Winning Wallabies get my backhanded compliment

It wasn’t a pretty performance but the Wallabies finally got the job done in beating a hard-edged Pumas side.

A 14-13 scoreline doesn’t usually signal happiness, but it’s certainly enough to engender a touch of relief.

It perhaps prises open just enough breathing room for Ewen McKenzie and the Wallabies squad to focus more on the process and less on the results as they go into the rest week.

There wasn’t a whole lot of aesthetically appealing play during this match, so watching a reply within 24 hours didn’t exactly appeal.

But that’s what I did, and here’s what I found.

Why was this game played at Subiaco?
The sight of the crowd sitting so far away from the action made me feel a little sorry for people who had to pay for tickets.

You can’t plan for the rain, or a verbal spray from Eddie McGuire about the venue rental, but you can play on grounds that suit spectating your sport.

Intelligent play
In recent Tests the Wallabies have learned the hard way that running the ball is good, but running it in the right areas is even better.

That was even more important in the wet conditions of this match.

The Pumas started the match more intelligently than the Wallabies. Their decision to dink kicks over the top and pile through into the rucks quickly meant they were the ones creating havoc and pressure early on.

Nic Cummins running back across his own goal-line to gift the Pumas a penalty was a product of that smart start, building pressure on the Wallabies.

That’s what you get when a wing isn’t a natural kicker – he can’t relieve pressure quickly with the boot.

The first time the Wallabies looked smart was when Leali’ifano took advantage of space on the flank and grubbered in behind the wing, who had to come in to defend.

That led to Hooper going over the ruck and securing a penalty for the Wallabies. First smart play and first points.

There’s no point of running into the teeth of the defence over and over unless you’re in position and have numbers to do so effectively.

This time the Wallabies were spreading the ball after receiving a kick through, the defence lined up well, so taking the opportunity to put pressure on was the correct choice.

By at times specifically aiming for territorial kicks, the Wallabies maintained a territorial advantage of 60 percent in the match.

That was intelligent, because for the majority of the match – especially in the first half – the Argentineans were making big tackles and pushing through the ruck so well that the Wallabies wouldn’t have won playing in their own half.

As it stands, the Wallabies had the majority of the opportunity in the best places on the field, meaning all the mistakes and poor organisation didn’t occur where they would be punished.

Hernandez, Sanchez and Agulla in particular made a couple of half-breaks that saw the Wallabies scrambling.

The difference this week was they occurred much further away from the Wallabies line than against the All Blacks and Springboks, so they weren’t turned into points.

That’s a big plus for the Wallabies after a start to the Rugby Championship that saw them giving away points because of mistakes in their own end.

Give it to Folau
Some people derided the “Just Give It To Folau” play that was being shilled for in the Fox Sports commentary booth last week.

As I wrote last week, the Wallabies should plan to give it to Folau in the backline on attack rather than waiting for him to spark something himself. His try in this match proves this point.

Christian Leali’ifano was picked out well and pushed the defensive line backward. The next play saw Cooper and O’Connor quickly move the ball to Folau, who was suddenly in space inside the opposition 22.

That’s game over. Every time.

So, yes, it’s too simplistic to say JGITF, but the right way to go about it is to plan for Folau to get the ball.

If you station Folau in the backline rather than just returning kicks, inevitably there will be opportunity for him to exploit a retreating or scrambling defensive line.

Where’s the instinct?
Out of the four Rugby Championship nations, the Australian forwards are still slowest to react to game movements in real time.

The Springboks and All Blacks are both lightning when it comes to driving over a slightly weak ruck or understanding the urgency required to get to their own tackled ball first.

On Saturday, Argentina showed they’ve been learning the importance of this, in particular during the longer periods of time they spent defending on their own line. By combing forwards into units of two and three, they make recycling the ball very tough for the attacking side.

There were occasions when the Wallabies were able to poach the ball at the ruck, but that was mostly individual skill rather than a pack acting as one.

Commitment to the cause isn’t the problem – once they’ve lost four Tests in a row they’ll dig in and fight like animals to defend their one point lead late in a Test against a lower-ranked side on tour.

Consistency is the problem for this Wallabies team.

They need to be active more often, looking for work and trying to find ways to help their team mates secure possession, eat up another metre or make life tough for the opposition recycle.

Set-piece worries
The Wallabies scrum started very, very wobbly but then proceeded to show there’s always a way it can get worse.

The Argentine pack was lower and tighter than the Wallabies and the result was either a scrum walking back over the ball or a Wallabies’ collapse with the hope that the referee didn’t single them out.

The Wallabies’ lineout held up better in this match but has been wilting against stronger competition this year, which is a real worry.

The scrum hasn’t been great for some time – it’s getting back to a historic low again – but the lineout has been a strength of the Australian game.

With the scrum utterly unreliable and the lineout a bit more of a lottery, it’s hard to see how this team will be able to secure reliable possession.

The backs aren’t going to have real space to move in the way they hope to, given the smaller, quicker players they tend to pick. And the forwards will be relied upon to make breakdown turnovers to get the ball back.

Put simply: the Wallabies will lose more Test matches than they win without a serious improvement at the set-piece.

There’s a reverse fixture!
A combination of this set-piece dominance, instinctive forward play and a home crowd should probably see the Pumas installed as favourites when the Wallabies travel to Rosario for the second leg of this battle.

It’s hard to see the Wallabies improving too much more before that match. The best hope they have is the pitch is dry and they’re able to more fully probe Argentina’s defensive line away from the immovable bulk of their pack.

Backhanded compliment
This game could easily have been a loss. So we have to give the Wallabies some credit for holding on to their one-point lead for so long.

Yes, the Wallabies failed to score a point for about 40 minutes of this match.

Yes, the scrum seemed to turn to saw dust the longer the game progressed.

Yes, it was scrappy and it was full of flaws.

But the Wallabies won a Test match.