Ultimately, the history books will show only a 38-13 defeat from last Saturday night, and a new All Blacks record for most points scored in the second half of a Bledisloe Cup Test.
Because of course there’s a record for that.
And following on from 54-34 last year, and 42-8 in 2016, 38-13 reads as yet another Sydney Bledisloe disaster. Plenty of reaction on Sunday and Monday insists it was.
And don’t worry, this isn’t where I tell you all was rosy, because it certainly wasn’t.
Mike Hooper (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
The stats sheet is already well known and doesn’t make for good reading. Any side conceding upwards of twenty turnovers and missing a quarter of all tackles attempted is going to have a hard time beating anyone, never mind New Zealand.
But the stats sheets also show that the Wallabies forced more turnovers upon New Zealand themselves, and with a good chunk of them coming in the first half, where the Wallabies enjoyed a quality opening to the match – even if defensive infringements killed off numerous scoring opportunities for the home side.
There’s no question that New Zealand made the most of the Australian mistakes; that’s hardly a new development.
But in truth, New Zealand didn’t play a lot of rugby themselves; they only got past seven phases three times for the match, despite enjoying well over half of possession. Australia even played 60 per cent of the game down the other end of the field. They were laying the ground work.
This was a major reason why I suggested late in the game on Saturday night via Twitter that it really didn’t feel like the Wallabies had been as outplayed as the scoreline might suggest.
Five of the six All Blacks tries originated from Wallabies mistakes. And several came with New Zealand on the back foot themselves.
Only Aaron Smith’s before half time came from their own build-up but even then, the chance only arose after Lukhan Tui was slow to react to Dane Haylett-Petty coming forward to close down outside options on the left edge.
From that slight opening, Ben Smith made the half-break, found Waisake Naholo on the right touchline via Jack Goodhue’s shoulder, and the winger then offloaded inside to Keiran Read, who found Aaron Smith on his inside to score a try eerily similar to the matchwinner in Dunedin last year.
Jack Goodhue’s try after the break came off the back of Israel Folau pushing an offload around Naholo, and then Marika Koroibete losing the ball in contact moments later.
Beauden Barrett took the ball wide immediately, with the Wallabies’ right edge very slow to transition into defence. Goodhue and Anton Lienert-Brown made good metres, before Reiko Ioane on the left wing broke into the Australian half and found Goodhue back on his inside to run it in from forty-five metres out.
Barrett’s try in the 52nd minute came after getting a toe to a Bernard Foley pass which was half a metre in front of Dane Haylett-Petty. Immediately before that, the Wallabies had broken upfield through their own counter attack, only for it to fall down from a forward pass, and even managed to force more All Blacks errors to earn a scrum feed near halfway.
Beauden Barrett of the All Blacks (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Brodie Retallick’s mother-of-all dummies thirty metres out to score what should probably be a World Rugby Try of the Year candidate came he pilfered from Will Genia on the New Zealand 22, after the Wallabies countered from Naholo’s dropped a kick reception inside the Australian half.
Naholo’s 73rd minute try came after knock-on advantage and a Barrett kick off his wrong foot. Before that, the Wallabies had marched into the All Blacks’ half after eight phases.
The All Black winger’s second came after he somehow managed to stand up the three Wallabies – Jack Maddocks being one – and scooting away to score the All Blacks’ regulation where-did-that-come-from try to seal the win. This was the only try to come directly from a Wallabies’ lost lineout, after Lukhan Tui was beaten to the jump by Sam Whitelock.
Despite things going wrong, a lot was still going right for the Wallabies in the second half.
Maddocks’ 67th minute try on debut came when Michael Hooper easily picked off a flat Barrett pass destined for a forward pod. Hooper went to ground outside his 22, and Retallick was told to stay out of the play after not retreating back onside.
With penalty advantage, the Wallabies attacked left through Beale, who found Foley back on his inside after contact, and he drew Damien McKenzie just before halfway to release Maddocks on his outside to run it in behind the posts.
Foley’s conversion made it 26-13 with a bit over thirteen minutes to play. They were in the contest, if they could just put a lid on the mistakes.
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They couldn’t of course, and we know the rest.
The set piece needs urgent remedial action this week, obviously, but it’s not that long ago that the Wallabies set piece evenly matched Ireland’s over three Tests.
A crash course reminder in how – and how quickly – they need to transition from attack into defence is definitely in order.
But just as things are never quite as good as we think, neither are things quite as dire. Talk of mass sackings and overhauls is more than a tad over-dramatic.
Eden Park will be the big test for the Wallabies; it always is. If there’s further regression or another second half implosion in the face of plenty of All Blacks mistakes, then much of the last few days’ reaction and overreaction will be better placed.
BOGGLES THE MIND
Guest
The Wallabies won the World Cup later that year too.
Offside
Guest
The biggest bigots are those who call others bigots because they have a different opinion to theirs.
Dylan
Guest
This article misses something that caused the statistical lobsided-ness in the game between the 1st and 2nd halves. That's FITNESS or lack there of. The Wallabies in the last 25 mins were breathing through their eye lids and out on their feet. If you watch Rettalick's try again, Reece Hodge was right there to chase but looked like he was running in mud. He was exhausted. Hodge is no slouch in a foot race but if you cant chase down a lock who had a higher work rate than anyone in the Wallaby backline there is something clearly wrong with the Wallabies conditioning.
Machiavelli
Guest
I too do not believe base fitness is lacking with the WB's. These are professional athletes so I refuse they are not fit enough in this day and age. So what caused the WB's to drop off in the 2nd half? Some thoughts: 1. As TWAS says above, AB's have better skills and techniques, thus conserving more energy. 2. WB's could be going out too hard, too fast, too early. Like a 1500 metre runner who goes out too fast too early and gets swamped at the finish. 3. AB's seemed to ramp up slower than the WB's thus giving their bodies more time to adapt to anaerobic needs, and thus finish over the top of the WB's. 4. Momentum and its affect on the team morale. Again, to use a 1500 metre runner analogy - the winner crosses the line and can easily do a victory lap. The losers collapse at the finish line and have trouble breathing, let alone run another lap. It's all in the head. If you can sense you are on top - then you can dig deep into your mental reserves and push on. If you sense that you are going under - then it is so much harder for a team to dig deeper. The value of momentum. 5. Fatigue from tackling more than the opposition. Take this years last game in the State of Origin for example. NSW tackled for most of the first half and then ran out of puff in the 2nd half. The side that attacks more should be conserving more energy. 6. Attack is the best form of defense. The AB's continually attack meaning you have to continually defend. Teams that try to defend leads are not attacking and thus regularly get swamped at the finish. Anyway, I am sure there's a sports psychology article in their somewhere as well, and I'd be interested if someone more qualified could produce one on the subject for The Roar.
Machiavelli
Guest
Sheek, A long, long time ago in another life, i did a bit of sports physiology and psychology and i doubt that the underlying basics have changed. Twas is true in what he says but it is more than just that. You could also include: 1. Slow starts by the ABs could be deliberate to avoid winding too early. Kinda like doing a slow to rapid warm up on a bike on thw sidelines. The body needs time to adjust to aerobic and then anaerobic demands. Jack rabbit starts rarely go well. Ramping up works better as it allows the body to adjust to the workload. 2. Probably more important is the psychology of being on top later in the game allowing you to run away from the opposition. Like the marathon runner who crosses the line first, who can easily do another lap of the stadium while the other place getters collapse on the finish line. If you are on top and can sense pulling away from the opposition...you can. It's all in the head. So I would reccomend ramping up to full pace gradually, rather than starting at full pace, without being ridicuously slow about it. Plus if you are ahead later in the game, you have more chance of pulling away. All of this is easier said than done against the ABs! Happy to get other peoples input on this interestng topic.
Mal Cornet
Roar Rookie
Well said Mike. Deans was a great coach and yes we had unrealistic expectations that no coach can meet with the lack of ? cattle. Fion, Twas and Brett are all dreamers thinking the ra are doing a marvellous job and that it is the coaches fault.
PB
Guest
Exactly right. The difference was, the Wallabies were 6-0 up and thinking "Yay, we're doing the job, we're giving ourselves a chance." They weren't looking to surge on to all those terrible AB errors in the first half and scoring because they don't expect to 3 tries to nil up. Change that thinking, be hungry for those opportunities that they earned with their defense and ABs poor play, and it'll be a different story. They sometimes eke out wins with close games over the ABs. More offten, and more dangerously, they streak away to 2 or 3 try leads. THat's what they have to expect of themselves as one way thwy can win. THat's how thy would have won last weekend.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
What a champ you must be Markus. How I would love to see you on a YouTube clip showing the world how it is done: "LEARN TO PRONOUNCE EVERY NAME IN THE WORLD PERFECTLY IN 15 MINUTES WITH MARKUS THE CHAMP": Always amazing with people who manage to make the impossible look easy. Out of curiosity, how many languages do you speak Markus? And what about all white boys in Australia with heritage and names from all over the world, why are you not expecting them to be pronounced in there original language? Do you have any idea how all Aussie and Kiwi commentators butchers almost all Argentinian and South African names?
Mal Cornet
Roar Rookie
I thought the defence in the first half was fantastic.
zhenry
Guest
He’s a bad ref for a lot of other reasons and the consistency and glaring errors of his ABs officiating. Among others as you say below no feel for the game, the worst excesses of being a lawyer. As I have stated on here many times, Hansen should never agree to Barnes reffing the ABs, never ever, fini, finito........
BOGGLES THE MIND
Guest
I`m not talking about Mackenzie, i`m talking about how we had a greater " WIN " record before Cheika became coach against " ALL" teams.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/israel-folau-to-earn-almost-2-million-per-season-in-new-threeyear-deal-with-waratahs-and-wallabies-20150701-gi2ezq.html The dual international happily declared "now I feel like I'm a rugby player" after signing a three-year flexible contract that will allow him to earn almost $2 million per year over the term of the agreement by playing two seasons in Japan and topping up a seven figure-per-season deal with the Australian Rugby Union with Test match bonuses and third party arrangements. Sounds like Folau is actually closer to $1M with the ARU. Everything else is potential bonuses, 3rd party deals and 2 seasons in Japan, which is probably $2M alone.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Also at the time of Folau's contract it was a flexible contract that allowed him to play in Japan for 2 Japanese seasons I'm pretty sure. The total would include a good chunk of that money.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
The reason why that cost falls on Australian rugby is because the Wallabies are what funds the machine and a competitive Wallabies team is their only financial chance. Whilst there are limitations, they can't just say fine, go to Europe we'll just replace you, because it may end up costing even more money. The All Blacks are in the same boat. The difference being they have a deeper pool due to less competition for culture and prestige in NZ and a long history of high level provincial competition to fall back on, so that less are willing to leave, and are more easily replaced.
Offside
Guest
And the gold medal for stating the obvious goes to Brett. If you eliminate all of your mistakes in any sport, you will invariably win. The trick is, eliminating all the mistakes from a species that is defined by their mistakes. To err is human. BTW, it's hard to have to many 7 phase pieces when it only takes a couple to score a try Brett. :-p
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
But they don't. They fund local unions to manage rugby at the provincial level just like Rugby Australia does. Standards of referees and coaches has zero to do with systems. That's literally individuals. As for career paths. They are almost identical again. Players come through junior age rep programs, get involved in NRC or Mitre 10 Cup, whilst plying their trade in club rugby during Super Rugby season and then graduate to Super Rugby. The major difference is NZ has an U19 provincial tournament. Australia had an U20 one, this year they've introduced U19 to align with NZ.
Markus
Guest
Georgian players don't make up a whole lot of the Australian team player base, Polynesian players do. And with a Japanese team now a regular in our conference, I'd expect them to be used to Japanese names. "The rule most TV and radio stations have is if you can’t pronounce foreign names perfect, don’t even bother to try." Imagine that attitude being applied in any other profession. You are a commentator, you are paid to commentate on the players' actions. No small part of that is being able to say the name of the player doing something. The most frustrating part is that Japanese names and most Polynesian names are actually in many ways far easier to get right than "Anglo" names. Names are long, but unlike English (or Welsh, French, Gaelic) the pronunciation of vowels and consonants is consistent (no tricks like long vs short vowel sounds), so it is really just a case of sounding it out like you are taught when you are 4 years old.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
timber I think that's way off. The All Blacks rarely have players who are light for their position. In fact in some positions they have some of the heaviest players in world rugby for that matter.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
But after 1 year you have to pay another $6M to keep them another year. Or if at 18 you whittle it down to 10 that's still $600k without paying anybody more. And of course if they are any good, they'll leave for a better offer. So you've possibly best case paid $6.6M and nobody has even got to Super Rugby level yet...
ClarkeG
Guest
Fair enough Mz. Sorry I don't have the match coverage now so can't comment specifically. Agree with Shane however regards the input from AR Barnes.