How many times in the last week-and-a-bit have you heard or read someone attempt to put the Wallabies’ successive and outstanding Rugby World Cup wins over England and Wales into the broader context?
And how far up the list did they put them?
I was asked during a radio spot last weekend where the England win ranked, and whether it was the best one I’d seen.
The question will undoubtedly be asked again this week, after the Wallabies’ outstanding defensive effort against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday.
For what it’s worth, I told ABC Grandstand Breakfast that the England win would have to sit up alongside the 2003 semi-final win over New Zealand, in terms of importance.
But where do these twin wins rank in the grand scheme of Wallabies history? And how different would my rankings be to the next person’s, when it’s obviously such a subjective exercise?
I mean, even if I limit things to my lifetime, there’s still a Grand Slam in there and even a couple of Bledisloe Cup wins in Auckland well back in the day. It’s still bloody hard to narrow anything down.
So I’m not going to bother attempting to rank anything. And I’m going to wind the timeframe in more, too, to the period from the 1991 Rugby World Cup win onwards.
I can remember watching the Ella brothers, Mark and Glen, tearing up the SCG as a kid in the 1980s. But it was really that 1991 World Cup win, with Nick Farr-Jones exclaiming “Oh, wow!” as Her Majesty handed over the Webb Ellis trophy up in the old grandstands of Twickenham, that first got me excited about watching and playing the great game.
And logically, the 1991 and 1999 titles are obvious additions. In terms of pure importance to Australian rugby, they probably rank one and two.
Certainly, the period after the ’91 victory led to a massive popularity surge for the game in Australia, but that time also saw the first seed of professionalism being planted. More and more top players around the country were being courted by, and indeed, switching to rugby league.
Tim Horan on Fox Sports’ Rugby Legends series of interviews confirmed that he’d given a handshake agreement to join North Sydney before his serious knee injury in 1994, and he wouldn’t have been on his own.
In some ways, the arrival of Rupert Murdoch’s money and Super League was very good for rugby, because it spawned Kerry Packer’s involvement in the World Rugby Corporation movement that very nearly pulled off the same sort of game-changing coup.
Ultimately, rugby would also follow Murdoch, and through the formation of SANZAR, the Super Rugby and Tri Nations/Rugby Championship era was upon us.
By 1999, with a couple of years of professionalism under their belt, the next great Wallabies era had arrived, and the Rugby World Cup title at the magnificent new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff absolutely confirmed that Australia was indeed the best side in the world.
But do the England and Wales wins in the last 10 days sit behind, alongside, or in front of those two pivotal moments in the game? I think it’s too hard to say, right at this point. In a month’s time they may well sit up there, but in a month’s time, they might be superseded too.
The 2003 semi-final win over the All Black is an obvious entrant into this debate, too, and it was the peak moment of a tournament in Australia that really should have set up the game nationally for much, much longer than it did (or didn’t, as the harsh reality emerged, years later). By 2003, it was very cool to wear a Wallabies jersey around, and indeed Test tickets were highly sought after as a proper big event experience.
Making the final in the tournament you were hosting was seen as massively important, just as it was for New Zealand in 2011, and as England are finding out in the worst possible fashion currently. And sure, had Jonny Wilkinson’s right-footed drop goal sprayed away from the posts, a Wallabies win in 2003 would’ve been – and still would be – the greatest moment in the history of the game in, like, forever. Or at least in Australia, anyway.
And if I’m putting the win over England last week up there in the same theatre as these three wonderful wins, then it has to follow that the Wales win goes in there too. For very different reasons, those two wins have to rate as the best we’ve ever seen from this group of players. Michael Cheika’s satisfied grin as he walked down the Twickenham stairs on Sunday tells me he rates it the same way.
So there you go; the England and Wales wins are in the top five. Easily. Comfortably even, and that’s even coming from a field that includes such gems as the ’99 semi-final win over South Africa, and the 2000 Bledisloe Test in Wellington, and Bloemfontein in 2010, among numerous others.
If you wanted to really get down to the nitty gritty – and I’m sure some of you will – you could quite easily come up with a different top five on pure performance alone.
But on importance? I’m not so sure. Even while consciously wanting to keep a lid on things, it’s hard not to think of what this group of players might be able to achieve. The England win was massive in the context of this tournament, and it opened the window to topping the Pool of Death.
I don’t think it could be topped in terms of important wins by anything in the last decade, and was convinced it would take some topping any time soon, too.
And then, only a week later, Adam Ashley-Cooper ran out of the line on Sunday and clattered into Dan Biggar…
Jibba Jabba
Roar Guru
XX XX
MISTER T
Guest
I aint got time for your JIBBA JABBA , JIBBA JABBA...
John
Guest
Agree Kerevi is the only linebusting centree have..TK has been horrendous or is this symptomatic of Foley and GITS non passing game ??Speight Tomane should be out .Kerevi CLL in
John
Guest
hahaha... Juff Wilson would give Joel 60 tests for a World cup ring..hahaha.. Bitter bloke he is...Have a snickers Juff..
marto
Guest
Was a hill in 1998 i was there..2004 the hill was gone..
Machooka
Roar Guru
I know you will... all good. Hey, if we lose to Scotland... nah, that sentence doesn't even make sense :) C'arn da Wallaby... it's revenge for that Scootish weather win in Newcastle on THAT night.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I may be. But I tell you this. If disaster struck and the wallabies got rolled by Scotland, when everybody was jumping off the bandwagon I'll be the one defending the good that they did do in 2015.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Germany really played the long game didn't they.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Personally I consider him a bit more astute at setting up play as well. E,g. He will run once or twice and step on the outside shoulder to them set up an inside ball on the next play.
kurt
Guest
A
Marty
Guest
That was a terrific match. From the match report and an interview with Richard Hill after the match
Internal Fixation
Guest
I'm not soley blaming Dean's. But the losses to sides that our B team should have thumped under his tenure still stand out as a failure of his methods. Giteau played poorly that game all round. He definitely holds some responsibility but the tactics that game were atrocious as well and my personal view was the cattle should have been good enough. He also had some great wins but there was always a mental edge that seemed to be lacking. Hopefully that has changed.
eduardo kawak
Guest
Settle down. It was a deficient Wales attack missing a string of starting players, and with more than a touch of white line fever. I felt the WBs were lucky there was no penalty try.
CA3ZAR
Roar Pro
I was utterly impressed with the Wallabies in this match, they have come so far in such a small amount of time.
Welshmagician
Guest
Whilst not wishing to take anything away from what was a deserved and hard earned win for the Wallabies I do believe anyone who ranks that game as a classic is getting somewhat carried away on a cloud of euphoria. Wales were bereft of attacking nous during that crucial 7 or so minutes when Oz were down to 13 players, our outside half may well be a kicking metronome with a safe pair of hands and solid defence but he alas has the attacking flair of a geriatric. Fifteen against thirteen should be simple game of numbers and we lacked the ability to make that numerical advantage pay, I've no doubts at all that a southern hemisphere side would have crossed the whitewash during that crucial period, a good team would expect 10 points to be forthcoming at such a time. Wales limped bravely through the England match more due to English shortcomings and bad decision making than by playing good rugby, I've little doubt we would have comfortably lost the England match had the English show a little more composure and a little less nervousness at the thought of failure in front of the Twickenham faithful. The Wallabies defence was heartening to watch and I applaud your team for being so resolute and having balls, I do though think you'll face much harder tests from here on in, and discount Ireland at your peril, albeit without Paul O'Connell they have lost their talisman. Other areas of your game in the Welsh match were far from impressive and better teams than Wales would have punished those errors, better as in Saffies, AB's and Ireland based on the last two rounds of world cup matches. Good luck for the rest of the world cup, I'd say this is the most open last eight world cup draw I can remember with no one team head and shoulders above the rest at this stage. I'll prepare myself for the barrage of criticism following the above.
Ghandi
Guest
The Wallabies b team lost to Samoa and Scotland in 2011 and 2012... the time before that when we lost to Scotland...(was it 2010?) Giteau missed a kick from in front.. otherwise we'd have won... at what point is it the players fault.. at what point the coach?
Internal Fixation
Guest
Good points generally but I disagree on a RWC QF loss to Scotland being an acceptable result. Dean's failure to win against Scotland and Samoa was constantly used against him. The Wallabies under Deans did tend to "play what was in front of them" and played down to a lot of teams they should have dominated. Cheika seems to be building a culture of respecting opponents, not taking wins for granted and working hard for the team. This is what we need and a loss to Scotland undoes some of that work.
hmm
Guest
I said the exact same thing to a friend today. Foley went off the rails against the ABS in sydney. On that day he had a dominant pack infront of him. Lucky for him the forward dominance won the game. A week later the AB forward pack destroyed wallabies pack. We never got to see how foley would have handled that but I speculate not well. people balmed cooper but he has never gotten to play behind the A team pack, that has been the sole domain of foley.
MH01
Guest
Judging by Gatlands reaction after the game, this one ranked very high in relation to Wales chocking against the wallabies . Gutting stuff for the welsh. For Austrlia a massive win, mentally this is the game that will bond them and give them believe they can win this. They now have confidence they can take on the world and bring back the trophy. Can't remember watching a match where I thought it was all over , thinking back to the crusader v sharks? And having slim hope, to being so proud ..... Awesome match. Striding around London in my wallabies jersey this week :)
pukpuk
Guest
Also the fact that these are tough back to back wins, against top teams with consistency being shown. This has been a big problem area in recent years.