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Well, another Test and another loss for the 2013 Wallabies (sigh). Being the last match of the southern hemisphere’s Test season I feel compelled to put my thoughts down about our most recent failure to cleanse myself before we try our luck up north.
What I’ve come up with you could more or less cut and paste for pretty much all of our losses this year.
To be fair though, there were more positives to come out of this loss than most others in 2013 which is what you’d expect when posting 33 points (not to mention three tries) against the mighty All Blacks.
Let’s take a look at the good points first.
The backline
Despite the all too common handling errors that we’ve been plagued with this year, the guys from 9 to 15 had a pretty solid game in Dunedin. All three tries came from the backs and as the score line suggests, they didn’t mind pushing the pill around.
Quade Cooper had the best Game I can ever remember him playing against the All Blacks. He slotted many a tough penalty and conversion while showing that the days of being labelled a defensive liability are well and truly behind him.
There was that pass that skimmed off the roof at Forsyth Barr before sailing over the head of an unmarked teammate, but other than that his long and (mostly) pinpoint passing game created many opportunities in the midfield and out wide.
In the midfield, Toomua may have found himself a regular starting role at inside centre. His timing and his ability to apply pressure in defence while hitting holes in attack may be enough to oust his Brumbies teammate.
If Quade can continue his good form in front of the sticks, his case to start will only be strengthened.
Tevita Kuridrani’s performance suggests he has officially arrived as a quality Test standard 13.
He was dangerous with every carry and was rewarded with his first Test try.
When you consider Adam Ashley-Cooper’s form at outside centre before being pushed to the wing, it’s of great benefit to this backline to have two truly world-class players available to cover the position.
The set piece
Still a lot of work to do but there were some significant gains made in the scrum and lineout when compared to our recent performance in these areas against the All Blacks.
I could feel the ground shudder around the 30 minute mark as 23 million jaws hit the ground when the Wallabies pushed straight through an All Black scrum (yes, if only 23 millions Australian’s were watching).
That was the highlight for the piggies and while Kepu showed a few frailties when he came on, it was an improved performance overall.
It was a similar story in the lineout. Still some work to do, but most of our throws hit the mark and we managed to steal a few off the All Blacks on the odd occasion.
Ok, enough dilly-daddling. Where’s it going wrong?
Support play
I’m still scratching my head as to how a prop can make a 40-odd metre run and when he’s finally brought down there’s not a single gold shirt within cooee.
Our lack of support play has been and remains one of the key differences between ourselves and the All Blacks.
Every time an All Black makes a line break there’s a swagger of black shirts in hot pursuit ready to continue the progress of the ball towards their try line. Every time an All Black manages to get their arms free in contact, there’s at least one teammate on their hip ready to collect a pop pass.
They also seem to have a knack for knowing when not to push the pass and instead go to ground for their support play to quickly recycle possession.
This is in stark contrast to the Wallabies who are regularly isolated when they find some room to move.
On the off chance someone is steaming on in support, we don’t seem to have that same ability to drag in those offloads that the All Blacks do.
Controlling the breakdown
Our lack of physicality at the contact zone has been our greatest concern in 2013. We’re carrying the ball in too high and as a result we’re allowing any momentum to be killed off and we have to commit too many players in order to retain possession.
It’s a similar story in defence.
Our continual lack of dominance and the pressure being applied at the breakdown is sucking in too many defenders and it gives our opponents a paddocks worth of space to exploit out wide.
It wasn’t pretty watching Kieran Read take the spoils from a four on one overlap and it’s a situation the Wallabies simply shouldn’t be offering up.
We’re missing a couple of key personnel that would go a long way towards ironing out some of these issues we’re having at the breakdown.
Michael Hooper has been in red hot form once again this year and deserves to be a favourite going into Thursday night’s John Eales medal presentation, but we’re desperately missing David Pocock’s pilfering abilities.
Having a genuine fetcher of Pocock’s calibre on the field that can get over the ball and slow the game down would be invaluable when playing a team like the All Blacks who run over the top of teams on the back of quick, front-foot ball created by a dominant forward pack.
At the moment the All Blacks are able to execute this game plan unchallenged. Pocock’s only one player, but having him out there goes a long way towards playing the game closer to our terms.
Wycliff Palu is another one I think Link would like to be able to call upon right now.
I am a fan of Mowen (he had a good Lions series and played well in Perth and Cape Town) but he’s been a bit too ‘hit and miss’ and his Dunedin excursion was more miss than hit.
He’s one of those notorious high ball carriers and he simply went missing on Saturday night.
I’d completely forgotten he was there until a Fox commentator mentioned that he’d probably taken over the captaincy after Horwill had gone off.
During the Lions series, Cliffy showed that despite his age he’s still got those ‘wrecking ball’ capabilities that make him a valuable asset at the back of the scrum.
Teamed up in the back row with an in form Higginbotham (like he was before he was injured while on Rebels duty), and our pack starts to get a bit of presence about it.
Stephen Moore has also had a good 2013 but he’s started to look a little tired in his more recent outings (you can’t really blame him with the minutes he’s played in the engine room).
Tatafu Polatu-Nau has his flaws but the physical edge he possesses would be handy to bring on when the game opens up or to give Moore a well-earned rest.
The rest of the tight five hasn’t been much to talk about and a lot of the blame for this lack of physicality has to fall on them.
Horwill must be feeling the heat after another subpar performance.
It can’t be easy being at the head of a team that’s had a season like the Wallabies have had this year and it could be taking its toll.
Maybe taking the burden of the captaincy off his shoulders might be the way to get the Kevie of old back?
I think Simmons had his best season for the Reds and to a degree he’s been able to carry that over to the Test arena, but he’s been too inconsistent to really cement his spot in the national team.
Timani has been a shining light when he’s come on but he hasn’t been entrusted with a starting berth so far in 2013. Hopefully the Rebels are able to nab him from a potential French move to maintain some weight in our lock stakes.
Up front is anyone’s guess.
This year Alexander, Robinson, Kepu and Slipper have all been tested and had their moments (they’ve been few and far between for some of them) but none have been able to put their hand up as a long term prop for the Wallabies.
I’d like to have seen Sio go on the end of year tour and given more of an opportunity and I hope Paddy Ryan is able to add to the one lonesome cap that he earned on last year’s tour.
Finally, it became blatantly obvious that restarts are an area in desperate need of attention. It’s the small, bread and butter things like this and the ball handling that I touched on above that we can’t afford to be getting wrong.
Especially when playing a team like the All Blacks that feed on any openings you give them.
But for now it’s onwards and upwards (literally) as the Wallabies make their annual journey north.
The contests won’t get much easier and a lot of our issues are easier to identify then they are to rectify, but it presents an opportunity build upon some positives and put what can only be described as a disappointing 2013 home season behind us.
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.