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Finally Australia managed to scrape together its first victory of The Rugby Championship with an unconvincing win against a physical Argentine outfit.
Prior to the one-point victory over the Pumas, it’d been a tough campaign for the new coach and his men, with back-to-back losses against the All Blacks and a painful loss to the Springboks at ‘Fortress Suncorp’.
These three losses came on the back of a Lions series that came crashing down in the third and final game with a 41-16 flogging in Sydney.
As the Wallabies registered their four consecutive losses while leaking 153 points in the process, the doomsayers have once again come out of the woodwork and with each loss, their groans have continued to grow louder.
One of the more popular theories behind our recent failure is the lack of depth within Australian rugby’s talent ranks. This is leading many to believe that a third tier between club rugby and Super Rugby is the all-important link that will see the Wallabies back on top of the rugby world, registering regular wins against the All Blacks and Springboks.
It’s an amazing conclusion that Australia’s rugby loving public has arrived at when you consider that it wasn’t that long ago we were crowing about our unprecedented levels of depth.
The final few years of Dean’s reign as national coach were heavily impacted by a significant amount of injuries. Deans was forced to dig deep into the barrel on numerous occasions and what we found in many instances were guys that were more than capable of playing Test match rugby.
Furthermore, the five Australian Super Rugby teams have just finished a promising 2013 campaign after all of them managed to avoid the bottom two positions on the overall ladder. Yes, the Rebels and Force finished 12th and 13th respectively but they both took some big scalps during the year such as the Reds, Brumbies, Waratahs, Crusaders and Stormers and pushed many more big names, like the eventual champions.
Both teams showed they can match it with the frontrunners of the competition on more than a few occasions and moving ahead they will surely take a lot out of the 2013 season.
The improvements of the cellar dwellers have been coupled with a somewhat resurgent Waratah outfit, while the Reds and Brumbies again flew the flag as the benchmark of the Australian conference. It’s gone a long way to putting to bed the suggestions that the Australian conference is substantially weaker than the New Zealand and South African conferences.
Yet, after four consecutive losses it seems that we’ve gone back to our default position of blaming player depth for our shortcomings at the national level.
It didn’t help that, prior to our third defeat, Wallaby fans were rubbing their hands together as the All Blacks were forced to call upon their fourth choice fly half as Aaron Cruden became the latest victim of the cursed black 10 jersey. Following yet another demoralising defeat, Australian fans were again left scratching their heads as they watched a fourth choice player being parachuted into the most important position on the field and succeed.
Firstly, it’s important to remember that every country has positions where they are blessed with a wealth of talent, while there are other spots where they look a bit thin. Right now, 10 happens to be a position for the All Blacks where there’s a plethora of capable guys waiting in the wings. It’s like our 7, there are a handful of literally world class players who are waiting for an opportunity.
Regarding New Zealand’s depth, there’s no question they have a wealth of talent at their disposal. But what makes them the greatest rugby team in the world isn’t necessarily the players they call upon when their first or second choice goes down; it’s how the team is galvanised and adapts when new blood is brought in.
Taking nothing away from the quality of the All Blacks’ second, third and fourth choices, but New Zealand is such a cohesive unit that debuting for the world champions would be one of the easiest teams to begin a Test career with. We were recently given an insight into how this well-oiled machine operates when Richie McCaw discussed how the rest of the team would need to lift by 10% in Aaron Cruden’s absence to help make Tom Taylor’s Test debut as seamless as possible.
History now shows that Taylor made a successful start to his international career but he was allowed to do so because of the platform laid down by the 14 black jerseys around him.
Each and every player that pulls on that coveted black jersey completely understands their position within the team unit and even the biggest star is under no illusions that their name is just a drop in the ocean in terms of the legacy that they have been chosen to carry on. They know that in this ultimate team game called rugby, they are just one of fifteen cogs that are all turning in sync and driving the All Black team forward.
It’s this tightly interwoven culture that New Zealand has perfected that makes the All Blacks the most feared, respected and successful rugby team on the planet.
The team environment on and off the field that uncapped players are entering into, is one of the factors that puts a gap between the performance of the All Blacks and the Wallabies as opposed to the uncapped players themselves. And the positivity surrounding Australian rugby’s depth in the lead-up to the Lions series remains well justified.
If Matt Toomua were to make his debut for the All Blacks and Tom Taylor for the Wallabies, their introductions to Test rugby would be quite different.
Australia’s talent has proven its worth in the toughest rugby competition on the planet while playing against the cream of the crop from South Africa and New Zealand. Their stars have risen through the Super Rugby ranks despite the absence of a national and semi professional third tier.
But when they make the step up from Super Rugby to the Wallabies, something’s amiss in the national setup.
To demonstrate that we do have some depth to be excited about in Australian rugby, in the next few days there will be an ‘audit’ of our playing stocks that could potentially be called up to the Wallabies. It includes players that have provided a sufficient amount of evidence at Super Rugby level to suggest that they’re ready to take the step up to the Test arena and obviously those players that have represented the Wallabies with success in the past.
A number of current and future overseas based players that represent some sort of loss for the Wallabies and Australian rugby in general, have also been included. Overall, it paints a bright picture for Australia’s current depth situation and dispels the idea that the talent stocks are bare and to blame for the Wallabies’ lacklustre performances of recent times.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.