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No break for the Wallabies! The Spring Tour has arrived for Australian fans, and for all we might grumble about waking up at 1:30am, the likelihood is we’ll probably all do it just because, deep down, we like it.
Do the Wallabies owe us anything for our support, buying plane tickets and setting early-morning alarms? Not really, but it would terrific to see the below things from the Aussies in the early hours.
In the full knowledge that this will make no difference to how the Wallabies will play, let’s get on with this anyway shall we?
Pick and go
Tactically, this is something the Wallabies can work into their play. Even if it’s just to add diversity in attack, there’s something about the men in gold when they choose to add this in.
Some of their more promising passages against the All Blacks came in the later moments of the second Bledisloe Test when they three it out the window and started taking it forward from the base of the ruck.
The criticism of the Wallabies’ systems have been about playing too lateral. Some call it not earning the right to go forward.
It’s affected more than just their attack in the opponents’ quarter. If affects their exits, their work at halfway. Everywhere.
I would love to see them try to get on top of the contact zones, winning the middle battle. Even just as a mix up.
Israel Folau at outside centre
I can see why Michael Cheika wants Folau to play fullback. Against the All Blacks, you don’t necessarily want to throw Folau into a position he’s never played at international level before.
But with no Samu Kerevi and a seeming dearth of other options, it looks as though we will see Dane Haylett-Petty play at fullback for a portion of these upcoming Tests.
Since he started in the game they play in heaven, people have talked about the inevitable move. Now it’s more inevitable than ever, if that makes any sense.
Let’s just see it in gold. Then we can really judge.
Play passionate, but play smart
Thuggery and hard play are separated by a pencil-thin line at times. Fronting up at every ruck, belting your opponents mercilessly and relishing running over the top of the opposition’s little teams is bullying in a good way. A productive way.
Cheap shots. Off-the-ball stuff. Mouthing off to officials. It might be borne of the same passion but on a rugby field it might as well as be cricket.
The best thing about Michael Cheika-coached teams is the singular commitment to the goal. Everyone working in complete cohesion to dominate physically then turn it into points.
But there’s also an element of intelligence that underlies all of it.
Let’s see that bit, too.
Stephen Moore to change his approach with referees
I don’t know that there’s been that much wrong with what Stephen Moore has been doing with referees this year.
Yet, for whatever reason, the relationship to the average viewer appears strained. Referee and captain are talking past each other, not to each other. He’s often told to settle down, or stop giving advice, or that he can’t talk to them at the moment he feels a word is warranted.
Whether that’s fair or unfair is another thing. Realistically, Moore has to be the one that changes, because there’s nothing he can do to change any preconception referees have about him other than through his behaviour.
So change…
Say nothing. Be sparing in his communication with the referees. Play hard. Play fair.
I don’t know if it’ll work, but it’s worth a try. Because whatever he’s doing right now isn’t working.
England revenge…
Yes, I know we beat them at home at the World Cup last year. It was a monumental performance; one of the best I’ve watched from a Wallabies team in the past five years.
Then came the three-nil. I wasn’t expecting. Clearly the Wallabies weren’t either.
England will be the test of where the Wallabies actually sit. Are the All Blacks and England on another echelon, with everyone else sitting a tier below?
Are the Wallabies actually the next best thing? Both outcomes are entirely possible, but revenge comes first.
Win a bloody Grand Slam
There have been stories. Rumblings. Backroom leveraging.
It’s Australian rugby, after all.
But you know what motivates players more than nothing else if you go by what they say in the media: sticking it up blokes who wrote them off.
People have said they can’t achieve a Grand Slam. Four games? I disagree…
England will be the big game, but Ireland in Dublin and Wales in Cardiff all provide stern challenges. Scotland have already showed this Australian team that they have it in them to win – they showed it in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final last year.
The Grand Slam-winning Wallabies came over three decades ago. I wasn’t even a twinkle in the eye when it happened.
I’d like to see it this year.
Plus it would be a convenient excuse for players, coaches, and hell, the ARU to tell those who said they couldn’t where to shove it.
If that isn’t motivation, I really don’t know what is.
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.