Wonky Wallabies trip up in Twickenham Test

Thank goodness for the summary. ;

Didn't know you followed English rugby so closely, Dirk, that you can be so confident they don't have room for improvement. I don't know how much England will improve between now and the RWC, but I'm 90% sure neither of those centres will be in the team; the young wingers will have 5 more full tests under their belt (injury permitting); Brown will very probably recover his form and the pack will be significantly stronger than the one on Saturday; and they'll have 3 months in camp working on their fitness, combinations and patterns. All things considered that will probably add up to significant improvement. I do hope your confidence is shared by the WBs team and management, though. My dream is that the WBs stroll out at Twickenham in 2015 with the same arrogance and sense of entitlement that they strolled out in Marseilles in 2007. Any chance of getting Lote and his famous wink back in the side? Or perhaps a few 'we hate the poms' quotes from that class act O'Neill?

Didn't know you followed E

Excellent article.May not agree 100% but thanks all the same for your valuable contribution. OBB

The glory days are gone due to the decline of clubs. Our forwards are soft due to not playing week in week out rugby like northern and sa and nzers ,just flexing in the gym, but funnily enough we still have hope due to our backs. This is amazing since we don't have any 2nd rowers or props.

The wallabies and fans have to move past living in the glory years between 1991-2003 and realise that today they simply are not that good. The list of problems that plagues the wallabies is extensive; they have an unreliable scrum, the lineout in attack is par... defensively it is non-existent (except maybe to give away a penalty), the tight 5 lack the mongrel to consistently make the gain line, our back 3 struggle under the high ball (even uber reliable Folau has caught the wobbles), we butcher more try scoring opportunities than Jack the Ripper, we look amateur under pressure and lack composure, the penalty count is consistently against us and our kicking game never seems to be as accurate, as clever or able to exert as much pressure as the opposition. Sounds like a team from the lower leagues right? Sounds like a team that should be getting thrashed 30-40 points every game. The most extraordinary thing about the wallabies is that they haven't been getting thrashed (except the once by the All Blacks). The Wallabies, a team chock full of problems, has somehow managed a draw and last gasp loss to the All Blacks and to beat the Springboks... the two best teams in the world. They have also managed to go to the wire with France, Ireland and England in their own fortress stadiums. How is that possible with such a crappy team?! In amongst all the losses and off field drama the negativity has crept in and it is hard to find a truly honest and objective critique of the wallabies in amongst all these comments. That's a shame. The wallabies have a lot wrong with them but they also have a lot right. Their inventiveness, ability to break the line and score from anywhere are rare traits and strike fear into the opposition until the very last play. Ask any supporter from Ireland, France or England and they will tell you just how worried they were until the very end. They were a nervous wreck every time the wallabies got the ball. The stats tell the story pretty well. As an example in the game against England the Wallabies had 6 vs 2 line breaks, 559 vs 169 meters gained, 25 vs 7 defenders beaten, 17 vs 3 successful offloads. That's all good stuff and against quality and dogged defence. The only other team that delivers those kind of stats are the All Blacks so we are doing something right. Why we can;t turn those stats into more points is a worry but another story. The stats also highlight where the wallabies need some serious work. The wallabies conceded 17 turnovers to England's 3. Most of those turnovers were unforced and came from Wallabies' errors. Additionally the Wallabies conceded 13 penalties to England's 7. While I accept 4 of those were in the scrum (1-2 highly suspect) and another 4 were in the maul (anther 2 of which were suspect) this is just not good enough for a top flight team. The team in attack (possession 66%vs34%) should not be conceding the most penalties. There is something fundamentally wrong here and it is truly the Wallabies' Achilles heel. The conspiracy theorists would say it's to do with ref bias. In regards to the scrum I certainly think there's some substance to that claim however I understand the game pretty well and when I see repeat offenders offside and doing ridiculous things at the breakdown I tear my bloody hair out. I play in the fairly low London 3 leagues and the things I see some of the Wallabies doing would receive extremely harsh chastisement even at our level. Why can't we just stop doing the ridiculous?. I can handle Luke Jones pulling down a maul in the mid field to stop a rampaging maul. I can even handle the odd player briefly lying on the wrong side to slow play and halt momentum in the red zone. But offside, diving over, side entry... what is that about?! Moving on to other problems... despite what just about every pundit is saying about our scrum I don't agree. Sure we could do with a little more grunt in the tight 5 but so could every team. Australia has always had a simple policy around the scrum... win your own and don't give away penalties when defending. We prefer a more mobile front row with ball handling skills over the 'scrummaging lumps' of the northern hemisphere that could out pull a Clydesdale but offer very little else. Did anyone notice that in attack our scrum was solid but in defence it crumbled? Wonder why? The answer is obvious in slow motion replays. It was because the English intentionally wheeled the scrum to pressure and pop the wallaby tight head full well knowing the policing of the scrum is a lottery and they would get the penalty because of the preconceived bias that they have the better scrum. The Welsh worked it out first and the English clearly studied the tapes and improved. Bring in the TMO for scrums I say! Intentional wheeling is illegal... that's what Cheika is alluding to. Australia need to be more cunning in the black arts of scrummaging to stop the penalties... nothing more. Our boys have enough grunt to fulfil our scrum policy... they just need to be less naive. Where we could spend some time is lineouts. Too many times we have kicked well to set up a lineout in the red zone only to quickly lose possession resulting usually from a poor lineout. This should be money ball 80-90% of the time. First we need to be reliably winning 90% of our own lineout ball then we move to the moves of the lineout. It is easy to set up simple moves from the lineout that are deadly 5-10 meters out. They just take a bit of study of the opposition defensive lineout and a little bit of ingenuity. The rebels had some pretty nice moves in the S15 this year. The Barbarians in a few days invented a few clever plays that paid dividends. It is an easy thing to do and can get you a soft try every 2nd game or so. Under Rod MacQueen we would see something new almost every game... not any more. From a spectator's point of view it appears to be severely neglected yet it is probably one of the easiest things to improve and has a great cost benefit ratio. We need to work on getting a few more steels/disrupting. We used to be excellent at that. In summary... the wallabies have the core of a great team but need to address a few serious flaws. If they can stop the errors, halve the turnovers, stop the stupid penalties, improve the lineout, be more cunning in the scrum then they are in business. Some are more easy to fix than others but if they can improve the stats around those key areas the results will speak for themselves.

very sage words by the roarers here. thank you. to paraphrase forrest gump, i may not be smart...but I know ... ...or believe this: the Wallabies had enough territory and possession to win all three games, but i felt they lacked killer go forward to smash through and score tries. Just not good enough, or co-ordinated enough?

Good article

If he actually said this I think we have a real problem. Cheika revealed he had spoken to IRB referees bosses last week to ensure the officials did not have a preconceived idea about the Wallabies' set piece. And the coach believes the Wallabies may have to start fighting illegal tactics with their own scrum hijinks, declaring: "Maybe we're just too honest". "We need to change some things, technique and strategy," Cheika said. "Perhaps a bit more wheeling [the scrum around] or something because that seems to be accepted. Maybe we are just a little bit too honest in the scrum … there are some personnel we are going to look at as well."

yeah good point..how was his 'assist' with Ewan during the year?

The Wallabies are world rugby's number one spruikers. Just read Cooper saying the 'glue' is in place for the RWC. They are stronger, work better as a team - this after three defeats on the trot. 'Before' under Deans and McK you will remember they were also telling us ad nauseum they were great (and losing, mostly). The glue could easily come unstuck in the 'tough' five tests before the RWC so they should try shutting up. They've won nothing and they're lucky to be No 4 and not No 5. Pundits are always writing off the AB's. Last couple of days Wales - after a defeat - saying the AB's 'are there for the taking'. The mind boggles. Results speak for themselves so the AB's don't have to blabber on in the media about glue or toxins. There is an inkling that the savior himself - Cheika - could be problematic. He's 1 from 4. He's a spit the dummy kind of coach (a broken door here, an insulted linesman there) and although he did the business at Leinster and Sydney he could unravel in the national environment which is very, very weird in Australia. I don't remember him being extra helpful towards the national cause in 2013 and 2014 and now he wants ALL the S15 franchises and coaches 'working together' for the RWC. Might be coaching Argentina by the end of 2015.

It boils down to the ability to play with a sense of teamwork when things get ragged. Of course getting things to go gnarly is another step up but that is for the future. At the moment it is having to rely on their basic skills when the speed and thinking goes exponential that fails the Wallabies, and that requires perhaps even waiting for the next squad. The experiment with the X factor needs to be put to bed, it is hard work and building up the squad's self-awareness that needs to be accomplished first. Not something that suits the punter mentality but this is Rugby, the game has no room for chancers, all that counts is cold-blooded execution. Cheika has the brief, he also has some runs on the board so it boils down to how many he can take with him after the Super season has ended. One thing that needs doing is getting more fluency in the off-load game so runners can attract close support. We need most a bullocking 8 who bends the line and then delivers, would be nice if the all the forwards could join in. Yes, Hooper, McMahon are already there but we need 30 tuned up players for a successful RWC squad.

I used to be a Wallabies supporter & I never thought I would say this but I am glad England won. The only disappointment of the tour was the Wallabies winning one test. Seems the only way change will happen is if the Wallabies continue to lose. Enough people have made comments about the changes needing to be made and there is little point in me adding to them. Until the ARU at least gives the impression they are positively managing the game in Australia, the only team I'll be supporting is the one playing against the Wallabies. My Wallabies dream for the World Cup is that Australia loses all games. Especially the one that decides whether we progress or not by a point after the siren from a length of the field try.

Not too concerned. The Wallabies have improvement in them, England not so much. England have had the same coach and squad for several years and have plateaued. Their backs are pedestrian at best.

Poms also missed a few kicks at goal that I'd normally expect them to nail. :) They also fluffed a try by their 11 (I believe) after some nice work by their backs. So yeah they could easily have been 20+. Most concerning for me - apart from our obvious scrum & handling woes - was that England didn't really show us anything that we didn't already know about them. They beat us up front & we knew that was coming yet failed to deal with it. 'What else are they capable of' is what I'm wondering. :(

Don't forget England were without several British and Irish Lions players - not least in the pack. Their regular props were missing and they certainly miss Tuilagi in the backs. Not a flair player but he gives them considerable momentum. Aside from the wingers and Ford the jury's out on the rest. Twelvetrees again underwhelmed and Brown hasn't hit the heights of last year. They were foolish to send Eastmond back to Bath after he played outside the steady but limited Farrell. Outside Ford who likes to challenge the gain line he'd be a different prospect. As for the Twickenham crowd, yes, the English love the forward confrontation and will applaud a driving maul but they long for some rapier-like back play and ingenuity. Combine the English pack and Wallaby backs and that'd be some side.

My highlights of the Tests between England & the Wallabies and between Wales and the Boks were the tributes to the fallen sportsmen, especially Phil Hughes.

Difficult to find fault with what you say. Confidence and composure are often the difference between success and failure in test matches. The wallabies appeared to lack both. Combined with some poor decision making and getting bullied up front I was surprised we came as close as we did. With their dominance if I was an England supporter I would be disappointed they didn't win by 20+. To me that demonstrates England are actually a pretty ordinary team. I think England will not learn much from the game but australia can learn a lot.