The Wallabies picked up their first win of the year on Saturday with a hard fought 23-17 win against South Africa in Brisbane.
It certainly wasn’t a classic but it was a much needed win for Cheika and his men. There are lots of questions that are still to be answered but there were the green shoots of recovery starting to show through that provide a small sense of optimism.
Reece Hodge is one of those shoots. His strong, direct running was exactly what was required from a backline that had faltered since the turn of the year.
Every time he got the ball he looked to make a positive contribution with it – the confidence clearly coursing through him after his break out year in Super Rugby has transferred itself onto the International stage.
Along with his attack, he defended at 12 and did it well. There was a bone-crunching hit midway through the second half on Juan De Jongh that showed he is a force to be reckoned with.
There were back line moves! Well at least during the first half there were. Dummy runners, lines being run off Quade Cooper, options all over the place. This is what has been lacking all year from the Wallabies play.
Cooper was able to bring Israel Folau into the game a lot earlier, exactly what is needed. He is the most potent attacking force in the backline, the ball needs to get into his hands as early as possible.
As the game wore on, the adventure of the Aussies lessened but that comes from confidence. It has been a while since they have won a game and they knew they needed to do just that.
The South Africans gave them every opportunity to take points at crucial times which they did and that got the Wallabies over the line.
The partnership of Kane Douglas and Adam Coleman looks like it could bear fruit. Up against arguably the second best pairing in world rugby of Lood De Jager and Eben Etzebeth, they matched them toe-to-toe.
While I am certainly not saying that these players are not skilled, they are not in the same category of player as Brodie Retallick or Sam Whitelock at the moment.
Douglas and Coleman need game time together to create the understanding that exists in the best second-row partnerships in World Rugby, should they get it then there will be a very solid foundation that they Wallaby pack can build upon.
Bernard Foley had a much better game at 12. His kicking at goal was the difference between the sides and he took his try well.
Behind a pack that had a much stronger foothold in the game and with a backline that had options in every move they ran, he had a lot more time to probe or pick a pass.
I still don’t believe this is the way to go forward though. Reece Hodge defended at 12, pushing Foley out to the wing. What would happen should the Wallabies win quick turnover ball Hodge won’t have trained much in the 12 channel.
Also, this was South Africa, not New Zealand nor England. In my view they are one of the most poorly run sides in World Rugby. With the talent at their disposal they should be really up there with the best teams in the world.
Instead they elect to try and carry on to bully teams around the park with sheer size and brutality. The Lions showed this season that a fast, attacking game plan can work, so why do they try and do something completely different at International level? That is another discussion.
After their performance for 55 minutes in New Zealand on Saturday, the Argentinians will not be fearing facing the Aussies.
If Australia an continue the rugby they were playing in fits and starts in the first 40 minutes against the Boks then they should be ok, if they allow the Pumas to get a roll on then this win may be perceived as a false dawn.
ClarkeG
Guest
an even better idea would have been to make a pass to any one of those supporting players which more than likely would have led to an Aust try.
Stu. B.
Guest
Puff,very pointed few sentences,totally agree.Boz Foley great kick at every thing inside 35 m outside this unacceptable,average rugby nous but occasionally suprises.Cooper still a revolving door also far far to many wallabies playing out of their specialist positions,more intelligent to have top players on the bench than moving half your team out of position to accommodate.
puff
Guest
In fairness, the day we start facing actuality, is the day we will understand the standard of rugby in this country lacks imagination, acceptable skill levels plus a coaching infrastructure with farsightedness. After Saturday we again have headlines discussing optimism and the high caliber of some, new and returning players. Correct in theory but if we compare all these players with the talent available across the ditch, perhaps only 1or 2 Wallabies would make the current Hurricane 23. Therefore we need to stop the smoke and mirrors and candy coating player abilities and talk about what is obtainable. For some reason we identify talent, cherishing such ability and it appears the process stagnates and stops. I’m not complaining about the change in fortune at Suncorp. But, the truth is, as diabolical as SA performed; the Wallabies in the second half were just as pitiful. Hence I did not witness the hypo- journalistic rhetoric about energized high quality performances. Sorry!
System of a Downey Jr
Roar Rookie
Voting to make America great again this year?
Rob Seltzer
Roar Guru
That stat is fairly damning. I just feel that Cheika has chopped and changed so much this year that a bit of stability will bring with it a bit of confidence. Perhaps Douglas isn't the right man to partner Coleman but I haven't seen many others stick their hand up
Ralph
Roar Guru
WOW, 1 pass per game, he's on fire. Yeah, I tend to agree, Coleman has good bones and is worth building on, even with his minor accuracy problems early on. Not sure Douglas is bringing enough to the table. C- Doesn't speak up enough in class and could try harder.
Boz the Younger
Guest
Because I have seen Foley grow as a player and I know that he is committed to learning how lessons.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Simmons normally has high ruck and tackle numbers. He lacks impact around the field, but I dispute Douglas offers any. ForceFan compiles the stats himself. I think he sneaks an extra couple in for Force players though...
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I think you were just wrong about Douglas. He rose to the occasion last year because that occasion was a very poor England team and Wales. He never played the Boks and played 10 minutes against the AB's each game so you couldn't really rate him either way. This year he's played 240 minutes against both those teams and against a better English team.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
One stat I didn't include was zero TO's won, whilst Coleman has won a single one. I disagree that Douglas deserves leniency for the different partners. That doesn't stop him getting involved in the game. If anything the partners should be the ones with suffering stats as it's hard to impose yourself as the new team member. Douglas has been a starter of 6 tests this season hasn't he?
mariachi band fan
Guest
"The second intercept was purely technique, he needed to loft the ball higher to clear Strauss like Genia did for the Coleman try. Again, lesson learned." - on what basis can you possibly justify the "lesson learned" hubris?
Boz the Younger
Guest
Acually, having just relooked at the clip ignore the bit about Foley not having forwards in support, he had Moore and Pocock right behind him and probably should just have gunned it to see if he could beat the Boks forwards. I still think he has the makings of an excellent 12 though.
Boz the Younger
Guest
I would add that I am far more bothered by Kepu's absolutely lame defence to let Etzebeth through which ultimately led to the first try, than I am with anything Foley did. If he has the timing to slot Dan Carter with a rushing tackle then he should be able to do the same with Etzebeth, letting him run for Hodge to tackle, but not before the offload, was unforgivable.
Boz the Younger
Guest
I like Foley at 12, he is a bloody good gap runner and he is goal kicking at 88%, most likely Mick Byrne’s influence. When have we ever had a goal kicker that good, Leiliifano in 2013 perhaps? He did give away the two intercepts, but I reckon that is a matter of him getting used to being caught further out in the open than he would normally at 10. Take the first one, most of the other backs were caught up on the left hand side of the field from the Cooper/Kerevi break and he typically the first up in support. He had three forwards in front of him, beatable for him but nevertheless a risk, his hadn’t caught up yet so had he run and been caught he would almost certainly have been turned over. He could have tried a chip kick but with the giant Etzebeth in front of him there was the risk of a charge down. He had numbers a fair way out to his right but his left to right passing isn’t as strong as right to left, so he had to crab sideways to try to reach them. Unfortunately Strauss did a bloody good job of reading the situation and achieved the intercept. It was challenging situation which I am sure he and the rest of the team will learn from. The second intercept was purely technique, he needed to loft the ball higher to clear Strauss like Genia did for the Coleman try. Again, lesson learned. I am not worried about Hodge defending at 12 for Foley either as I think that Hodge is plenty capable of doing something with a turnover from 12, he trains there all Super Rugby season and they could drill that scenario in training if necessary. In short I think that Bernard Foley, inside centre has a lot of work to do, but having witnessed his work ethic over the past few years I think he will get there. Given his goal kicking I can’t see how Cheika can leave him off the park.
Rob Seltzer
Roar Guru
The stats are most certainly not great but as someone has pointed out, he is playing with a new partner weekly. Get someone in there that can provide a consistent partner and they can start to play off each other. Coleman is clearly more of a workhorse. Higher number of tackles and a better LO percentage but I think that Douglas will develop with a steady partner. at 27 and 24 Douglas and Coleman can play their best rugby together as long as they can grow together. The stat about the penalties conceded does suggest that he is doing a lot more work at the breakdown (obviously need to cut that down)
connor33
Guest
Mate - the only reason we got 65,000 to the ground in Sydney was because there was 30,000 Nzers at the game (who live in Australia)--and another 5,000 at the game who flew over. Hardly a home ground advantage. And I thought Australia was such a wretched country filled with eye-gouging, fist swinging criminals. Sadly, they've ventured elsewhere. And then the Abs have 3 games at home back to back after having a defacto NZ crowd in NZ (as does AU). But that's been the set up-bar last year--right? **And for the record, I'm no Xenophob...heck I live I the U.S., where I see it first hand each day, perhaps not personally, but see it, nonetheless. Heck, I even have NZ mates, but some on this site can't always see beyond their Pharlap-like blinkers. Sometimes that happens when things are a bit insular....I guess that's why we travel and live abroad.
Rob Seltzer
Roar Guru
Miln, 100% agree with you RE crowd numbers. I think this is down to a number of different issues. 1) it is NRL finals week and the day before the Broncos had played at home in the same stadium, 2 Aussie Rugby isn't exactly hitting the high notes with regards to playing style and results and 3 this is a poorish South Africa team. With regards to your Rugby League comment, personally my view is that this would be the worst idea possible. The message you would be sending out to players is that they are not good enough so we have to look to another sport to bring in the players. What needs to happen is talent needs to be spotted at an early age. The NRL are doing just that, if you look at the number of teams Grammar schools are putting out now it is significantly down on 15 years ago. The most talented kids are being sent to top League playing schools and coming up through their system thus being lost to Union. This has to be reversed ASAP.
Ralph
Roar Guru
".. but there were the green shoots of recovery starting to show through.." LOL, Ben Bernanke - is that you??
taylorman
Guest
yes, seems to forget bthat the last two years oz have been effective because they played first up, and got steadily worse. Now they get hammered first up theyre going to get better? Astounding logic.
Stu. B.
Guest
Milan,have to totally disagree,has been tried and nearly broke the bank for very little result.Australian union is over tainted with league and league attitudes,i.e haynes latest escapade,in my experience they come take and leave.We have spent millions trying to buy our very own Jonah Lomu figurehead with little success.The best shot would be to redesign the system so as to develop our union talent similar to a NZ system where rugby owns the game,they have moved forward,we are static.I believe NZ could field 3 All Black teams capable of beating the worlds 2nd,3rd and fourth on the same day.Leave leagies to league.