Something is amiss in the Wallabies camp. This is the same group of players that went to England a year ago and made the World Cup final.
On route they had some tough battles, but beat England in their back yard, disposed of a fired up Welsh team and outclassed a very strong Argentinia.
Fast forward to now. They have just been whitewashed by England at home for the first time in history and suffered a record-breaking defeat at home to an All Black side that are supposedly in a period of transition.
They have a scrum which at the World Cup, was considered one of the strongest in the tournament and won penalties and praise galore, now it is seen as the Achilles heel again and teams are starting to target that area.
A lot of Wallaby fans can point to this being a period of transition for them as well. A number of experienced, high-profile players are staying in Europe after the World Cup and are not available for the England Tests.
There have been a number of debuts handed out. Players like Samu Kerevi, Nick Frisby and Dane Haylett-Petty have seen their Super Rugby form rewarded by being given their debuts this season as well as prospects such as Rory Arnold and Alan Ala’alatoa who appeared for the first time on Saturday.
It isn’t easy to integrate so many new players, especially in some critical positions on the pitch but their performances have just not been up to it.
Obviously the big thing in the England series was the change of management. Eddie Jones is a class above Stuart Lancaster, he plays the press better than most and tries all he can to get into the minds of the opposition.
He is also acutely aware of his team’s strengths and weaknesses. Australia fell into the trap that England set for them. All the English wanted was Australia to give away kickable penalties and Owen Farrell would punish them.
They did.
Australia didn’t heed the warnings, six penalties in the first and last Tests and three in the second. The Wallabies also tried to score a try every time they got the ball. They were unable to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
In the first Test they only scored two penalties, one of which was in the 78th minute, none in the second Test and three in the third. There was too many one-out runners being swallowed up by the English defence which allowed their back rowers to get on the ball and get the penalty.
This was where the first creaks at the scrum happened. Scott Sio, arguably the find of the tournament at the World Cup, was destroyed by Dan Cole. So much so that he was replaced for the second and third Tests.
The lineouts, didn’t function that well. England disrupted enough to not allow Australia to win clean ball all the time and their attack at times was pedestrian.
Most would conclude that Cheika was completely outcoached by Jones. After seeing the same things happen in game one and two to continue to try and execute the same game plan for the final Test was foolish.
Following a relatively poor Super Rugby campaign by Australian teams, the Rugby Championship was always going to be tough. Big calls were made, Will Genia came back after injury, Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper also returned as did Quade Cooper.
The team had a familiar feel about it with the experienced campaigners coming back.
On Saturday we saw that all the problems from June have yet to be rectified. The All Blacks don’t have a metronome as a kicker but concede ball to them they will score tries. In Beauden Barrett they have one of the form players in the world at the moment and the Wallabies ailed to put him under any pressure.
Losing Matt Giteau, Matt Toomoa and Rob Horne is desperately unlucky but this was where Cheika missed a trick.
George Moala was ruled out prior to the game and in my view, as good a player as he is, Ryan Crotty is more of a stop gap until another world class inside centre comes along.
The Waratahs, very effectively, used Israel Folau at 13 during the season. He looked a threat every time he had the ball, none more so than when he put the Chiefs to the sword. At 15 on Saturday he was completely wasted.
One of the most potent attacking weapons around was forced to deal with high balls under pressure, there was no chance for his counter attacking abilities.
I would have liked to see what he could have one in the midfield with Dayne Haylett-Petty or even Quade Cooper donning the 15 shirt.
The scrum once again creaked and was moved all over the place by the All Black pack and the lineouts were a shambles. Dane Coles had to play 70-odd minutes at about 80 per cent fitness, he should have been put out of the game early, putting severe pressure on the front row capabilities of the All Blacks.
The attack once again failed to spark. The All Blacks had players running all sorts of lines as close to the defensive line as possible. This created space and isolated defenders and led to the Wallabies missing over 20 tackles, a stat that you cannot win games with. The support was always there as well.
Waisake Naholo’s try was a perfect example of players not giving up on the ball. He started the move on the right wing, after a couple of passes and break from Barrett, Naholo was there to receive the scoring pass.
Fast forward to the second half, Nick Phipps makes a break gets one-on-one with Israel Dagg, looks around for support but there was none.
Cheika has his work cut out to find the reasoning behind the Wallabies going from the second-best in the world last year to the third-best in the Southern Hemisphere. The first place he has to look is in the mirror.
Quade Cheapshot
Guest
Michael Cheika is the epitome of a typical Aussie bloke. The type of chap who it would be great to have a pint and a yarn with. Not cultured, not urbane, not intellectual. Just your average knockabout Aussie joker. Which means stoopid. Down home, country music, 'strayan stoopid. With a whiny strangulation of English pronunciation. As in the RWC final, Cheika is going to send out his Wallabies this weekend to commit thuggery. Failing to realise that this time, the referee will be far less hesitant to wave a red card. And the Wallabies are one red card away from having a century scored against them.
Bakkies
Guest
'The 6 Nations teams all have an ‘A’ Team.' Not all of them. Wales and France don't have one.
wirimu
Guest
AND why isn't he still there. Toulon don't seemed that concerned that hes no longer with them
mtiger
Guest
Just select Quade. He wont lose it by 40
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
I get it... QC does at least one monumentally stupid thing a game. But he also does five things that are just pure brilliance. His attacking game is 1st class and he can chuck one hell of a long ball to hard running backs. The only way to beat the AB's is to score points and lots of them. Foley is not your man for the attack needed to break the AB's defense.
Chucked
Guest
Very Good article Rob. I must agree however with Ruck. While Aust made the RWC FINAL, they weren't the second best team in the world, so the drop is not unexpected. Firstly the big names in Rugby should make EVERY final series - All Blacks / SA / AUST / ENG / FRANCE / WALES / SCOTLAND / IRELAND / ARGENTINA. England lost after playing a couple of woeful games - other than that 8 of the top 9 made the quarters. Scotland should have won and aust would have ben on a Qantas plane back to Sydney. They did win however, and regardless of the poor decision they won. As has been stated Argentina have never beaten the All Blacks and Aust were expected to be despatched easily -- which they were SO its not exactly from the penthouse to the outhouse - Aust were already close to the basement door of the penthouse. I repeat my comments of the previous nights -- Hansen has shown he is a better and smarter coach ..he's prepared to try possibly four untested players in a crucial match (average age 21). Cheika hasn't the bollocks to even drop one of these under performing gereatrics.
Ruckin' Oaf
Guest
If you don't think that Foley falls into the "proven liability" category then what were you doing Saturday night instead of watching the Sydney test? (Or the series against England for that matter)
Ruckin' Oaf
Guest
Is that an issue ? If the key this week to selecting a team for French provincial rugby ?
Jack
Guest
Nailed it. It's the favoured son syndrome that is killing Oz Rugby. For example much as we'd all pick Larkhem in best of any of Aussies 15, his record as a backline coach is poor. The Brumibies backline has not been a weapon under his coaching. The Brumbies game is based on Jake's good work with the forwards, a fact under appreciated in Ausralia. The Wallabies backline plays just like the brumbies. A point about TK. His handling alone is enough to get him dropped but he does make a lots of yards and nearly always under huge pressure 10 metres behind the advantage line. It's the shuffle sideways passing strategy of the inside backs - stops with him and he rarely transfers pressure. I'd play him on the wing or at eight. He should play 8 next year for the Brumbies. We are short if big fast 8's. That's where Nandolo would be playing for the Wallabies if someone in ARU management had their eyes open.
Zack
Roar Rookie
Perhaps SANZAAr can take the idea of an Under-21 B team and slot them into the Rugby Championship in their own home and away tournament, playing as the curtain-raiser to the main RC match. It will certainly help to create a migration path to the senior ranks...
ethan
Guest
I absolutely agree the Tahs premiership was built on big bodies (Palu, Skelton, Potgeiter, TPN, Kepu) getting over the gain line, and he's not getting it from his WBs. I was under the impression he was coaching with the same structures as he did at the Tahs, but given he doesn't have the same mould of players (small backrowers now, for instance) it was like trying to push a circle into a square.
axel
Guest
I'd add that this overselling included the Wallabies scrum (and Sio). They improved from being one of the worse to being decent but they were never one of the best, the Scot and Argie scrums dominated them comfortably. It's typical of the Aussie hype machine, at the hint of improvement they go into hyperbolic overdrive. The mark of a genuinely good scrum is consistent performances over several years against a number of opponents, the Aussie scrum hasn't come close to achieving that.
Lebowski
Roar Rookie
I think there is a lot of confirmation bias happening with the number 10 selection. Whether you're a Cooper or Foley fan depends on whether you talk up their individual good points and past successes. What bothers me is that the chat about selections completely undermines performance in Super Rugby competitions. It's a catch 22 - they were good in super rugby but they don't have international experience. How else do you get experience? The NRL recognised Israel Folau at 15 and by 20 he had nearly done everything you can in RL. Nearly every Kangaroos squad has someone new that due to national competition performance has forced the selector's hands. Beauden Barrett was a 'controversial' selection but they couldn't ignore him due to super rugby performance. Good performances plus a vote of confidence is all you need to become another Dan Carter, he engineered a record win on oz soil after Hansen tapped him on the shoulder. The only guy that comes close to that in Aus is Reece Hodge. He could've been a utility on the bench, just like Barrett, for a few games proving himself. Now only with mass injuries is he in contention. It's not smart building.
Rob Seltzer
Roar Guru
Akari - 100% agree with your idea. If you look at other major rugby playing nations, they all have a strong national competition. In the UK you have the Premiership, and the Pro 12, France have the Top 14 NZ have a very competitive ITM Cup even the South African Currie Cup is ok. The fact that the ARU have put so much money into the NRC shows that they have identified they need something on a National scale but unfortunately for my mind the NRC is not good enough, How many either Internationals or firnge International players actually play in the competition? Not many. The 6 Nations teams all have an 'A' Team. They play in a round robin tournament of their own, this means that should players get injured then players on the cusp of a a call up are ready to go and have been in the system. The fact that there is nothing bridging the gap between NRC and Super Rugby is a huge concern and one that needs to be addressed. There needs to be more money pumped into the NRC to entice a better quality of player to come in from abroad for example and play. At the moment it is a smatttering of Super Rugby players with Top Grade club players that simply won;t challenge any of the elite
Brisneyland Local
Guest
Its not that Foley is uninspring, he cant F'ing kick. His kicking has been getting worse and worse every game. How the hell can we have a test level 10 that cant kick. The rest of the world picks theirs 10's on the ability to distribute pklay adn their kicking skills. Our guy cant do either!
mania
Guest
quade is a proven liability. why not deprezini? foley can be on the bench
Blinky Bill
Roar Rookie
So while I was in my coma, how did QC do in Toulon?
Dally
Guest
I think DHP, Kerevi and even Arnold looked good in first games versus England. Alaalatoa wasn't too bad on the weekend considering what he was walking into. I think, like McMahon, they have shown they are up to it, at least enough to persist with. The ones who aren't up to it are Moore, Phipps, Mumm, Skelton, Foley and Kuridriani too. I'd have DHP at 15 Kerevi at 12 for now with Folau at 13 and Arnold off the bench though he'd not be far off replacing Simmons alongside Coleman who should start next to Simmons for now. He also did ok v England in a brief time he had. If Folau stays 15 then Kerevi 13 and Hodge at 12 with DHP on a wing. Fardy to start at 6 but McMahon just about there to take over himself as the starter at 6, if not already. Timani to add further fire at 8, next to McMahon. When Koroibete and Naivalu are available, they go to the wings. 9 and 10 are a big worry. I'd seriously get some young on-ball midfield playing Aussie rules kids who haven't been drafted yet and teach them the game. There would literally be hundreds out there right now with better hand skills, speed, kicking games, fitness and natural sporting ability than a lot of what is on offer now in rugby and definitely already leagues ahead of the likes of Foley and Phipps.
Terry
Guest
Your argument is invalid because Foley has lost 5 tests against the AB’s whilst Quade has only been in 3 losing tests against them.. And he has won 2 and lost one in the last minute against the AB`S... You must have been in a coma over the last 3 year as Qaude has been injured and Cheika does not pick him often, that is why he is not playing 10 or 12...He has never had a good crack at 10 for 6 years .. Foley is in his 3rd straight year as first choice 10,and oh boy, he is getting more atrocious every game..
Simon Duprier
Roar Rookie
I think Australia's World Cup performance is a little over-sold. A lot is made about the "group of death" but in reality their only real challenge was England which we all know now was seriously misfiring. Wales, despite being a top tier nation, has never worried the Wallabies too much, was severely depleted, and pretty much emptied the tank in beating England. And the Wallabies still didn't mange to score any tries. With that they secured the easy path to the final and almost balls'd that up against Scotland. And in the final it should be remembered that they only scored three points against 15 All Blacks and could only breach the line against 14 - something that was repeated on the weekend. When Michael Cheika came in his task was to cobble together a team that could compete in the short term. And he did this. But now the short term's up. The Pocock-Hooper combo has done it's dash, the weaknesses have been found out. The veterans are past it and can't step up from French club matches to Rugby Championship tests on the turn of a dime any more, the core group haven't taken up the mantle of experience and leadership, and the new players are coming in under-cooked from under-performing Super sides. A bit of a mess really.