So… where to begin. It would be easy to fall into the trap of exaggeration and overreaction on a weekend like this.
We all know that was a poor game and a terrible result. But there’s nothing to be gained from just taking the easy route out and tearing into the players for the abject performance…or is there?
What in the name of Campese was that?!
Australian rugby hasn’t exactly been flying high over the past few years, so surely we’ve all become accustomed to poor performances. But there was something about the way the Wallabies lost on Saturday at home that was a new low.
It wasn’t a frustrating but understandable loss to the All Blacks. It wasn’t a valiant effort against the Irish that fell at the final hurdle. It was 80 minutes of error, ill-discipline, lack of execution and at times embarrassing play from some incredibly well-paid professionals.
Yes, there were some good performances in there – Dane Haylett-Petty played well again at fullback and Israel Folau was impressive at times. David Pocock was better than most without being his usual awesome. But the rest of them were average at best.
What’s more alarming, though, is that it wasn’t just the players who struggled against the Pumas – the Wallabies coaching staff seemed to be missing in action. Bizarre substitutions and tactics that just didn’t make sense.
Which leads us on to our next point…
Where does the fault lie?
There was plenty of blame to go around but who is truly at fault here? Do we believe that these players are delivering on their potential?
Are they truly playing as well as they are capable of? Because if they are then we need to adjust our sniper scope to other targets. But based upon Saturday night’s performance, it does feel as though they are not delivering in line with their capabilities.
Dropped balls, players running into each other, failed line outs, missed tackles – no player is coached to do these things. Too many of these players are just not good enough to win at the upper levels of international rugby consistently.
But that doesn’t mean the coaches are let off the hook. What on earth was the thinking behind substituting Matt Toomua and bringing on Bernard Foley? Firstly Toomua had been given hardly any opportunity to do anything all night and then he’s hooked.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Secondly, Kurtley Beale had shown that he was not having a good night (to put it mildly) and yet he was the one who was left out on the field.
So basically everyone needs to stand up and take their fair share of the blame.
How long is long enough?
Given that everyone from players to coaches can be painted with the blame brush, it does raise the question – how long does Michael Cheika get to deliver the results Australia expect? He’s had the skills coach he wanted in place for a couple of years now and this season has seen the Super Rugby franchises collaborating with each other and the Wallabies to ensure players are fit and being developed in the way that supports the Wallabies’ cause.
There’s always talk that it’s tough for the Wallabies as they have to play the best side in the world three times every year and that would damage any teams’ averages. But consider that since November 2015, the Wallabies have also lost to the English several times, to Ireland several times, to the Scots twice, they’ve failed to beat the South Africans at home and now they’ve lost at home to the Argentinians.
The All Blacks are not Australia’s bogey team or their biggest hurdle – they are just one of many who now fancy their chances when they step on the field with the men in gold.
Yes, a World Cup is a year away but I seem to remember that a new coach took over the Wallabies a year out from the last World Cup and that tournament went pretty damn well.
As deep as a puddle…in a dessert…on a hot, summer’s day
It’s been a long-running topic of discussion, but one of the biggest problems the Wallabies have is their total lack of depth. The first choice team isn’t exactly setting the world alight and hasn’t been for a number of years, and the step down to the next level of players is worryingly vast.
While it’s often Foley and the fly-half position that get attention when the discussion turns to a lack of depth, there was another example tonight where Ned Hannigan was back in the side. He’s just not up to international rugby and while he’ll try his hardest for you, at this level that’s just not enough.
The Australian rugby system has got to develop more players at these top levels if the Wallabies are going to challenge the world’s best. It should have been doing this for the past few years but the issue has never been more obvious. Arguably it’s too late for Japan 2019, so the focus for this growth of depth must turn to 2023.
Game awareness
What makes the game against the Pumas most frustrating is that the Wallabies should have won it. They had the opportunities but just couldn’t bring that clinical level of execution to bear when it mattered. There were a couple of examples where this game awareness in the moment was missing and it cost them dearly.
One was in the second half where the Aussies had roughly a five-on-two overlap. Foley had called a set move and rather than someone overriding that call or Foley himself having the awareness to see the huge advantage available, they went ahead with the move.
That might have been fine but in trying to execute that play, Foley and Haylett-Petty ran into each other and knocked the ball on.
The most obvious example of poor awareness was in the dying seconds. Folau – who to be fair to him had had a pretty good game and had carved up the Pumas defence a couple of times – could have won the game for the Wallabies by just giving one simple pass.
He had Foley outside him and Folau had already attracted all 3 remaining defenders. But instead of giving that pass he tried to cut back inside and go himself. A great hit from Tomas Lavanini sent the ball flying and the game was over.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Top-level rugby can be a tight game where individual moments matter and with the Aussies losing those moments time and time again the future looks bleak.
Crowd fighting
More sad than the performance on the pitch was what happened after between Lukhan Tui and a member of the crowd. At the time of writing, we don’t know the full details but the story seems to be that a frustrated fan was hurling abuse at the Wallabies as they left the pitch and that Tui’s sister might also have been pushed (not sure whether it was an accident or not).
Whatever the situation, and whatever the performance on the pitch, the players don’t deserve to be abused like that as they walk from the field where they have quite literally often bled trying their best to win for their country. They might have played badly, they might have not been good enough but they don’t deserve to have someone screaming insults at them.
Rugby Australia do need to think carefully here though. This could have been one incident where a fan had too many beers and behaved terribly. But there is a growing frustration amongst rugby fans across the country at the way the game is being managed and the way the top players are performing.
Improvements must be made at every level.
Barney
Roar Rookie
Thanks for your reply. But I think the only one I could be factually incorrect on was my slightly tongue in cheek comment about the players wanting the previous coach removed. My other comments were based purely on observations as a casual but interested rugby spectator. While they are obviously opinions, I do not think any of them are so far away from accuracy to be incorrect as i based them on reality as presented. If honest, I find the Pumas/ Jaguares an intriguing experiment as often in sport, people wonder if a elite club team could beat a top international team eg Real Madrid versus France in soccer. We can actually see this in action with the Pumas despite all the unique complexities and they are definitely more interesting than the Wallabies. I understand you are probably way more knowledgeable about the Pumas culture and specific environment so i also look forward to reading your insights!
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Didn’t fix them? Every team won more games than last year. In fact the 4 teams combined won 8 more games than the 5 combined last year. I don’t know if that’s a good enough result or what is, but undoubtedly there was an improvement in results.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
In the 90s when tests used to draw crowds like Saturday night, or less?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
The 1991 side were more professional than their opponents because despite the game being amateur, we had players in full time AIS environments...
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
And ensure our domestic rugby dies? Whilst having limited access to all our players because Reg 9 doesn’t cover all tests let alone extra camps?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
But Scotland was something he was interested in?
Ex force fan
Guest
Ther was 16,000 last year ar the Argie- Wallaby test in Perth and many Force supporters boycotted the game - the lowest crowd in years. The average WSR crowd was more than 15,000 and that was for nothing games. Nib was definitely available so I am confident the stadium would be nearly packet, many in blue adn some in gold.
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
too true. good point.
Cornchips
Guest
I'll do it. I have zero qualification for it but I still would have at least pulled Beale out instead of Toomua.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Cheika chooses to play in the kiddie pool, which is why it looks like there is no depth. Ned Hannigan on the bench is not a sign of poor depth, it is a sign of poor selection. Gus Cotterel is worlds above him in speed and skill. Gill and Fardy, if retained, could do the job just as well, if not better. Dempsey back from injury, eventually. Others like Valentini and RHP in the wings waiting for an opportunity to at least train with the squad.
Ex Wright College Social 3rds
Guest
It is the same problem in the team as when all those years ago when Bobby Simpson took over the First XI. His mantra was to teach them to catch. They were decent enough players but basic skills were lacking. The skill levels for the NRL far outweighs that of the Wallabies especially in ball handling, passing and catching.
horseflesh
Guest
Mitcho, you say that you have no doubt that he knows what he's doing. Have you seen the Wallabies handling skills this year? They're getting worse. The ongoing tenure of a professional in their job must be based on their current results. Not what they did more than three years ago. Please give me evidence of his results from this season. If someone is not performing then we must let them go. This applies to players, coaches and admin staff...in fact it applies to everyone in all forms of sport and business. (It is also notable that he is no longer with the AB machine.)
MitchO
Guest
Horseflesh if you look into it you will find that Mick Byrne grew up in Sydney and played junior rugby. I have no doubt that he knows what he is doing because he was part of the All Blacks set up for so long. It is notable that the All Blacks machine were prepared to hire an Australian coach and then retain him for years. Being a test match rugby player doesn't mean you can be a skills coach.
ThugbyFan
Roar Guru
Force, sorry mate but it's not that easy and I am certainly no fan-boy of the ARU/RA corporate wan*ers. The stadiums are booked months ago in weekend blocks as no-one knows who will be playing where or when during the finals so likely Perth's Optus stadium would have been booked Sept 8th, 15th and 22nd. Its a similar story for AAMI stadium in Melbourne and Suncorp in Brisbane with the NRL finals. Added to the stadiums is the organisation for teams that must be made months in advance; for example transport, hotels and training facilities for teams plus the selling of tours and tickets for supporters. I am like you that I love afternoon rugby tests, but the money men at RA have gone off that idea after the June 2017 tests which all had poor turnouts (though RA should accept their terrible planning there, the Fiji and Italy tests were played in the wrong locations). However I agree that ideally the Springbok test should have be played in Perth at the NIB, possibly on Sunday 9th arvo or even the Saturday arvo. But didn't the WB play a couple of SB test matches in Perth about 6-8 years ago and got rotten number of spectators? Would they have got more than 16,700 folks if the game against Argentina was played in WA instead of the Gold Coast? I very much doubt it. Perhaps the RA should look at the feasibility of playing our RC home test matches prior to 8th September when the other codes start their finals. That would get around the problem of lack of stadiums. Am I correct in that there was no AFL played on the weekend of 1st and 2nd September, surely a tweak to the RC timetable could take advantage there for a big international in Melbourne or Perth? Am with you that the RA top brass should stop sipping the Pimms and put the thinking caps on.
Andrew Buckley
Guest
My view is that the real problem is that many of our top players are "entitled", and this problem actually starts at school level. Good players get picked up by the GPS schools and given everything they want. What we need is to broaden the sport so that govt. schools also actually play rugby and it's not just a silver spooner's game in Australia. Our players are in amongst the top money makers in the world. Someone said the other day that no current AB is in the top ten of money earners. This tells us something about how driven Kiwis are to play for the ABs and also what sort of honour it is! The best money the ARU could spend would be on promoting the sport among public high schools. Give a few schools some funds to take up the sport!!!
horseflesh
Guest
I imagine that the AB personnel that Mick Byrne was involved with turned up to the first day of training with excellent ball handling skills from their days of schoolboy, club and super rugby in NZ. However, it is possible that the ABs would have had exactly the same winning record without him. To attribute their success to him is highly questionable. And then for the Wallabies to recruit Mick Byrne and expect a similar standard of skills is just wishful thinking. Personally, I can't understand how a former AFL player would have the faintest idea about delivering a flat 30m right-handed bullet pass in heavy traffic to hit the bread basket of a sprinting man. Or even the bleeding basics like not passing a ball to someone that is stationary. (On Sat night I saw a pass to Rodda when he was walking backwards!) A career of ad hoc hand passes and soft tackles in a circus of unstructured bumblings is not the right qualification for the skills coach of our premier rugby side. (I've really tried to watch AFL. To me, its an abomination. Each to their own.). Let's find a skills coach who actually demonstrated great rugby skills at the highest level of competition. I'll start the ball rolling: Brian O'Driscoll; Tim Horan: Jean de Villiers.
horseflesh
Guest
Another talking point: Why on earth would you schedule a rugby test match at the same time as an NRL semi final ...and play the game in NRL heartland??? Imagine if the test had been played 3PM on Sunday at Allianz or even back at Suncorp. There was no league/union anywhere on Sunday. The Wallabies would have had a crowd of 30K+ and a whole lot more people watching on telly. Furthermore, an afternoon game would have given us a better show of skills as the dew of an evening game certainly took its toll on handling. And guess what? - you get more kids (rugby's future players & fans) to afternoon games. The night games end too late for most youngsters. Does Rugby Australia look at when the other codes are playing?? Did the new CEO even consider this scheduling clash? Another thing: When you're trying to build the game of rugby in Australia the most important thing to do is to have your national side win and keep winning. You may think that taking the game to different stadiums will help grow the game but what you are doing is giving away your home ground advantage. Taking the game on the road may help a bit but winning is by far the biggest shot in the arm. So just like the Pumas, the Wallabies were complete strangers to CBUS stadium. No advantage to us. We're better off sticking with just Sydney and Brisbane until the code is back on its feet. We need to build a home fortress mentality...like Twickenham, Murrayfield, Loftus Versfeld, Eden Park etc.
RIIIIIGHT
Guest
But we always beat the Pumas at home,so your argument has about as much weight as wet toilet paper. Michael Cheika must be sacked immediately.
Uncle Eric
Guest
Priceless. The saddest thing is it says it all!!
Monsta
Roar Rookie
The Argies were average, the Wallabies were woeful. Cheika and his team are just not up for it, nor is RA. But what we don't have is enough intelligent players. Rugby is not league and is a technical game, and you need to be intelligent to play it well. We don't have that anymore, we have some strength, some skills, some passion but it's not enough without thought and understanding. Sadly that is being bashed out of the game in the early years by monster kids running amok early on and the smart kids leaving the game too soon. Plus there's no future for the smart ones in rugby here. Too many big strong lazy and stupid if I was to be blunt.