It’s great the Wallabies beat the teak-tough Pumas 32-25 on the Gold Coast last Saturday night, but not in the way they did it.
It’s even better the Wallabies are back to number two in the world rankings, but there’s daylight to the All Blacks so don’t get too carried away.
But the immediate giveaway that all is not well with the men in gold were the 14,281 hardy fans who turned up at Cbus Super Stadium – a stadium that has a capacity of 27,400.
If the Wallabies were playing entertaining rugby, and on the job for the greater part of the 80 minutes, a 14,281 crowd at a Wallaby international, the worst this century, would be rated an embarrassment.
You can’t fool rugby fans. If the mix isn’t right, they won’t bother to part with their hard-earned.
So what’s wrong with the Wallabies?
It’s a twofold problem – coach Ewen McKenzie isn’t picking the form team, and those who have been selected aren’t doing their job well enough for enough of the 80 minutes.
Take Saturday night. The Wallabies led the Pumas 14-7 at the break.
With 70 per cent of possession and just as much territory in the first half, the Wallabies should have led by 30 points.
Even though it’s readily recognised the Pumas are far better than 12th in the world, a mountain of Wallaby possession and territory should have been converted into points.
It got worse. When the Wallabies led 29-13 at 60 minutes, it should have been game, set, and match.
Far from it. With a minute to go, the Pumas had the scrum feed near the Wallaby line. If they hadn’t been penalised by referee Glenn Jackson for an early feed, the international could well have finished a 32-all draw.
In those last 20 minutes, the Pumas scored 12 points to 3 and were by far the better side, finishing the stronger.
The Wallaby equation is quite clear and simple – lack of concentration and commitment equals either complacency or carelessness, or a bit of both.
Whatever the net result of the equation, it will never be anywhere good enough to beat the All Blacks, which is the only and obvious benchmark,
I firmly believe these Wallabies are capable of regaining the Bledisloe, winning the Rugby Championship and eventually a third World Cup.
But not until the correct starting line-up is recognised, and those selected do justice to that recognition. The Wallabies have three x-factor players – skipper Michael Hooper, Israel Folau, and Kurtley Beale. You don’t leave Beale on the bench.
It would be like South Sydney rugby league leaving one of Greg Inglis, Sam Burgess, or Adam Reynolds on the bench.
Or the Melbourne Storm benching one of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, or Cooper Cronk.
So let’s equate the Wallabies to golf and boxing.
Rory McIlroy is without argument the best golfer in the world. Yet he can win golf tournaments by four-putting a hole from five feet, just as the Wallabies beat the Pumas even though they led 29-13 with 20 minutes to go, but went to sleep.
If multiple world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather had that sort of concentration and commitment lapse, he wouldn’t be undefeated in 47 fights, 27 by knockout, 21 by decision.
Especially yesterday in Las Vegas against Argentine Marcos Maidana, a mighty tough hombre who stuck it to Mayweather for 12 rounds.
The champion won a unanimous decision by keeping his wits about him for 36 torrid minutes while Maidana threw everything but the kitchen sink from all points of the compass.
Anything less than total concentration and commitment, and Mayweather would have been flat on his back in Disneyland, not hearing the 10 count.
So the Wallabies and McIlroy can have their moments of aberration and still win, Mayweather can’t.
But the Wallabies will never beat the All Blacks until they play like Floyd Mayweather fights,
Quading in...
Guest
Hahaha
Quading in...
Guest
Yep, defense was ineffective once Beale came on. Toomua didn't play well this game (far from it) in attack but Beale did nothing either, and Toomua organises the backline defense.
Play the Game
Guest
Still won"t stop McKenzie and co. talking it up.
Layman
Guest
I must admit I haven't played union, although I have followed it for years. My reading of the wallabies game was perhaps slightly different from many that have posted. It seems to me that the wallabies were completely in control for the first 55 minutes... Sure we dropped the ball and made all manner of infuriating mistakes but we had all the possession, you can't win without the ball. What I found noticeable was when TPN got injured and we made a few additional substitutions, we started losing the lineouts and the scrum. Perhaps it was also that the pumas substitutions were also much better than their previous onside team? However it seemed to me that our bench players didn't make the grade. To KB's defence he didn't have the chance to get the ball as possession suddenly swung to the pumas. Perhaps having Beale at the start would helped to convert early scoring opportunities. In addition when Spreight becomes available I think we will have a much more dynamic back line that will also allow Israel more space. So I think the starting line up did well enough to keep possession, now they just need to stop making silly mistakes and convert possession into tries. I have always found the wallabies lack the killer instinct that the all blacks so clearly show, yet we scrap and scramble with moments of pure joy. So despite ourselves we still somehow manage to stay in the top 3 rugby nations... And I can't see it changing anytime soon... You just have to enjoy the good bits!
Nipper
Guest
What I do know is that Hodgson came on last week for a handful of minutes and forced a crucial penalty at the ruck, giving the Wallabies the ball back to set up the game winner. Then he came on this week for a handful of minutes and caused another turnover. Two turnovers in less than 20 min. is a pretty good rate in my book. And he's not just a pilferer - great support play, and great defender as well. If Hooper is "untouchable" as far as selection, put Hodgson at 6 then. Lord knows he'll perform better than Fardy has been performing.
Justin3
Guest
I note that David's last real fan sheek doesn't even bother defending this utter dog shyt we have to put up with anymore!
Wobbly
Guest
Jesus H Christ - give it a rest on the Beale (& all things Tahs) bandwagon! FFS you weren't writing every single article in 2011 about how Anthony Faingaa was the Wallabies answer to plugging their leaky midfield like he did at the Reds. The Wallabies have far more problems (mostly between jersey numbers 1-8) than what would be solved by replacing a solidly performing Toomua with a flighty, crabbing, turnstile Beale.
Kerry
Guest
Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't Eddie Jones the coach of the Wallabies soon after McQueen. To the best of my knowledge, Eddie Jones single handidley contributed to the demise of the WBs. By constantly playing the players out of position and playing his favourites did not measure up. It appears that Ewen McKenzie is following in the same reframe. I hope this does not lead to the WBs being even lower on the scale than they have been previously. We need a coach like Cheika who trains the team to play at International level and WC level not someone who doesn't have the intuition to put the correct Reserve Bench players on the field at the right time, and also pick the correct players tp start the game. In my opinion, we have the right people but a coach who appears to be lost in translation.
Rotuma Island
Guest
just give a Toomua-Godwin combo a chance against our next test against Argentina, both share the kicking duties (lots of time to practise).
Chan Wee
Guest
funny how the term "X FACTOR" has ecome the mantra of all Gurus :D bet the TV show would luv the publicity and air time. many think its just plain syupid. as for lacking patience, it seems to be the in thing this season. NZ have been impatient in all of their matches and have sacrificed a lot of try scoring opportunities against all opposition. Pumas and SA have been also bad , specially given they create less chances than their opposition. cannot remember the contet last year but the matches have also been played in wet conditions mostly. main issue has been the unfoced errors at the most crucial time - for example the drop by Coles in that first test , or the two non-passes by respective fly halfs in the OZ PUMA match. in addition some of the trys have come off really poor defence. like the Montero try and Read McCaw try and Messam try.
Ozinsa
Guest
Outside of the mistakes we made having created opportunities surely this was our best performance in the RC? Tight 5 got at least parity at scrum and dominated line outs. We kept possession at a ridiculously high number so the back row worked well. We made breaks and carried for a huge amount of metres. Finish off the hard work and we win this by 40. David, this was really the wrong match to use to criticize selection - our bench (maybe Hodgo) produced nothing and we clearly picked our best starting 15. Let them start a few more together without X factor changes and we'll start to finish off the breaks and beat good teams consistently. I was in equal parts exasperated and encouraged and that's progress from the previous two matches. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Squirrel
Guest
Can we SOS George Smith for the World Cup
Midfielder
Guest
Conor Saw somewhere that the rating were down as well for the finals.. not sure what it means if both league and union are getting less ratings and crowds... Could simply be the mix ... Penrith and East's ... get Parramattta & the Broncos on top and rating will lift ... AFL crowds and ratings are down as well ... could it be the economy is biting harder than people think.. are esports talking away folk from traditional sports... Have a huge summer coming up as well cricket over five months not three ... Australian Open, Asian Cup .... and cycling down under add the various surf events ... add the Super car big events and F 1.... Will be interesting to see how the A-League fairs ... it only has I think 3 weeks by itself this year, to see if it mirrors the falls in the other footy i.e RL, AFL and Union... Would make for a good chat down the pub... or in a coffee shop ... could it be the population mix today ... but sport in Australia is changing all codes need most of all today me thinks is excellent management with street smarts to ask the right questions look at the right charts and plan for the future...
Kane
Roar Guru
*No.3 in the world rankings. *3rd in the RC
Kane
Roar Guru
Remember he averaged more than any test 7 in 2013 so you cannot say he is weak at this aspect. Sources?
Hopperdoggy
Guest
Maybe he was playing back yard footy with himself "Beale passes to Beale.... "
Train Without A Station
Guest
In 12 months we have gone from losing all but 2 RC games to 1 draw against the AB's and a home win against the Boks. Last year in the same fixture we snuck home by a point. How is that not improvement? In the last 12 months we have consistently disposed of teams below us and have at times challenged those above us. We aren't at the destination but clearly are moving in the right direction.
conor
Guest
Midfielder Last of the weekend's NRL finals: Melbourne Storm v Canterbury Bulldogs - crowd 19,230. Therefore average crowd over the 4 matches: 23,383.
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
Pie Thrower - 100% agreed. Also, the Wallabies current efforts will not beat England, Ireland or Wales if those guys keep their current form into the RWC. IMO Hooper is not a RWC winning 7, the northern hemisphere teams will slow play down and make him invisible for patches of a game which is not acceptable for a 7 (and not excused by an X factor "skill" that are so often used to off-set a deficiency). NH have world class players who will slow play down at the breakdown leaving Hooper somewhere else waiting for a pass. He is not the sole problem but as he seems undroppable the issues he brings will stay. He would be great off the bench, perhaps the country (and many Roar readers) could accept Hodgson for 60 minutes followed by Hooper (a world class option that would concern any opposition).
Play the Game
Guest
No. 2 in the World rankings! Two games undefeated. Second equal in the RC. Sound pretty impressive until you look at the detail and how it was achieved. Play 14 men for 20 mins Play 14 men for 10 mins Conceded 3 tries and almost blew a win away after leading by 16 points with 20 mins to play against the 12th ranked team No 2 team beaten by No 1 team All a smoke screen and where there is smoke there is a fire.... pity it is not a fire to achieve anything worthwhile, because OZ Rugby,the media ,the coach and the players are always talking themselves up .