- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
With the break in the test season this weekend, I decided to take a YouTube trip down memory lane and watch the Brumbies host the Crusaders in Canberra in the 2004 Super Rugby final.
The game was characterised by a spectacular Brumbies opening, putting 33 points and five tries on the Crusaders in the first 20 minutes, followed by a grinding tussle for the next 60. The score ended up 47-38 to the Brumbies.
More than the spectacular result, the game was an interesting history lesson on tactics. Stephen Larkham in particular gave a kicking masterclass as the Brumbies No.10, with 17 of his involvements being kicks from hand in open play. Most of Larkham’s kicks were perfectly weighted long punts to the corner, often turning around the Crusaders outside backs, but with some variety. His teammates made another 16, most of them by fullback Joe Roff.
In general the Brumbies’ seven tries were scored from commitment to chasing the kick or from turnovers generated as the Crusaders attempted to rumble the ball back up the park, with the Brumbies loose forwards and backs making lightning strikes to score.
The Crusaders were also a wobbly in the lineout, with Radike Samo pinching a couple, which facilitated the Brumbies galloping ahead in the first part of the game. The Brumbies achieved their result with less possession and territory than the Crusaders.
Does any this sound familiar? Because to me it sounds like just about every big game the Wallabies have lost since 2016, with opponents playing them like a dope on a rope. This is what brings me to Larkham.
I simply don’t believe after he starred in games like these that Larkham doesn’t know what is going wrong with the Wallabies’ tactics. It should be patently obvious to anybody who has been following the Wallabies over the last three seasons that Michael Cheika is behind the obsessive ball-in-hand tactics that they have employed.
Cheika has belatedly tried to incorporate a kicking game in 2018, but much of the effort appears to have revolved around form over substance. The extreme example of this was the Wallabies’ unsuccessful high-kicking strategy from their own 22 during the Ireland series – apparently because getting Israel Folau to catch high balls 70 metres from the Irish try line was a good idea.
It didn’t work, and by the time they played the Pumas they were back to keeping the ball in hand.
It seems to me that Larkham has to coach the Wallabies attack within constraints that Cheika imposes, limiting the kicking game to one that doesn’t create the opportunities the Wallabies backs need to score tries. The same goes for the quality of ball that Larkham’s backs are getting from Cheika’s forwards – his job is made harder by forwards who can’t win consistently at the lineout or the breakdown.
We know that when the pack is doing its job those backs can score tries – they managed to average over four a game in the 2017 Rugby Championship compared to two per game this year. I don’t see how Larkham can reasonably be blamed for problems that are the responsibility of Cheika.
(AJF Photography)
The problem is that while many have reasonably concluded that Cheika has to go, the reputational damage has spread to Larkham, with calls for him to be sacked along with the rest of Cheika’s coaching staff. I think that if this were to occur, it would be a tragedy for Australian rugby.
Many Australian rugby fans complained when a Kiwi, Robbie Deans, was appointed Wallabies head coach, yet in 2018 we have so little Australian coaching talent available that Rugby Australia couldn’t find a decent Aussie coach to replace Cheika. Three of the four Australian Super Rugby franchises are coached by foreigners, and with the Brumbies’ Dan McKeller having just coached Super Rugby for his first season, clearly he could not be considered a candidate.
If Cheika goes and Larkham gets discarded with him, Rugby Australia will have lost another prospective Aussie Wallabies coach. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I think Larkham has the goods to do a decent job of the Wallabies gig right now, and I stand by that assessment. Many people vehemently disagreed, and that is fair enough, but surely people can see the folly in discarding Larkham along with Cheika.
If the Wallabies have to have an experienced foreigner coach them in place of Cheika, then so be it. However, it should be somebody who is prepared to work with and develop Larkham and any other Australian assistant coaches so that we can get back to having a competent Australian in charge of the Wallabies as soon as possible.
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.