If it wasn’t for David Pocock last night, the All Blacks could have declared midway though the second half.
The final scoreline of 38-13 flattered the Wallabies, with Pocock the only one in gold who never gave an inch for 80 minutes. I didn’t see him miss a tackle in 118, but his teammates managed to miss 40.
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The All Blacks missed 11.
If that stat wasn’t bad enough, the men in black ran 731 metres to 440. Talk about one-way traffic.
But it gets worse. Thanks to their bumbling, the Wallabies had only 44 per cent possession and 45 per cent territory. The pain continued with the Wallabies giving away nine penalties, six of them from scrums, where they were totally outplayed, and in the process the Wallabies lost seven lineouts on their own feed.
Stuff Wallabies hookers feeding lineouts when they can’t hit an elephant on the backside from five metres.
Turn the clock back to when wingers fed lineouts – at least they have ball sense and can find their target.
(Matt King/Getty Images)
Yet the Wallabies led 6-5 at the break, again failing to defend their line in the last minute when halfback Aaron Smith crossed. And they repeated the dose in the second half, allowing centre Jack Goodhue over inside three.
Down 12-6 became 26-6 before winger Jack Maddocks scored on debut, the Wallabies only five-pointer. But I lost count of how many they bombed.
Little wonder Wallabies coach Michael Cheika had his head in his hands watching helplessly from the stand with his charges, Pocock apart, an embarrassment to the 66,318 spectators who had parted with their hard-earnt to watch that rubbish.
Even the always reliable halfback Will Genia took an age to clear, something you’d expect from Nick Phipps. As a result the Wallabies backline was constantly cut down well short of the advantage line thanks to Genia’s slow service.
And why has pivot Bernard Foley adopted the ‘no look’ pass and is not finding his support by radar?
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For Cheika it was a 41-minute nightmare, and no doubt he’ll cop plenty from the keyboard warriors when it was his troops firing blanks who were at fault.
His problems increased when fullback Israel Folau limped off with a left ankle injury late in the second half. How serious it is will be decided after scans this morning, but he left ANZ last night on crutches.
Centre Kurtley Beale switched to fullback and benchman Matt Toomua, back in the fold after his overseas stint, took Beale’s spot. That could well be repeated for Eden Park next Saturday, where the Wallabies must win or the Bledisloe Cup drought will enter its 17th year.
Aussie faithful making the annual trip to the All Blacks fortress next week will be hoping the Wallabies regain their mojo. It went AWOL big time last night, and it’s worthwhile repeating with the exception of David Pocock.
Nigel
Guest
It’s all about the selections!! We need a change, Pocock to captain the side and play at 7, Caleb Timu at 8’for starters!! Rory Arnold to start, Rodda on the bench!! KB to 10, Toomua at 12!!
in brief
Guest
Really - the ARC was scrapped the year he was signed? There were no pathways for junior rugby players either. Things have improved immensely at grassroots since.
john wilson
Guest
its not hard to understand why the wallabies are smashed regularly, most of the team are not fit , seeing the kiwi lock break thru and trundle to the goal line and score,and no one try to catch him, the two closest wallabies backs gave up said it all. hopeless
ThugbyFan
Guest
FB, rather than complain may I suggest the English Rugby Union demand to be able to perform a Morris dance in front of their opponents just prior to the game start. As most Morris dancing is performed in white, the players would not even have to change. The Scots could do a Highland Jig for their matches and our Irish friends could do an Irish Jig. Imagine the joy of the rugger fans immediately after the anthems as they cheer to the PI/AB teams doing their War dance followed by a spot of NH jig. Of course the WB dance would just be 15 blokes around a smoky BBQ sinking Fosters. Come to think of it that might improve their game. :)
FunBus
Roar Rookie
'Funbus, no way on earth Beale would make 12 in the ABs. When have we….ever….had a 12 that cant tackle? Shows how much some know out there.' I would have thought the AB coaching staff would be confident that if they had Beale for 3 months they could make him into a competent tackler. Not a devastating one, but one that was not a conspicuous and exploitable weakness. The damage he could do with Barrett one side of him and Goodhue the other would certainly interest Hansen.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Rugby causes me very little 'pain', T-man, only joy - but then again, I have a life.
ukkiwi
Guest
Jeez Mark - that's a bit harsh mate :)
joeb
Roar Rookie
Yeah, the replay is on tonight (Mon. 20 Aug) at 6pm on Fox. Happy to check it again. Was Folau's flick pass out of the back of his hand forward?
joeb
Roar Rookie
From memory Dingo had a good unimpeded 5 year run as Wallabies head coach. I admired his selections, e.g. playing JOC at 5/8 against the Lions, or was it England? But what nagged at the back of the head on occasion was his truthful admission that if he'd been offered the ABs job, his first preference understandably, that he would have taken it and knocked back the Wallabies position. There's some good reading here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Deans#Australia Anyway, Cheika now has to be put on notice. Enough farce, time for solid 80 minute performances and results, or see you later Mick. He could always return to the Tahs to take care of unfinished business. We were on the verge of winning back-to-back Super titles but the moment he was offered the Wallabies vacancy he simply lost interest in the Tahs. Must've been the $$$ signs that bedazzled him.
joeb
Roar Rookie
There should be an indigenous warrior and didgeridoo performed after the Haka. Actually, at all our home tests to confirm who we are.
Mike
Guest
Great point, Derick
Mike
Guest
How did Deans fail? We can only say that if it was possible for him to do much better with the cattle he had. I think he did about as well as it was possible to do, given what he had to work with. Wallabies under him won 2/3 of the games against England and South Africa, which put us more or less permanently at No 2. No1 was never feasible without significant changes in Australian rugby.
Akari
Guest
Please consign it to your historical record and move on P2R2. Hooper was smart enough to negotiate a good deal for himself so he could look after numero uno plus his close or immediate family for the future.
Akari
Guest
Not disagreeing, CB, but I just thought it was unfair to ascribe blame to the hooker when the timing of the lift also contributed to the LO errors.
Baz
Guest
Can he play at 10?
zhenry
Guest
Hansen should refuse to have Barnes referee the ABs, period, finish, never again, finito.
One Eye
Roar Rookie
Also look at the elbow angles of the Aus LH props - failing to get a long bind and binding in a downwards direction, easy to see by the jerseys being stretched downwards and correctly called.
Markie362
Guest
Isñt cron the scrum coach.howd that go
One Eye
Roar Rookie
Are you boys actually talking about Wayne Barnes having a bias in favour of the All Blacks? Wayne Barnes of the lily white England brigade? Wayne "I haven't a fu(£ing clue what a forward pass is" Barnes? Wayne "It's only a QF, I'll ignore the ruck laws" Barnes? Just to be clear here, if we're talking about the same joker, he has zero love for the ABs.
One Eye
Roar Rookie
Pocock probably but that's it. Folau would need to massively upskill his defence and kicking not to mention his positional play or go into the wing mix where he's up against Ioane, Naholo, NMS, Bridge, Lam...