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Two Tests down, one to go, and there’s a series decider and a couple of clean sweeps on the line.
June has provided some wonderful rugby for the southern hemisphere brotherhood, and on the upside for Nobes, Los Pumas can’t lose to Wales. We’re prepared to call that win-win.
And yes, Argentina have a bit of work to do in not very much time if their fortunes are to improve in time for the Rugby Championship. But let’s not forget the danger of a side who’s just moved their coach on. There’s a renewed fear with Los Pumas.
The Wallabies were great in Brisbane and decent but well-contained in Melbourne. The All Blacks were good in Auckland and good enough in Wellington. I’m not sure I’d want to be France in Dunedin this weekend. And South Africa, well, they’re back baby, and that’s given everyone down this glorious end of the rugby world an exciting international appetiser for what’s coming our way from late-August onwards.
The Wallabies (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)
It’s the last weekend of Test rugby for a couple of months, so let’s crack into it.
This weekend’s internationals
New Zealand vs France, Dunedin
Australia vs Ireland, Sydney
South Africa vs England, Cape Town
Argentina vs Scotland, Resistencia
Others
Fiji v Tonga, Lautoka
Japan v Georgia, Toyota City
Canada v USA, Halifax
Digger
The good: Seeing the bench particularly in the first Test come on and add real impetus and impact to the All Blacks effort was the biggest highlight for me thus far and something I felt the All Blacks were missing from their 2017 season.
Karl Tu’inukuafe was a fantastic ‘feel good’ inspirational story, and not only am I not sure you will find a better first up scrummaging effort at Test level, I’m contemplating whether a ‘Mo’ or ‘Tashce’ will add to my charisma and charm.
The bad: Not being able to follow up a reasonable first up performance in the first Test with another good performance; in fact, more of a shambles really. I admit that it is uncharitable to the French effort, who need to be admired for the way they got stuck in, however I do not think it is unreasonable to expect the number one side in the world to put away a 14-man opposition comfortably across almost 70 minutes.
Ben Smith (AAP Image/SNPA, Dianne Manson)
Of more brow-furrowing concern was the loss of structure once Beauden Barrett left the match with concussion and has me wondering if there are perhaps too many ‘eggs’ in the one All Black basket.
Considering the number of experienced players already out for this series it is possibly not the biggest concern, but then you don’t get to choose when injury strikes either. No doubt the dunny will get flushed on this match but I would hope more effort will go into planning for such contingencies, though I am sure it already has.
The ugly: The injuries sustained during the series and the controversy it brewed, along with the scrutiny heaped upon the referees as a result, a very unfortunate set of circumstances which only leaves more questions than answers and an enduring headache for the governing body to address.
Maintaining the contest for possession while balancing player safety concerns with the combative nature and appeal of the sport is a fine line to tread and not an easy task, perhaps an impossible one to gain universal acceptance on but it is certainly one that, in my view at least, World Rugby are failing miserably with and desperately need to do more to remedy.
Geoff
Wallabies first: the ‘good’ was the ability shown in Brisbane to sustain a consistent, 80-minute, physical effort, not always a hallmark of recent sides. The ‘bad’ has to be Will Genia’s broken arm, a huge setback in the context of this week’s decider.
The ‘ugly’? The Wallabies, faced with an improved performance by Ireland, who controlled possession over sustained periods, resorting to type and losing their discipline, conceding cheap territory and points as a result. It’s a fine line but they can’t afford a lop-sided penalty count if they are to any chance on Saturday.
Peter O’Mahony (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
As for the All Blacks, heading the ‘good’ is Scott Barrett, stepping up to replace Brodie Retallick in the engine room and as midfield general, fulfilling the promise shown in his Chicago Test debut. The ‘bad’ was the way they lost shape and control for long periods of the second Test, illustrated by Aaron Smith having an uncharacteristically poor passing day. The French are combative and will have taken a lot of confidence from Wellington – but look for a far more accurate and assertive display this week from the All Blacks.
Beauden Barrett landing on his head was downright ‘ugly’, although it seems no uglier than World Rugby rolling out the bus from where it had been garaged since the Craig Joubert incident, so they could throw Angus Gardner under it as well.
The game is evolving, and it can be tricky for the laws to keep up and fairly take all eventualities into account, but it does seem that an issue that was mostly under control has now been made a whole lot messier again.
Brett
The good has very obviously been the evident starch in the Wallabies’ defence this month, with fewer moving pieces making things simpler, and some welcome physicality setting up the series against Ireland very nicely during the win in Brisbane.
That same approach didn’t have quite the same impact in Melbourne, but it was equally to see that despite tackling themselves into the ground in Melbourne, there was still enough petrol in the tank to fire a few shots off during the late comeback.
The bad remains the long-standing inability of the Wallabies to switch game plans mid-match, and once Ireland knew that had the possession and territory components of the game in hand, they’d have known they’d painted the Wallabies into a corner. And we know the Wallabies haven’t worked why this is a bad thing, otherwise Israel Folau wouldn’t have blamed the kickers for his quiet game.
Taniela Tupou of the Wallabies (second right) celebrates winning a penalty. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)
And the ugly… well, that’s the extremes that exist within their consistency, and the way they can’t string two really good performances together. It works the other way, too, as I mentioned on Tuesday, where they’re just as likely to play horribly one week and be world-beaters the next.
This might be their biggest handicap as the next Rugby World Cup nears; you certainly can’t afford to play inconsistency in a tournament setting, and the Wallabies just have to find a way of stringing games together.
As we all know, the thing about consistency is that you have to do it all the time…
Harry
The Good: securing a series win against England before Cape Town was the main plot line. Seeing Ben Youngs throw a TV tantrum, Maro Itoje become so enervated that he tried to kick Faf de Klerk, and Joe Marler lose his rag in the tunnel: these were bonuses.
The best subplot for me was that the Boks – young or veteran – seemed less afraid to make a mistake, and more confident to have a go. Yes, mistakes ensued, but powerful pacy ripostes compensated: South Africa won both first halves despite being an aggregate 36-3 down in the first quarters and shut England out in the last half in Bloemfontein.
Finally, I thought the Bok shape (after the first quarters) was good; tighter, with forwards cohesive and physically imposing. Duane Vermuelen’s return was not coincidental. This created quicker ball than the ‘fanned out across the field’ pods of Allister Coetzee, which resulted in only five kicks from hand by the increasingly self-assured Handre Pollard.
South Africa (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
The Bad: misreads by Lukhanyo Am and S’bu N’kosi in the wider channels early in each Test. Damian de Allende’s propensity to turn the ball over in the tackle.
The Ugly: Itoje’s attempted kick at de Klerk, after head-hunting him for two Tests, just seconds after Mako Vunipola slapped at Pieter-Steph du Toit, and seconds before the excruciating Owen Farrell sanctimoniously told Romain Poite that England “just want to play rugby”.
Nobes
It has been a difficult week for Los Pumas and rugby in general for Argentina. Not only for the poor exhibition on the field by the players but also for the way Mr Daniel Hourcade had to let go his position as a head coach and general manager of rugby in Argentina.
So, for this week’s question I would have to answer that the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly are all inside the same situation. It is never a good thing that a Head Coach has to be let go but in the case of Los Pumas where the results all the way from Rugby World Cup 2015 to now have been more than awful, I think is a relief. And any type of relief is a Good thing.
The Bad is probably the near future of Jaguares, that I hope their mental attitude is not the same as they had in the last two Test against Wales and will return to winning ways under Mario Ledesma. It would be a shame not to pursue the same type of attitude and game plan they had before this window.
The Pumas (AFP PHOTO / MARTY MELVILLE)
The Ugly has to be the way Mr Hourcade had to leave his post with the players not performing at least a decent game against a Wales team with no less than 17 regulars. Some of the Pumas players have been with Mr Hourcade for eight years and have grown up from amateurs to professionals under his post.
I feel that this matter should have been cleared before, so that the players could have produced something better and not such a shameful display.
What’s been your national side’s Good, Bad and Ugly?
Let us know below and enjoy your weekend of international rugby.