Five talking points from the Wallabies' win over Argentina

Well, the Wallabies are through to the Rugby World Cup final. Four tries to nil, it was a walk in the park right?

Hardly. It’s never that easy in a semi-final, particularly when a team as good as Argentina comes to play like they did.

It was a topsy-turvy game of rugby, with the attacking first half meeting the defensive second half.

Here are my five talking points from the Wallabies victory that took them to the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand.

More:
>> Match report
>> The Roar‘s live blog
>> MUMM: Defence wins it for the Wallabies

You’ve got to love the effort, but Australia need to watch their discipline
If ever four tries to nil didn’t feel dominant, this was it. A try in the last ten minutes, and continual penalties to Nicolas Sanchez meant that Australia were never comfortable in the match.

But the only reason that the Wallabies didn’t concede one, two or even three tries was the passion in defence.

Players who missed tackles picked themselves back up and made plays at the ball further down the field in the next phase. Forwards tracked back 30 metres to make crucial covering tackles. First up tackles were missed, but covering tackles were made.

All that effort was fantastic.

However, the fact that the Pumas remained in the game through penalties has to be a concern for Michael Cheika and Australia.

The Wallabies spent a lot of time camped in their own half, and when they did win the ball, weren’t all that effective about clearing it. They will have to be more accurate, in all areas, against the All Blacks next weekend.

Give David Pocock the player of the tournament award now
What a difference one player makes.

Not just in what he can do himself, through with four pilfers and a couple of penalties won, certainly that, but also in how he affects the balance of the team

Michael Hooper is a tremendous player, hitting rucks, making incisive runs, belting attackers and generally being everywhere the ball is.

Scott Fardy is the glue – good over the ball, a jumper in the lineout and tough as nails.

Put Pocock in at number 8 and for some reason all three backrowers lift. There’s something about the combination that makes it better than the sum of three players.

He also played out of his skin this game, and is likely to do so in the World Cup final.

His battle with McCaw will be one to savour.

The Wallabies ran out of gas
Watching Australia try to make it to breakdowns for the last five minutes of the match was painful even for me. I can’t imagine how they were feeling. They looked exhausted!

Having watched the All Blacks win games over us and South Africa in the final minutes too many times for me to forget, seeing the Wallabies wane like that only makes me think of next week.

Sure, Drew Mitchell had just scored the match-sealing try, but when David Pocock, who’s supposed to have an injured calf, is the most energetic man on the field, you know you’re running out of steam.

Worse than that, perhaps, is that this lack of energy seemed to start around the 50-minute mark, with the Wallabies kicking away of a lot of possession, and doing it rather sloppily.

With Michael Cheika’s ‘finishers philosophy’ becoming so popular, I hope it’s not getting old for them. Keep finishing!

The scrum examination is over
The scrummaging test is over. Australia didn’t come through unscathed in this game, but eventually achieved some parity in the second half.

James Slipper copped much of the brunt of the Argentine shove, but it can’t just be put on Slipper. He worked to get some of the ascendency back after receiving it early and being pinged, and Toby Smith looked to almost have achieved dominance towards the end.

Scrum mark for that game? I’ll go a C. They survived. There were no penalty tries, but they didn’t help themselves.

However, they will fancy attacking the All Blacks’ scrum next week, with the Darkness a little short on troops.

If Scott Sio is fit, the Wallabies will look to assert dominance from the outset. If Slipper plays, it might be a little tighter at the start, but you get the advantage of a strong ball runner around the park.

Either way, I don’t think the scrum is going to be the decisive factor next weekend.

Now watch me eat my words, just I like I did on the next point…

I was wrong: If Izzy’s not right, pick Kurtley Beale at fullback
Kurtley Beale has been one of the finishers who has injected so much energy into the Wallabies’ team at the back end of matches.

Apparently he leads the Wallabies in try assists for the tournament. Who knew?

Anyway, it was abundantly clear that Israel Folau was not confident on that injured ankle. Usually so assured on his feet, Izzy didn’t attack the line with anywhere near his top pace or best footwork.

And take Izzy’s footwork and speed away and what does he have? Aside from a great aerial game, poise, a big right boot, and size?

Okay, so a lot, but I am coming to the view that if he’s not fit, you don’t pick him. It depends how bad that knock on the ankle was at the end of the game, but if he’s not healthier next weekend, KB might be getting a call up.

Bonus: We have the final everyone’s wanted to see for a long time. Let’s do this!
Australia. New Zealand.

One win apiece this year. Neutral venue.

I can’t wait.

Those are my talking points, Roarers. What are yours?