Wallabies' belief and attitude led to win over Wales

To make it in rugby, you need a mix of attributes. Of course you need skill, size and speed – but what separates the best from the best of the rest is not pure athleticism – it is attitude.

Players from different countries tend to have different strengths, based upon the way they have evolved a winning formula over time. They then tend to train and play to those strengths, and revert to the tried and true formula when under pressure.

These differences make international rugby a melting pot where anything can happen on the day depending upon the attitude and belief in their strengths. The Welsh coach, Warren Gatland from New Zealand, has been in charge for seven years, and has developed a power game involving two big centres crashing through the gain-line, with two big, fast wingers to finish off.

A kicking game of pinpoint up-and-unders and kicks for territory are used, with some counterattack.

There is a base of a solid set-piece with a powerful backrow to provide good ball and forward momentum, and a well-structured defence.

The Wallabies under Michael Cheika aspire to having multiple forwards in motion providing options as receivers, with offloads to give strong gain-line penetration.

The backline playmakers can then work with the space using a very flat orientation giving defenders little time to make their decision. The backline runners can feed directly off the forward runners and take the offloads, or hit the gap created by the backline playmakers.

The solid set-piece is also a necessary part of this scenario, and a fast and physical defence is used to deny momentum to the opposition and provide turnover opportunities.

Kicking is usually for territory, and doesn’t happen often. Grubbers and chips are deployed sometimes, but mostly so far they have been ineffective at best or counterproductive at worst.

The match showed that the Wallabies look unconvincing in attack when there are not enough forwards in motion as receiver options, but when the line was bent and the ball was fast, the attack looked good.

Overall the match showed that there was a fair way to go for the coordination of the Wallaby attack in the forwards, while Bernard Foley and Christian Lelaiifano are yet to really click.

Currently we are not seeing Foley on the loop with a second touch linking out wide, which is a powerful attacking threat with Folau and Kuridrani in particular attracting the defence like flies creating space.

There is a lot of attacking improvements that can be made as the EOYT continues to the showdown with England at Twickenham in the last match. Nevertheless, the Wallabies show a strong belief in their attacking abilities, and will grease their wheels with that continued belief.

Defensively, there were mistakes made leading to two tries. Sean McMahon took off from his right pillar defence role too soon, leaving the gap for the Welsh halfback Rhys Webb to stroll through.

He won’t make that mistake again. He also lost a ball badly in contact that could have resulted in another try had the Welsh capitalised better, so it was a tough debut.

The second try involved Foley attempting to challenge Dan Biggar who was shaping to kick, but passed instead, leaving Ashley-Cooper marking both George North and Alex Cuthbert, with the 2-on-1 generating a try in the corner for Cuthbert.

There were other defensive lapses out wide that were tidied up, with the line-speed and some lacking communication causing a jagged line and available gaps in the first half. The second half was better.

For the Welsh, their flyhalf Dan Biggar kicked away a good attacking opportunity in the first half, even though the kick found touch well inside the Wallaby 22.

He didn’t make that mistake when Foley erred, and a try was scored. All the same, the belief within the Welsh of their attacking prowess is weaker than it needs to be, as opportunities in international rugby are few.

The Wallabies belief within their scrum seemed to suffer a big setback with the prolonged scrummaging resets leading up to the penalty try to the Welsh.

The Will Skelton head and body appeared too high to properly support Sekope Kepu at tight head, and the replacement Welsh prop appeared to take advantage.

Before that, the Wallaby scrum had a slight ascendancy, so it is not all bad in that department. A lot more work is needed, though, and the next three Tests against France, Ireland and England will be a stern examination.

It was noticeable that the Welsh ramped up their attitude and belief during this period, focussing on what they saw as their main chance. And they took it.

Lineouts were generally good for both teams, while Welsh rolling malls were mostly well handled by the Wallabies. A couple of Wallaby rolling mauls were good as a variation, but never really threatened. The Wallabies have work to do in both attack and defence in this area.

Michael Cheika said the win means little for the World Cup clash with Wales, who are in their pool. Interestingly, Warren Gatland said the opposite. He said that was the best the Wallabies can do, and Wales would be massively improved next year by comparison.

John Kirwan said Gatland was quiet before the match and he indicated that meant an ambush in Cardiff, i.e. Wales aiming up for an important morale-boosting win over the Wallabies prior to the Rugby World Cup. It didn’t happen, and Gatland’s presumptuous comments indicate a coach disarmed by the loss.

Wales looked pretty much the same as they have in all the recent matches they’ve played against the Wallabies, while the Wallabies have a new coach and do really look uncoordinated at times.

I said in my previous article, that “Overall, the Wallabies appear to be going well, with defence, physicality and mental preparedness being the major wheels in motion where major improvements are needed, and expected. If this happens, the Wallabies will start to look like a powerful and consistent team that plays out the full 80 minutes, and will be a major threat to any team.”.

The physicality was stepped up, the attitude was there, and closing out the match from one point down at the 73-minute mark showed the mental toughness and belief that had been missing in the Rugby Championship.

The defence was good and bad, so there is much to improve on, and that would be expected with more time under the new regime.

I should have added another wheel in motion, that being the Wallabies’ coordination in attack, in both forwards and backs.

That area, as mentioned, is still well off the required level, though looks very good at times, promising better performances ahead.

All in all, this Test was a good Wallaby performance, with the promise of better to come.

Losing to the Wallabies in this match won’t help Wales in the pool of death match, as it will temper their belief. The Wallabies, however, have bigger fish to fry at Twickenham, where a win will certainly boost their belief.