There has seldom been a day more difficult to be a fan of Australian rugby than Sunday morning’s Test match against Ireland in Dublin.
Not because Australia lost, which they did – fair and square – but because so much about how they played left us fans wanting to scream at the rugby gods, “Have mercy, in the name of William Webb Ellis, give these lads a win!”
But they rugby gods are cruel.
When referee Glen Jackson blew the final whistle, Australia was found wanting by a mere three points, losing to Ireland by 26 points to 23 in a game that makes the shortlist for Test of the year.
Sunday’s game exemplified everything that makes rugby the greatest game in the world.
Two sides vastly different in character: the Irish with field-general Jonathan Sexton, relying on power-forwards and tactical kicking, and the upstart Wallabies, hurling the ball around as if in the schoolyard, with a kind of ambitious optimism so often absent at the top level.
It was a case of the Northern Hemisphere style versus the Southern Hemisphere, in a spectacle that left me nostalgic about rugby before the advent of professionalism yet played with every bit as much heart.
Yes, Australia has now lost two in a row on the European tour. If they lose to England this week it will be their worst trip north since 2005, but we should ignore that and look at the bigger picture.
Last week I made the argument the French are a far tougher side than the IRB rankings would suggest. The Irish on the other hand are not. They are ranked number three, and fresh off a comprehensive 14-point win against a number two-ranked South African side who just last month beat the ‘unbeatable’ All Blacks to snap a streak of 22 games without a loss. So pay some respect.
Perspective. Perspective. Perspective.
If we chalk up the one-point loss to the All Blacks in Brisbane, Australia’s strongest home ground, as an anomaly (and still a loss) we might remember that this is a team fresh off consecutive Test losses to South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand. Australia was then hurled into scandal, split down the middle and given a new coach before being chucked on a plane to Europe and afforded a gala match followed by just one Test before playing France.
In that Test and the following against reigning Six Nations champions Ireland, Michael Cheika’s Wallabies, who are undergoing massive structural changes, have lost by a combined margin of less than a converted try.
In the version of rugby discussed around the Wood family dinner table, that’s what you call “pretty bloody good”.
What’s more, let’s look at how the Wallabies lost. They lost playing positive, enterprising and constructive rugby; the kind that the ARU bastardised the rules of in the NRC to encourage, and we all ramble on and on about.
The only logical conclusion is that those calling for wholesale changes to the Wallaby starting side must have watched a very different game to the one that I did.
Make no mistake about it, there are signs of life in the Wallaby squad. Every painful error was punctuated by a glimmer of hope and every lacklustre individual performance matched by a new player finding form. What we saw was a glimpse of true x-factor, not just the single player version of it which consists of gambling with a rugby ball in hand.
Running down a 17-point lead, with all of the momentum against them in just the 14th minute thanks to a possible try-turned-intercept by Ulster flyer Tommy Bowe, the Wallaby backline – with a couple of nice cameos from Ben McCalman – looked deadly.
The attacking patterns dubbed by some as the “chaos style” sliced through the Irish defence with an ease that has been achieved by no other team.
This was answered on the opposite side of the ball by Ireland’s trump card Jonathan Sexton. I’ll admit that I was openly critical of Sexton’s nomination for IRB Player of the Year, perhaps the words “token” and “Northern Hemisphere” even slipped out of my mouth in the same sentence. I take it all back.
I have been scouring my brain, and I can’t recall of any of the great kicking flyhalves showing mastery of the boot as Sexton did on Sunday. Not Johnny Wilkinson, not Andrew Merhtens, Not Daniel Carter. Nobody.
It was with Sexton’s boot that New Zealand-born Irish coach Joe Schmidt, who is credited with dismantling the Springboks last week, was able to outflank Cheika.
By using the high ball off Sexton’s laser-guided boot, Schmidt neutralised the Wallaby attack. On this occasion Cheika had no answer. Great coaches learn from their losses, and this will be a coming of age for the Randwick legend who is still new to the Test arena.
Nonetheless, it was painful to watch the Wallaby coach, who at one point was succeeding despite superior Irish strategy, so clearly run out of options to bolster his exhausted pack against an motivated Irish bench. When he finally made the implicitly reluctant choice to replace James Slipper with Benn Robinson in the 75th minute, the result seemed inevitable.
Ewen McKenzie and I did not agree with much on the topic of selections, but it is starting to look like his talked about omission of Robinson was on the money. In the dying minutes, in opposition territory, for the second week in a row, Robinson produced a trademark fumble midst the Wallaby push for victory. Until he can improve his ball security, Cheika needs to either remove Robinson from the running game or from the 23 entirely.
Bench depth in the front row continues to be a problem for Australia, but on the bright side reserve tighthead prop Tetera Faulkner showed us his fists are not made of ham with a couple of solid carries and a sound all-round showing.
Faulkner is starting to look like a real second choice to Sekope Kepu which, perhaps a little surprisingly, leaves us pondering what to do in jersey number 1.
For the second week in a row the second-row also looked much improved. It still lacks a superstar along the lines of a Brodie Retallick or Victor Matfield, but will be bolstered further still by the return of Dave Dennis and if the ARU are smart, Kane Douglas in the New Year. Nonetheless, the locks were sufficient and with the spectacular Wallaby backline, sufficient will be enough.
I will say nothing about the backline other than they should all keep their starting spots against England.
Since it is the end of the Wallaby season, I’m going to stick my neck out here and have a little gamble: Australia will beat England, at Twickenham, convincingly and in doing so show us all that what Cheika has instilled is so much more important than the stats. He has started giving the Wallabies back their identity.
The Wallabies can be proud of how they played in Dublin. If the coaches can get Australian rugby players to buy into the story of Australian rugby, and value their jerseys as much as life itself (as any All Black would) then the war has a chance of being won. We just need to keep the ARU at bay and survive a few more battles in the interim.
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.
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