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Sliding door moments from the second Wallabies Test

17th June, 2014
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Folau could be the name to propel the Titans forward, but can he be tempted back to the NRL? (Source: AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
17th June, 2014
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1166 Reads

In the days following last weekend’s narrow Wallabies win over a committed French outfit, you could be forgiven for thinking we’d lost.

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth. To be fair, it was more of a game for the purists than the week prior.

In the days following a loss of any team I follow I always find myself going over the revolving door moments in the match that made a difference. And I do think it’s the smallest things that don’t seem significant at the time that can influence the whole course of a match.

We see the same things in our non-sporting lives. For example, ‘if I hadn’t taken that job, I wouldn’t have met my wife’. The things that can change the whole course of your life.

On the sporting field it’s sometimes the big tackle that lifts teammates and makes the opposition think twice from that point onwards. But sometimes it’s much more innocuous.

The first backline move doesn’t work out and the flyhalf kicks more from then on. Or a box kick almost works out and the scrumhalf then tries too hard to replicate that result ad nauseam. The fullback kicks his first one well, figures it’s coming off the boot well and gets kick happy from then on.

So what were the sliding door moments last weekend? What made this game so much different from the one before?

It’s tempting to think it was Ewen McKenzie’s game plan but I think that’s only part of the story. Also contributing was the opposition themselves – both their quality and their tactics. But, again, that only tells part of the story.

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I’m going to nominate a couple of moments, using Diggercane’s commentary from The Roar‘s live blog.

1. Wallabies’ multi-phase opening
The initial few minutes of the match saw the Wallabies attempt some ball-in-hand rugby.

At about the three minute mark, Roarer RobC posted:

“15 phases. Only forward movement via Folau and Cummins. Kuridrani lost the ball on the right side. Almost a try by the French.”

And then Diggercane responded:

“3′ Poor ball control from the Wallabies sees France hoof it down field, it’s all the way to the Wallaby in goal but Foley just wins the race to touch down. 22”

Innocuous enough, but I wonder if this initial attempt at ball-in-hand rugby all leading to nothing didn’t dent the confidence in such ploys from then on.

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There was also the comment that France were “strolling over the adline” around this time and one wonders whether the Wallabies figured they would rather see them doing that further away from their try line.

2. Disallowed Wallaby try
At the 20 minute mark there was this from Diggercane:

“20′ Wallaby scrum, won, Foley kicks through, ordinary, taken by Dulin on the full, recycles, Tales clears downfield, Holey returns, Tales returns, repeat, repeat, Folau now decides to run, up to halfway, recycled, White kicks into the French 22, Dulin returns and fielded by Folau, ball in hand, up to the 22, sneaky kick through from Toomua, wicked bounce for the French there and it’s a try!!”

This comment shows firstly that, although at this stage there was already a lot of kicking, twice in this sequence Israel Folau did attempt to run it back.

I can’t help but feel the non-awarding of this try was a pivotal moment in the match. I thought it was a try and all of the players seemed to as well. Was confidence dented? Did the thought that this wasn’t their night not creep in a little?

3. France knock-on after a chargedown
Just before halftime there was this from Diggercane:

“37′ Foley restarts play with a 22, goes long, France put up a bomb, claimed by the Wallabies, halfbreak from Hooper, but thrown to ground, recycled back to Toomua, CHARGEDOWN!! Ohhhhh, French player Nyange knocks-on trying to pick the ball up with the line open!!”

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Firstly, the halfbreak comment. There were maybe a few halfbreaks in the match from the Wallabies but ESPN scrum tells me that the Wallabies (through Folau) only made one clean break all match.

Looking at the stats there were 15 clean breaks the weekend before. A massive difference. More discouragement for ball-in-hand rugby?

And what would be the feeling after narrowly avoiding a try scored against you from a chargedown like this? Again, I think the reaction was the Wallabies wanted to play safer and play down the French end more and kick from a little deeper to avoid chargedowns.

The above three incidents set the tone for the match. The halftime reaction from Link and the messages passed during the second half from him were not that the Wallabies needed to run it more. I feel if anything Ewen encouraged continuing the ‘game of chicken’ as he called it.

The week before was a different story. Plays were attempted, they worked and that encouraged a more enterprising mindset.

I feel the Wallabies will win and win well next weekend. The shackles will be off and the French will be mentally down.

However, while I admire a team that has the ability to play different styles and win ugly, I feel there are a few mental tweaks the Wallabies need to make in order to challenge a mentally strong team like the All Blacks.

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