Wallabies found composure when panic threatened

The Wallabies got the job done. When presented with the penalty and the bold decision of a draw or going all in for the win, they kicked for the corner and backed themselves.

The short summary of events is that they won the lineout, played 10 phases out to the far touchline and back, before Tevita Kuridrani barged over. Never in doubt, we’ll choose to remember in time (or maybe that’s just me).

The facts of the matter are bit more involved than that, and worthy of closer inspection.

The Wallabies kicked to the corner, but it was the left-footed Matt Giteau kicking to the left-hand touchline. It’s a small thing, but I wonder how much thought was given to the right-footed Matt Toomua taking the kick. It might’ve been the difference between the lineout being five or six metres out, instead of the ten metres out that it was.

Before Stephen Moore threw into the lineout, the siren went. This meant that the game would cease at the next break in play. The Wallabies simply had to be accurate in everything they did from here on. The clock read 80:14 as Moore took the throw. No margin for error.

Rob Simmons took the throw at four in the lineout. The first attempt to get the maul moving was stifled, and when Nigel Owens told David Pocock at the back, “that’s once,” there were already three Springboks on the ground. They weren’t going anywhere.

The Wallabies did manage to peel off though, and while I suspect they may have detached in there somewhere, Pocock made about three metres before Owens gave Nick Phipps the final “use it” call.

The next six phases saw the Wallabies get all the way to the far five-metre ‘tram line’, but they still hadn’t breached the South African five-metre line. But what they did get right was passing to forward pods, or in a couple of cases, backs with other players in support.

If a Wallaby went to ground, there was support not far behind. The Springboks weren’t competing, and couldn’t really compete at the breakdown for fear of conceding another penalty, or worse, a penalty try, if enough forward momentum was being made.

A full minute had been played to this point, and the Wallabies were no closer to the try-line. But still no panic.

Two more pick and drives to the left; three-man pods – ball carrier and two supports. Phipps got to the back of both rucks quickly and knew where his next pass was going each time.

Toomua took a wide pass on the ninth phase, to the left of the posts, but saw Giteau and Pocock back on his inside and so headed back toward the posts. Safety in numbers. 81:28 on the clock, and still no panic. The ruck was four metres from the try line, so they’ve made maybe five metres since the maul ended.

Kuridrani took the pass on the 10th phase. He’s flatter than two other runners behind him, and the pass from Phipps was crisp. Kuridrani accelerated into the contact, and broke the Damian de Allende tackle. Francois Louw coming from the inside brought him down near the line. Whether it was Louw in the tackle, or Kuridrani’s own strength and determination – and maybe luck – the big centre rolled over onto the line as Schalk Burger arrived.

81:41 on the clock. “Try or no try?” Nigel Owens asked. The rest is history…

Be it self-belief, or team unity, or fear of a spray from the coach; whatever you want to put it down to, the Wallabies backed themselves for the play, and got it done. And it was brilliant.

But contrast it to what happened only minutes before that.

The Wallabies won a penalty in the 78th minute, with Giteau stepping up to take the kick from the South African 10-metre line. He’s kicked a lot in France since he’s been gone, so surely 40 metres was well within his range, right?

Wrong. He didn’t get it all, and it fell below the cross bar. 78:07 on the clock when Patrick Lambie forced the ball in-goal.

Surprisingly, Lambie didn’t kick the cover off the 22-metre restart, and Israel Folau caught the ball just inside the Springbok half. The kick didn’t even go 30 metres. The Wallabies went two passes to the right off the ruck, with Toomua going to ground on or near the 10-metre line.

The Wallabies took another couple of phases into the South African forty, but it was one-out runners at width. Support arrived, but it was slow, and more by force of habit than good management. It was hard to see where they’d break the line.

Two more phases left, and Phipps tried to organise teammates, but it was a hotch-potch; it was too slow, and the Boks pinched another one. 79:21 on the clock, and surely they couldn’t lose from here. The Wallabies had shot themselves in the foot.

South Africa organised themselves. Cobus Reinach pointed and shouted, and the pod set itself behind Lood de Jager, who had a massive game replacing Victor Matfield. De Jager took a metre or two and went to ground, but replacement prop Heinke van der Merwe flopped straight over the top of him. Penalty.

“You made no attempt to stay on your feet,” Owens explained, with more than a hint of school teacher chastening the class clown in his voice. 79:41 on the clock.

Moore points to the corner. The left-footed Giteau steps up. And the rest is history…

It worked out so well for the Wallabies, but it very nearly didn’t. Under very similar pressure, in a very similar position, they couldn’t make the gains needed, and in fact turned the ball over from a passive attacking ruck.

Thankfully, they found some composure when all the chips were on the table.