- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Ok. The massive demolition in Auckland in Bledisloe 2 has all and sundry on the western side of the ditch in a huge lather. Hopeless team, hopeless players, hopeless coach. Please pick one or many of the above.
But are the Wallabies as bad as they appeared to be last week?
I don’t see how they were good enough to nearly win the week before against the All Blacks, and they have to be drastically reformatted and refitted for the next match.
They won seven in a row before that, the most recent being the 3-0 win over France in June. France were decried as being a team of poor quality, but I doubt that was true. More likely, the Wallabies were pretty good in Tests one and three, and whatever happened in Test number two resulted in a dour, gritty win with no tries to either side.
The backline was very good the first the third Tests, with Nic White, Bernard Foley, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani playing nine, 10, 12 and 13, with a back three of Adam Ashley-Cooper, Israel Folau and Nick Cummins.
Kurtley Beale came on fairly early in the second half as the x-factor, and that went well too. Since then Ewen McKenzie has made big changes by starting Beale and benching Foley, and moving Ashley-Cooper to 13 and benching Kuridrani. Of the two changes made, Ashley-Cooper’s Super Rugby finals form demanded his move to 13, so that seemed, and still seems, logical. Dropping Foley, as we have seen, was an obvious mistake.
After the two Bledisloe Tests, it’s pretty clear that Nick Phipps adds some extra impetus at the rucks, in protecting the ball where needed, providing a running threat and excellent service to the ball runners, plus his defence. It also seems that Toomua may be too one-dimensional to play 12, and may not create anything in attack.
Beale went well there for the Waratahs, but his defence is always in question, and certainly looked poor in the last Test. Kuridrani should be at 12 instead. He is bigger than Toomua, a stronger physical defender and can get over the gain line in attack. Choosing Kuridrani at 12 is no more of a risk than using Toomua, and probably would be an improvement.
So, Phipps, Foley and Kuridrani could well be the lowest risk options for nine, 10 and 12, while also offering the possibility of something significantly more in attack. The x-factor could still be used at the 50 minute mark.
But what of the Waratahs experiment? By using Beale at 12 from the start, the Wallabies send the message that they are going to play their game, and are not trying to second-guess the opposition. If the coach has the confidence to trust his players to execute through their joy of playing the game, then the message the players take is confidence. Confidence delivers attitude. Attitude delivers aggression. Aggression delivers offensive defence and good ball.
So, some back line changes could be made, but without real risk. No bathwater drainage there.
But, in the end, it’s forwards that win matches, so why was McKenzie taking large risks with back line selections as his main strategy? One can only assume that he thought the forwards in Bledisloe 2 were his best option. They went well in Bledisloe 1, with aggression and offensive defence. So, He can be excused for thinking they would go well in Bledisloe 2 as well.
However, with the All Blacks bringing their “A” game to Bledisloe 2, as requested by McKenzie, the Wallaby forwards showed no lifted aggression levels to match them, and worse, started falling off tackles and allowing the All Blacks easy metres and quality ball.
At the very least a bit of rotation of some front pack might be a way forward. Ben McCalman and Matt Hodgson have shown real toughness for the Force at the breakdown and in defence. Higginbothom has shown some technical flaws, but is worth a shot as well. Will Skelton could start. James Horwill is tough, but seems to do too little – a fitness problem maybe?
So, for the forwards, more players could be used more often in a rotational way, enabling the fresh players to lead in breakdown aggression and offensive defence. No bathwater issues here, either, but trying a few new things.
The players are not deserving of wholesale sacking, but something needs to be done to address the failure last week. Fresh players rotating in the forwards might be one fix. The other, however, is the mental preparation of the players.
As a team the players have to have confidence in their teammates and the coach and his strategy. The captain needs to be able to pull the team together and get them to regroup and defy diversity and hang in there. Hooper will learn from last week, because there was never a hint of a regroup until the match was well gone.
The coach’s selection of Beale was a risk that may have undermined team confidence. They sing from the same songbook, saying that they were “well prepared” and “confident”. But they didn’t play like that. They looked dispirited from the start, notwithstanding that it was the binning of Rob Simmons that was the killer blow. Somehow McKenzie has to get a buy-in to his selections and game plan that shows on the field, so that means Foley at 10.
McKenzie has issues in the man-management area and it is an area he urgently needs to fix. The example of the continual rejection of Benn Robinson is a problem for the team and certainly for the coach, I think, because it sends a bad message to players.
Robinson is obviously the next best to Slipper at loosehead prop. The team doesn’t need petty behaviour from a coach who must have some personal issues with the player. McKenzie needs to kiss and make up. His initiative. His responsibility.
So, Wallaby supporters can leave the bathwater in, but they still have to hope that they won’t have to drain away the coach by the end of the Rugby Championship.
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.