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And so the Rugby World Cup is finally underway for Wallaby fans, and as you may have heard Australia kicked off their campaign with a 28-13 victory over Fiji.
The Wallabies landed tries to David Pocock (twice) and Sekope Kepu in their victory, but the try that’s really going to get everybody talking is the one that the Wallabies didn’t get.
If you have a look at the standings for Pool A, you’ll see Australia sitting ominously below Wales and England in third place.
What’s the prize for third place in the pool? To quote Glengarry Glen Ross, “third prize is you’re fired”.
So what happened? Where did the wheels fall off for the Wallabies? If England can nab a last-gasp bonus point off Fiji, then surely the Wallabies should be able to do it having scored their third just a few minutes after the break?
I have two things to say to that.
One, Fiji are not a bonus point vending machine. If you have that attitude, dispose of it immediately. They are a borderline tier-two international team that have it in them to cause boil overs and even knock tier-one teams out of contention.
And here’s a fact, the last time the Fijians made the Rugby World Cup knockout stages, it was at the expense of the Welsh in 2007. They then were defeated by the eventual champions the Springboks in the quarter-final, but they pushed the Boks all the way in that game.
It is sheer arrogance to presume that a team like Fiji will surrender five points so meekly, and so it proved. If you watch the second half you will see that the Fijians (unlike in the fixture against the English earlier in the week) had steeled themselves to take it right down to the wire. Give them their credit!
The second thing that I will say is that in the context of the Wallabies’ title ambitions, this bonus point is more or less irrelevant.
The equation for the Wallabies has been obvious since the World Cup draw was published; top the pool and you probably avoid encountering New Zealand and South Africa early. Come second in the pool, and your back is up against it.
More to the point, can anybody tell me the last time a team won the Rugby World Cup after finishing second in their pool? Oh, that’s right, it has never, ever happened.
So the only way this missed bonus point is likely to matter is if it is the difference between the first and second spot in the pool. That can happen if, say, the Wallabies beat England, but lose to Wales, and Wales lose to England in turn (or something like that).
But come on… if you are worrying about that then you are presuming that the Wallabies will drop one of their remaining pool games.
I’m not for a minute suggesting that that is out of the question, but let’s be brutally honest. We know that the Wallabies really can’t drop any matches if they are serious about challenging for the title.
Scraping into top spot in the pool by the graces of a bonus point or for-and-against is not typical of teams that win World Cups. The only quality that is typical of teams that win World Cups is that they don’t lose their matches.
The Wallabies didn’t exactly lay down the law to Fiji overnight, no. But there were good signs there regardless. Their rolling maul is up and running effectively, the defence – bar one lapse – looked very solid, and the backrow trio of Michael Hooper, Scott Fardy, and Pocock had a great game.
Throw in a vintage demonstration of composure under pressure from Matt Giteau in mopping up some of the little errors, and I think all told we saw quite a decent performance from the Wallabies for their first night out at the Rugby World Cup.
There were obviously areas that need to be worked on (the lineout, the kicking, the ball retention), but no performance is perfect. And while I mean no disrespect to Uruguay, the upcoming fixture means that the Wallabies will have more time to fix the little things before encountering Wales and England.
The most important thing of course is that they keep the momentum and rack up the wins. Win every match and it doesn’t matter how many tries you score.
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.