Player selections are always important, but nothing can change the fact that the All Blacks outplayed the Wallabies on Saturday night in Auckland. Now let me go out on a limb.
I think it is typical of the Australian rugby media and to a lesser extent it’s public to immediately criticise the Wallaby coach and a player such as Quade Cooper. We need someone to blame, someone must be accountable.
In Geoff Toovey’s famous words, “there has got to be an investigation into this!”
For the record I was not a fan of Cooper’s starting selection and I think Michael Cheika really will heed a lot of the chat that has come out about his performance. Cheika is adamant to maintain the culture in the team. He will not be drawn out to criticise his players because he knows the damage it will do. That’s what a team is about, it’s a collective.
That aside, it’s very easy with hindsight to quickly lay blame, and I acknowledge the right of all people to have their say on it. However, I think we were mentally defeated. We didn’t understand enough what happens when you injure a huge wild bear. Most often it will come after you and get you. New Zealand did that to the Wallabies at Eden Park.
The speed of the attack on Cheika is exactly what is wrong with rugby in Australia. Persistent and singular focus on the Wallabies clouds our judgment on how we assess them. We have all lost touch with the game of rugby itself if we think they are all that matters.
The ARU has clearly launched this strategy operating a top down approach to funding and support. If the Wallabies are doing well then all of Australian rugby is doing well.
We can’t walk away from this notion completely, and to an extent I agree with it. The Wallabies do gather a lot of airtime when it comes to television and news. So positive stories about their success will likely encourage people to get involved, to play the game and to watch it.
We must also look at the way New Zealand approaches its funding and support of the game. They employ a much more bottom up approach. This works over there for a number of reasons including the market place being smaller and without the same competition of NRL and AFL.
However, I think we can learn some lessons from our New Zealand bros on this one. Supporting rugby at various levels through varying means is how they succeed. Their primary care every year is about participation at schools, about clubs and community.
We found out on Saturday night that it’s very hard to win rugby matches if there is one or two weak links in your physical structure and your mindset. Player selections and mental breakdown went hand in hand there.
Australian rugby is kind of like this. If all the levels of the game are not firing and receiving support financially and culturally, then eventually the overall game suffers.
I have obviously broken that down very simplistically but the point itself is simple.
Let’s look quickly at some other small facts. The Wallabies have lost that one Test so far this year. A negative end to the Bledisloe campaign, yes, but is it really the end of the Wallabies’ World Cup hopes? No, it’s not.
We dealt with South Africa. We have worked through some problematic areas of our game, such as the scrum, which I dare say is going OK. We need to work on others, particularly the lineout. These elements will always be on the plate of coaching staff and players in a professional environment.
We managed to win in Mendoza against Argentina where we suffered arguably our most embarrassing loss for some years bar the 2012 Hunter Stadium Scotland situation and the 2011 loss to Samoa. The Samoa loss came in the lead-up to a World Cup where we won the Tri-Nations, beat New Zealand and then placed third overall in that World Cup. Interesting.
I think we have to be careful with our Cheika bashing. Let’s remember that a rugby team will lose sometimes, even the All Blacks know that. From what I have read most people are happy with Cheika’s style, they like his no rubbish approach. Are we seriously getting into him after one loss?
I am not calling for every article and comment to be positive and be titled ‘We love the Cheik’, but let’s stand off for a moment and smell the roses. We happen to have the best prepared Australian players for a World Cup, physically and mentally, for the first time in a number of years.
Let’s remember Michael Cheika planted many of those roses too?
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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