You must look closely, but the Wallabies are getting better all the time

“Oh woe is me”, they cried. “We’ll all be rooned” they said after the Wallabies stared down an improbable victory.

The Springboks blew away the stoic Wallaby resistance with a well taken drop goal to hit the front 11-10 at the 70th minute, and three quick follow-up tries later the final whistle was mercifully blown.

Sounds awful, but is it as bad as it looks? Spiro claimed a lack of fitness is a major factor, and who can argue against having fitter players? Players need to be as fit as they can be to match the top-quality opposition, such as the All Blacks, Springboks and England.

Perhaps there’s time for a training camp to get this done prior to the end-of-season-tour in November. For 70 minutes, the Wallabies were in the contest, just in front at 10-8. The Springbok defence and a lack of patience in Wallaby attack contributed to the halftime scoreline being 10-5 in the Wallabies’ favour.

A more clinical attack would have put the Springboks away with at least two or three tries. Israel Folau attacks in the wide channels around Tevita Kuridrani when Matt Toomua is at 12, but looks for the Kurtley Beale-created opportunities when Beale is at 12.

He gets more room to finesse the gaps from Beale, and so he often appears as though he is not doing much of his devastating stuff unless Beale is there. That is a problem for the Wallabies if Toomua is persisted with, but it is also a problem that Folau needs to redress.

It’s been mentioned that Folau might develop a closer attacking line in the Digby Ioane style directly off the 9 or 10 coming around the corner. In the past Spiro has mentioned the possibility of playing Folau on the wing and Beale at fullback.

For mine, Folau is a developing fullback, who needs to continue in that role. I think he would be seen a lot less as an attacking force as a winger, especially in the short term. But, he does need to vary his point of attack, and not be over-reliant on Beale.

Beale would have greased the wheels of the Wallaby attack in the first half, and we would most probably have seen those missing Wallaby tries scored. Coming on as a replacement means that Beale may or may not be there when the attacking opportunities occur, and his ineffectual effort in Cape Town was really due to the lack of those opportunities after he came on.

The go-forward was very good in the strong Wallaby period in the first half, and the delivered ball was good. That’s when Beale can cut them up. Spiro made the point that the time for changes is now, because only the end-of-season-tour remains after next week’s Test against Argentina before the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Toomua, unfortunately, really does gum up the works at 12. Beale must start in Argentina. The confidence from starting in the position he excelled at for the Waratahs will put him in the best frame of mind to execute some magic.

The statistics that Spiro quoted for the All Blacks versus Argentina match last Saturday indicated that Argentina had more carries and off-loads, and the same run metres as the All Blacks. The message from Spiro was that the Wallabies had better watch out or a potential loss was looming.

I think the telling point is that the All Blacks execute calmly under pressure. They take their chances and score just about all the tries that they could possibly score. The lesser teams, such as Argentina, Australia and South Africa don’t.

This is the point of difference for the All Blacks. The Wallabies with Beale starting at 12 have the opportunity to reproduce the Waratah cohesive attack that can also take the offered chances.

The Wallabies could then cross that great Rubicon and join the All Blacks in the promised land. That was the hope offered by the Waratahs Super Rugby win, only to be dashed by the selection of Beale at 10 for the two Bledisloe Tests.

Nevertheless, Bernard Foley is back at 10, and the clawback of hope is progressing, if in fits and starts.

That does not discount the Springboks from getting there as well either, because the last 10 minutes of the Cape Town Test were extraordinary to say the least. There have been a couple of other great tries in this Rugby Championship from them as well.

The fact that they refrained from a kickathon meant that they ran at the Wallabies forcing a tiring prolonged tackling effort that stood up until the 70th minute. Better Wallaby fitness has got to help if it can be achieved, and as well, the Wallaby bench was criticised for not producing the necessary kick-start to the Wallaby finish.

It was interesting that McKenzie chose a bench of five forwards and three backs. Was it a mistake, when 6-2 is the norm, given that the forwards soak up the bulk of the work? In hindsight it probably was.

Rob Horne may have been on the bench to cover for the possibility of Joe Tomane going down with injury again, but in reality, Beale could have played wing in that circumstance. Probably Horne should have started and Tomane dropped from the bench for an extra forward.

Wouldn’t it have been good if that forward had been David Pocock? Matt Hodgson was there though, and could have been sent on. He has been very good in the glimpses we’ve seen of him in Wallaby colours. Underrated, I think.

The tactical change by the Springboks to run at the Wallabies and retain possession caught the Wallabies 6-2 bench out. The Wallabies managed 19 turnovers to the Springboks 14, so, even with the penalty count against by 11-4, the Wallabies looked like a good team for a lot of the match.

Scott Fardy played his best Wallaby Test this year, being very strong at the breakdown securing a number of steals. The Wallabies simply lacked the patience in attack to execute the coup-de-grace.

The Springboks were there to be taken. Grubber-kicks by Toomua, and also Foley, just gave away our good ball.

There is not much in a major international rugby Test that separates the two sides, and the Wallabies in this last match showed a set-piece and breakdown strength that are crucial elements in the recipe of success.

The lack of attacking composure cost them this Test, as it did the first Bledisloe. Wallaby improvements are noticeable with Foley back at 10, and the extra matches under the belt. The direction is largely positive.

Obviously 12 is the major position of contention, with possibilities such as Christian Lealiifano, Kyle Godwin, or even perhaps James O’Connor, while Spiro mentioned Rob Horne as a possibility for the role.

When you throw in Toomua, the options seem promising. None of those options have the Beale magic however, and there is already a working Waratahs template.

Now Ben McCallman may be injured for the Argentina Test, it is time for Scott Higginbothom to start. Also, Will Skelton is covering for the possibility of Rob Simmons missing the match through injury, and it would be terrific to see him come on with 20 or 30 minutes to go and deliver as a wrecking ball.

Ewen McKenzie therefore, through fate of injury, is going to have an opportunity of seeing a different forward arrangement. Higgenbothom and Skelton have a big chance to press their claims. They must be hungry.

So package up the gloom and doom all ye Wallaby faithful, and deposit it in the nearest bin. Let’s follow the Argentina Test and the end-of-year-tour closely, to look for those necessary elements of attacking composure to be put in place.

If it can happen, and I think it can, and the other essential elements continue to progress, then there is no reason that the Wallabies cannot triumph in the 2015 Rugby World Cup ‘pool of death’. Then, the Wallabies will have just two matches to reclaim the trophy.