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Being the hopeless slave to fashion I am I have decided to join the ‘five-things’ crowd. Here are my thoughts from the Wallabies’ 28-8 loss to the Springboks this morning.
1 – Gordon Bray is hopelessly past it
This is not strictly speaking about the Wallabies, but this is the first Test match I watched via the free-to-air telecast rather than via Fox Sports and I have to say I was disgusted with it.
Remember that Gordon Bray is the ‘voice of rugby’ to the wider Australian audience that are not rugby followers…and he doesn’t know the rules.
Bray’s commentary was disgracefully biased, poor in observation (I lost track of the number of times that I heard him say “the referee seems to have found an advantage”) and resorted to just making things up by the end of the first half.
2 – The Wallaby scrum is hopeless
I didn’t once see Ben Alexander set his feet correctly at scrum time and consequently he constantly lost his footing.
Part of the problem was the lock behind him being too high as well, when the lock starts to come up the prop’s buttocks there is nothing to do but eat grass because you have no drive.
Somehow this didn’t lead to a whistle against the Wallabies every time but it really should have.
Dan Palmer is unavailable and I am yet to be convinced by Paddy Ryan (although I rate him ahead of Sekope Kepu) so I believe it might be time to try Benn Robinson at LHP and Slipper at THP to start.
I don’t know what Andrew Blades is doing, but it isn’t scrum coaching. It is worth noting that the lineout is not much chop at the moment either.
3 – Nic White has no game
I am sure the Reds and Will Genia bashers will be out in force defending White, but he has terrible in this match.
He kicked every single time he touched the ball. Little Sanchez was vastly superior when he came on for the second half.
Grab ball and kick is not a game plan.
You need the ball to win and the Wallabies just kept handing it back to the Springboks – is it any wonder they kept on attacking from deep, they knew even if they lost the ball it would come back immediately.
4 – Cooper plays better when defending at number ten
Cooper made a few mistakes in this match, but defensively his weakness was when at the back on a wing trying to take a high ball.
His tackles in the number ten channel were excellent. He did go for an intercept to try and stop Strauss’ try and missed, but he also stopped Strauss midfield with a massive front-on tackle half an hour later.
There is no need to hide Cooper in defence and his game is still superior to Matt Toomua’s – that might not be the case forever but for now, Cooper is the best ten the Wallabies have.
5 – It’s time to move on from Michael Hooper and Israel Folau
It is difficult to really evaluate the backrow when it is so unbalanced with Wycliff Palu, Scott Higginbotham and David Pocock all missing.
But what was evident to me is that Scott Fardy and Ben Mowen are essentially the same player and they lack physicality while Hooper is fast but lacks breakdown presence – the end result is that the tackle situation sees the Wallabies outmatched whenever they play.
Hooper needs to be replaced by someone who will live on the ball.
At the back Folau is just exposed for naivety, his positioning is sometimes off and his speed and kicking game are lacking, I’d prefer a safer and less-flashy fullback – someone like Luke Morahan would be perfect for the Wallabies at custodian.
I also want to make special mention of Tevita Kuridrani, I’ve yet to see him hold a pass or the ball in contact, he is an absolute shocker who should be playing club rugby.
All in all I rated the Wallaby performance as hopeless. They look like they have no idea of the basics right across the field.
The Wallaby trashing capped off a great weekend of sport for me – Souths lost, Freo lost, the Knights lost and the Wallabies lost…I should just give this up.
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.