Can you tell me what The Bourne Identity, Spider-Man and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones all have in common?
If you answered that they’re all movies, you’d be correct, although we all knew that. If you were to answer that characters from these three films were reappearing in cinemas this year you’d be right as well, and I’d commend your movie knowledge. Unfortunately, there is a much darker truth as to why these films have been mentioned.
These timeless classics were released the same year in which Australia last hoisted the Bledisloe Cup.
It seems so long ago when I consider I was only eight years old for that historic win. The last time the Wallabies got up I’d never played rugby before, so the enormity of the situation was lost on me, but having seen our struggles over the last thirteen years to try to recreate that glory, I really do feel for the players and coaches of the upcoming series.
These series’ always start with a sense of promise. The majority of the time these expectations are justified by the build-up or by the form of certain players.
James Horwill, Will Genia and Quade Cooper carried the Reds to their maiden title in 2011 and the consensus was that they might be able to spark some form of dominance in retrieving the Bledisloe from across the ditch.
Similarly in 2014 when the Waratahs won the Super Rugby competition there was a lot of promise in the form of Michael Hooper, Israel Folau and Kurtley Beale to direct a string of wins in Australia’s direction.
With the aforementioned in mind, how can we reasonably expect the Wallabies to perform this year? If you’re an Australian supporter like me, you’ve no doubt experienced a rollercoaster of emotions toward the Wallabies’ chances in the upcoming Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship.
By the end of 2015, Australia had conquered every team they’d faced on their way to the Rugby World Cup final. Throughout the calendar year the only two matches they lost, in fact, were to the All Blacks in the second, and deciding, Bledisloe Cup fixture and in the Rugby World Cup final itself.
It was then within reason, though not concrete, to say Australia were the second best team of 2015. Closer inspection shows that despite winning the first match against New Zealand 27-19, the All Blacks went on to comfortably beat us 41-13 and the very memorable 34-17 outcome of the final; the best Rugby World Cup final I’ve watched.
Perhaps it was because New Zealand were the only nation to beat us last year that I felt so confident coming in to 2016. A three-match series against England seemed the perfect build-up for the Rugby Championship. They’ve always been a strong team and difficult to beat off the back of their dominant set-piece and exceptional kicking game, but after putting them to the sword during the Rugby World Cup I was expecting a tight, but successful series.
The whitewash illustrated the famous law of physics, wherein what goes up, must come down. The highs of 2015 came plummeting back to earth as I watched in stunned disbelief as we got toweled up not once or twice, but three consecutive times on home soil.
I was dumbfounded. Each match ended with the same outcome; my disheartened self, staring up at the television, wondering what went wrong. Trying to pinpoint an area or areas that we just didn’t quite deliver on. Praising some choices, questioning a few and flat-out ‘WTF’-ing others. It was a rough three weeks for my ego, so I can only imagine how much the players must have been hurting after giving everything they could out there and not being able to come up with a win.
Arguments, or excuses, could be made for the number of injuries we had to in-form players like Kurtley Beale, Joe Tomane and David Pocock which ruled them out of most, if not all, of their campaigns. Throw in the absence of overseas stars Will Genia, Drew Mitchell, Mat Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper and you can see how different our team from last year looked in comparison. Just by looking at the team named on Thursday we can already notice the immediate recall of three of the four overseas-based players.
Fittingly, this is what excites me about the upcoming Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship. When the squad was announced for the English series I was excited at what prospects we had to work with.
The international emergence of Samu Kerevi, Dane Haylett-Petty and Rory Arnold had me very excited as I thought the idea of blooding some new players to bolster our squad’s depth was the right way to go. As always though, everything is always simpler in hindsight, and it’s plain to see now how much we needed the direction and experience of those overseas Test stars.
This is also the area in which New Zealand have displayed the most change. Big name players, legends of the game, Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith have all departed the All Blacks after long, successful and inspiring careers; opening the door for players who have been training in earnest for when the time comes to finally try to fill these massive shoes.
In true New Zealand spirit though, the replacements of these rugby greats have stepped up and delivered an impressive and ultimately comfortable series whitewash over the Welsh in their three-game tour. The way in which the entire squad contributed to those results reinforces the notion of just how good the All Blacks depth is and with the current form of players like Beauden Barrettt, Liam Squire, Ardie Savea, Dane Coles, Kane Hames and Waisake Naholo there’s still a lot of reasons to lose sleep at night if you’re Australian.
An often-debated topic is the importance of Super Rugby form when it comes to international rugby. In this instance I don’t think it matters which side of the fence you sit on with this matter to notice just how damaging the New Zealand sides have been and how high their form and morale must be coming into this tournament.
Save for the Lions, who exceeded all expectations to be genuinely deserving of the second best team in the competition, there wasn’t a team outside of New Zealand who looked like they could match it with the hard-running, silky-hands of the Kiwi outfits. The prospect of selecting the best 23 of that bunch, putting them in one team with the most successful coach in professional rugby history and giving them the license to tear apart whoever stands in their way for another piece of silverware suddenly seems like an impossible mission.
Lo and behold, it is the job of the mighty Wallabies to dust themselves off, pluck themselves up and come at their Trans-Tasman rivals with everything they’ve got. Are they coming in as favourites? Not a chance in hell.
Can they win this match and restore pride in the die-hard fans and give bragging rights to the armchair-heroes? Of course they can, and I can guarantee there won’t be a man in gold that comes off that field on Saturday night without having given 110 per cent.
So to Michael Cheika, Stephen Moore and the rest of the Wallabies coaching and playing members, give them all you’ve got. You have the full support of your nation behind you. Carn the Wallabies!
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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