t clear Customs at Charles de Gaulle.
Monday
Another night’s sleep hasn’t changed the result, and yesterday’s realisation has been replaced by the ‘where to?’ questions for England at Twickenham this coming weekend.
You guys will know that I’ve never been an advocate of mass change, or even change for the sake of change, but after consecutive lacklustre displays only distinguishable by the impressive defensive effort against the All Blacks in Brisbane, making no change at all would be a massive mistake.
The likes of Pocock, Ioane, and Timani nearly have to come straight back into the starting side again, and even Steven Moore and Brett Sheehan probably should be promoted from the bench.
The already forward-heavy bench should be re-examined, too, with the addition of the extra bench prop to make a 6-2 split showing nothing to fear in terms of late game creative impact. Even more so when the reserve halfback still cannot get off the pine.
Andrew Logan’s synopsis on the manner in which the Wallabies lost the collision is bang on the money. Perhaps Jake White was onto something last week, even if his appointment of a collisions coach was infamously short-lived.
That loss of the collisions was certainly a key factor, but so was that they often lost the ball in the collision too. In 29 turnovers all up, the Wallabies conceded eight in the ruck contest (France lost four), and crucially, three of them were in the French 22.
The Wallabies hit nearly twice as many breakdown contests as did France, had nine instances of five or more phases (to France’s five), and managed a similar number of offloads. They spent three minutes more in France’s 22 than did Les Bleus in theirs.
On top of 59 percent possession and 58 percent territory, it’s almost unfathomable how the Wallabies failed to fire a shot in attack all game. Berrick Barnes added a little bit when he came on for Mike Harris in the second half, but adding that little bit to an already low base still didn’t amount to any sudden ability to threaten.
Maybe swapping the centres is worth trying. Maybe Barnes at 12 is worth revisiting. Have Harris and Adam Ashley-Cooper done enough to hold their spots? Likewise Dave Dennis? How has the scrum regressed so quickly and so far?
I think Twickenham presents an opportunity to start afresh (again), and one of those times where tweaking something has to be a better option that tweaking nothing.
A successful Spring Tour is still salvageable, but it can’t have started much worse than it has.
wannabprop
Guest
Surprised that people still don't get this - the 'plan' has been articulated ad nauseam for 5 years, and very clearly implemented on the field, i.e. to 'play what is in front of you...'
Shahsan
Guest
How terribly one-eyed. The French were great to watch
jeznez
Roar Guru
KP, the Waratahs scrum coaches definitely disagree with you about their relative scrummaging ability. All last year when Douglas and Timani were on the field together, it was always Douglas on the righthand side at scrum time. Anyone with half an understanding of scrums will recognise that the stronger scrummaging second rower occupies this position. With regard to the other areas of relative strength with tackling and ball carrying you are describing what are key attributes for a backrower, rather than a second rower. At the breakdown I've probably seen superior efforts from Timani at this stage but more consistent from Douglas. I like them both and am excited for the Waratahs next year but over the course of this season I think Douglas has improved more than Timani and I hope big Sita pulls his finger out during the off season.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Yes, Timani is far more powerful at tackling, ball-carrying and in my opinion at the breakdown. Timani is able to to smash back attackers, smash into defenders, and smash players out of the breakdown with a far greater level of power than Douglas. Timani is certainly the stonger scrummager and the past match is not good evidence that Douglas is the stronger scrummager. Timani is a player who can have a major, game-changing impact on matches while Douglas at the moment is just a good player.
jeznez
Roar Guru
KPM, I like them both - I've just never had a clear understanding why you only rate one of them. You say the difference was surely obvious based on the last match - I'm sorry but it wasn't obvious to me. I asked you last week to define this power that you always go on about. Douglas is the stronger scrummager and is at least as strong at the breakdown, on top of this he is improving as a lineout option. Is your power attribute soley about ball carrying and tackling? I will concede that Timani is stronger in those two facets of play but if that is the only areas that Timani is superior then he is not as good a lock.
Ben.S
Roar Guru
Fair enough, guys. Just the odd Roarer then. Nothing wrong with optimism though!
Ben.S
Roar Guru
Probably because Douglas is actually quite consistent with his core locking duties and Timani isn't. I imagine most former/current forwards/rugby players would feel the same.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
jeznez surely the difference between those two was obvious from the last match....but I'm not sure why you laud Douglas so much above Timani in fact?
Crazy Horse
Guest
You're going to leave out the only back who actually played well against France, Nick Cummins, in favour of several non performers? That just doesn't make sense. Sheehan playing as an extra forward. That's the problem with him. He desn't seem to understand that his rol is to get the ball out to the backs. Still he couldn't do any worse than Phipps. ( Hint to selectors, there are more than thirty good half backs in the Premier grade teams in Sydnet, Brisbane and Perth. Give one or more of them a go).
sheek
Roar Guru
Brett, If he played really, really, really, really well, that would make him a Black Douglas I presume..... ;-)
Xiedazhou
Guest
The most vociferous detractors of Cooper from within the current team, are those who are part of the problem. They are the players chosen by Deans, not because they are the best in the nation in their respective positions, but for other reasons that seem obvious only to Deans. Mitchell is case in point, straight back into the squad/team after 2 years injured and a few scratchy games of club rugby. Robinson, Barnes and McCabe are others. Does anyone seriously consider that McCabe is the best inside centre in Australia, or that his performances and skills warrant him being one of the first chosen, and part of the leadership group? So, a few of the players have bought into the Deans way. Of course they would. Because they know that if Link becomes coach, their Wallaby days are over. Their self interest makes them decry the obvious, and puts them against anyone who states the obvious. Anyone watching the game against the French could see the wallabies were toxic.
Sage (the original)
Guest
Do you have some inside information about the team John or is how you feel about Cooper telling you so.
GWS
Guest
If u don't have an answer, don't answer
Brett McKay
Expert
no idea, but there plenty who were schooled in Brisbane, Canberra, and places other than the north shore of Sydney...
GWS
Guest
I don't hate cooper. It was deans defacating on qc after Eden pk that started this. Qc at home how are wb's going? Qc was right. Something stinks in camp wb
Armchair Sportsfan
Guest
there seem to have been quite a few low-water marks over the past couple of years....
GWS
Guest
How many went to school in bankstown, blacktown, mt druitt and penrith
rl
Guest
Brett, what was memorable for me was getting up on a beautiful Bris-vegas morning, setting off with my young fella for the local patisserie (of course) for a coffee and chocolate croissant, and waddling home to settle in for the game. My well-laid plan went a bit astray about the time Owens blew the whistle for time-on. Seriously though, I thought it was a memorable performance from the French. Committed in contact, lovely offloading in contact and short-passing interchanges particularly amongst the forwards (these blokes only came together a week or so prior?), Freddie in imperious form. They were actually a treat to watch, and probably could have put a couple more tries past us. Wish my team could play like that on limited preparation (were we not blaming limited preparation for the Scotland debacle? Or was it the 2011 Samoa debacle? I get confused...)
formeropenside
Guest
SO lucky they beat your "best team" twice.
formeropenside
Guest
change the team, because they are just doing so well at present