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What a contrast there was between the first and second tests between the Wallabies and France.
There were a number of reasons for that contrast – the Wallabies faced a much better French team this week; the French defence didn’t offer the Wallabies the opportunities they had last week; and both teams made the decision not to risk being caught with the ball in their own half.
The combination of those factors turned the match into a real arm wrestle and a match that would have turned many spectators off, particularly in Melbourne where there are so many top class sporting events to choose from as an alternative.
Many regular rugby fans will not have been turned off by the match – after all the Wallabies won and therefore wrapped up the series. If the Wallabies were to win the Bledisloe Cup or the World Cup by six to nil, having played exactly the same way, would we complain? Probably not and I know I would’t!
The Wallabies started the match playing side to side. That first attack sequence was played out over 15 phases and they were very predictable. The first phase going in one direction was a pass from the scrumhalf to a pod of forwards, the second was a pass to the first receiver who either passed to another pod of forwards or passed behind that pod to the backs.
That first attack sequence from the Wallabies went from side to side in this pattern until eventually they ran out of room on the far side of the field which led to a wild pass and a desperate chase back by Bernard Foley to stop the French scoring.
The Wallabies were trying to play around the French without first earning the right to go wide. I said it last week many, many times but I’ll say it again – they need to play through the French defence, not around it.
I doubt this lateral approach was a game plan the Wallabies took in with them and Ewen McKenzie seemed to confirm that when he sent a message out to the players saying “We can’t just play lateral, lateral. We need to be smarter and show a little respect for the opposition. They’re not committing to the breakdown so we need to go through the line and change their defence position a little.”
With the French not committing numbers to the breakdown they simply fanned out across the field and shut down the lateral attack the Wallabies were running. If the Wallabies were smarter, as Link wanted them to be, they would have used their forwards to pick and drive through the centre until the French were forced to commit numbers close to the ruck before again going wide.
Instead, realising that the lateral approach wasn’t working, the Wallabies abandoned any attacking intent they may have started with in favour of kicking possession away. With the French adopting the same philosophy the match turned into a ‘kickfest’. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water!
There is a place for kicking in a match just as there’s a place for all out attack. However, too much of any one style becomes predictable and that’s what this match became.
In those rare moments when the Wallabies decided to chance their arm they reverted to the lateral attack with one or two phases from the forwards before the ball was sent wide. With all of the backline players running a similar angle the French had no difficulties shutting down the play.
It took until the 51st minute before the Wallabies allowed the forwards to build any real pressure on the French over multiple phases and then they released the pressure by sending the ball wide to backs all running the same angle across field.
The decision making of Nic White, Bernard Foley and Matt Toomua was not good enough on the night in this regard. When Kutley Beale came on to replace Foley he took the attack further sideways with his lateral runs.
There was nothing smart about the Wallabies attack on the night and they’ll have to be a lot better this week because the French will be better again with their first choice team now having played together to improve combinations.
My ratings for players are listed below. I’ll get in with a couple of comments early on that I make after analysing the match very closely but which I know will cause disagreement.
James Horwill was the most physical of the Wallaby forwards on the night and had a good work rate. I rated him as one of the better players for the Wallabies.
Luke Jones, who many of you want to see in the starting team, was ineffective in his 20 minute stint. That may have been down to nerves on debut or the pace of the game catching him out but I expect he’ll be better next time out.
I also didn’t rate the performances of Bernard Foley or Kurtley Beale and thought Tevita Kuridrani was solid so I’ll have to disagree with David Lord’s suggestion of Foley, Beale and Adam Ashley-Cooper starting in the mid-field this week.
I gave my man of the match to Sekope Kepu. I hear Channel 10 gave theirs to Nic White but I still don’t believe it!
The only change I see to the match day squad this week is the recall of Wycliff Palu to the starting team if he’s fit with Ben McCalman dropping back to the bench and Scott Higginbotham missing out.
