The problem(s) with the Wallabies defence

I still say, based on track record with the Wallabies, that Muggleton should be reinstated as defensive coach at the national level. Under his guidance the Wallabies' defence was rock solid. We need more of that now.

only problem is if you're muppet enough to stand up while you are tackling said bloke down low.

Some really interesting analysis and comments. The references being made to attitude, as well as to practicing defense (with tackling being only a small element) are particularly important. The times chinks in the defensive structure are often at turnovers, or when new personnel are introduced or players are used in positions that aren't second nature to them. As well as attitude, but very related to it, is the concept of collective self belief. Defensive provably requires more energy, and consequently more motivation, than attack. If the team morale is low, defense invariably suffers. And reasonable (but not great) morale is often easily punctured, so for example a strong defense often becomes porous after the first points are scored through it.

Nice dissection of WB defence Scott, I'd be interested to get your take on the performance of Wallabies pack in general. I'm a firm believer in the old cliché of forwards win games and backs decide by how much. All the talk of Folau, Cooper, Genia & Co. seems irrelevant when the forwards are being dominated by their opponents. The best backs in the world can look and play average when constantly playing on the backfoot. In my view, the issue of the forwards, and the front five in particular, needs to be addressed before the Wallabies can start thinking about contending with the AB/SB's again

only problem is if you go for a low tackle and the bloke/muppet your taclking acts like a tool and tries to jump, you get sin binned:)

This is such a basic part of back line/support play that if this really happening at Wallabies training then there is hope that even I can get a well paid assistant international coaching gig on fixing this alone.

Cracked Record Again. For Goids sake Simon give up this meaningless drivel. Nobody with any sense or intelligence supports your pioint of view.

It seems to me that the more I learn about NZ and SA, the more firmly I believe that the fabled depth of both countries, especially NZ, is not in the players at all. It's the depth of coaching talent available that makes those countries great. If I remember correctly, both Graham Henry and Jake White are school teachers that also coached, then got better paid jobs as coaches. We have only a handful of those positions in Australia, often at private schools that make continuing to teach and coach a better option. We've not had the use of some great coaches in rugby. Imagine if Mick Malthouse, Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy were coaching rugby. Imagine if the high school coaches of AFL and rugby league kids were coaching rugby kids instead. NZ and SA have that, and that's why they have a "conveyor belt" feeding their national teams. Finally, why are our ex-players and ex-coaches not being recycled through the system? Rod Macqueen stands out as a perfect example of someone who could be making our coaches better, but seems lost to us at the moment. No doubt someone like Michael Lynagh could be doing something more for Australian Rugby than commentating in England

Try Man on man defence inside the 22. Get back to basics so Qc will know who to tackle

Urgency & defensive structure was not an issue at the Brumbies with one of the best defence & points difference. Why so with the Wobblies? Is it the coaching & strategy the issue.

Selfish, agreed. It is Barbarians rugby without the bonhomie. Are you sure the Waratahs can't be blamed for it somehow? Next year will be better. We'll have Pocock and Higginbotham back. The team will gel a bit better without the brand hanging around. TPN will be back. We'll sort out some of our structures in defence and attack. Our scrum will always be suspect. Go Wallabies.

Mealamu tends to use his arms though.

Not so much American NFL, more Australian NRL. Australian rugby has far too much of a rugby league influence.

The wbs really need to start with "Get off the Ground" training, then "Run back into Place Training" before "Act as a Defensive Unit Training", Then they might try "Run really fast with the Ball Training" instead of looking like they are playing touch football at an australia day picnic.

Pirates I reckon it's just selfish play. A lot of players have come into the game late and don't quite understand its nuances. The fact that someone always runs out of the line to shut down a perceived overlap is because they don't defend like a team. The fact they can't finish off a line break is because they can't attack as a team. It's just become one off glory boy stuff. None of the AUS players have been drifting off to sleep since they were five years old dreaming of running around in a pack for eighty minutes obliterating the opposition but the bok and kiwi kids did and are.

Conrad Smith is a maginicent defender and he doesn't injure himself either Chan Wee!

Is there some way I can blame the Waratahs for this? It seems to me that the current Wallabies side plays more a Barbarians team than a national team. Why is that? There's no cohesion. There are a couple of set plays that look like they're being run for the first time. Most of the attack lacks any sophistication or deception. Not much more than club rugby moves which are massacred by elite defences. The defence is even worse as highlighted by Scott in yet another excellent piece of analysis. Is there even a plan at all? Where's the defence which was so dominant only a decade ago? What are we good at anymore? Its not attack, defence, kick off, tactical kicking, scrum, line out, rucking, counter rucking, mauling or even just fighting. We've learnt jumper pulling from the AFL, while we're getting murdered by dirty saffer forwards. Imagine what the French will do to us!

That is the word COMMITMENT IS NON EXISTENT.

Scott your answer was in reply to a question I asked. And I have to agree with you. It's almost like these guys are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. If anything I think McKenzie needs to take the pressure off them. That will be hard for him to do as he himself is under a lot of pressure and the public, political way he gained the job simply invites scrutiny. It's like they are being micro-managed and have given all responsibility to someone else and there is no fun in it for them anymore. The best thing McKenzie could do right now would be to pull back and maybe even get himself get carried away to hospital to make these guys step up and take responsibility for a game plan and their own actions. Rod McQueen I remember said his job was to make himself obsolete. One of the most powerful psychological tools I've come across is called "labelling". It's just the old, give a dog a bad name thing rebadged. If we the fans and and everyone else keeps telling these guys how bad they are, that's what we will get. They need to be positivity motivated right now and small steps. "Get the ball, make a break and score a try. It's not that fn hard!" That's the advice Geoff Toovey will be giving to Manly this weekend.

In the reds first meeting with the crusaders in 2011 I took much pleasure in watching little Ben Lucas defending at 10 use this low technique to keep SBW quiet. He was fast off the line and had SBW falling before even he of the great offloads could get a good ball away.