Even though we were expecting little heading into their final match of the season against old foes England, the Wallabies served up another offering that exemplified all that is wrong with our team.
Hoping to end the tour on a positive note, the Wallabies got off to an awful start, having a kick chased down leading to a five-metre scrum. Off a dominant scrum by England, Ben Youngs fed Jonny May to score in the corner.
This did lead to some positive play with a Dane Haylett-Petty try being disallowed for an earlier forward pass to Samu Kerevi.
After a couple of English penalties, Israel Folau then scored an excellent try after a beautiful pass from Sekope Kepu. The half ended on a good note with a near certain try by a rampaging Izack Rodda stopped by a no-hands tackle by Owen Farrell. Michael Hooper wisely elected for the kick and the two sides went into the sheds all square.
After a positive start to the second half, the Wallabies fell to pieces, ultimately losing 37-18. Here are some talking points from the game.
1. Set piece woes continue – but not like you think
If the scrum was one of the relative positives (and I stress relative) to come out of a long and difficult year, then this was the match where it fell apart. Bringing back memories of when Andrew Sheridan destroyed the Australian scrum, the English scrum was dominant particularly off its own feed – drawing penalties at will with the first one leading to England’s first try.
The lineout, in direct contrast to previous weeks, functioned fairly well by winning 12/13 throws. They varied their throws and used a variety of plays of the back of this ball. They set up mauls and at times got the ball into midfield getting across the gain line.
At least this part has improved. The next step is to get the lineout and scrum functioning well at the same time – we can only hope…
2. What we would give for Owen Farrell’s kicking game
We are a running team – make no mistake about that. It is in our DNA and running rugby is the Aussie way. Yet there are many times where you have to kick the ball – clearing from your own 22, box-kicks, when you are heading backwards and you kick into midfield or attacking kicks either in behind the line or crossfield.
Having watched this for a number of weeks – I can safely say Australia’s kicking game is shambolic. Clearing kicks were charged down and box kicking was a commodity rarely sighted. The aerial midfield kicking was perplexing – aimless balls were hit into midfield that gave chasers no chance of competing and cross-field kicks often off the back of quick lineout ball were overhit or misplaced.
It is pleasing to see them at least attempt a kicking game this year, but it is very much a work in progress and much could be learned from the superlative kicking game of the English.
3. Win the collisions and the gain line, win the game
Australia lost the gain line handsomely. Besides ten minutes at the start of the second half where Australia hit the collisions with some added vigour, England dominated the collisions and the gain line.
Kyle Sinckler and Marc Wilson were particularly prominent, but the entire defensive line excelled and with the ball in hand, the English forwards repeatedly got across the gain line helping the backs get front-foot ball.
Matt Toomua played 5/8 with Bernard Foley outside him at 12 and neither had great games, but it is hard when you are playing off the back foot.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
4. If you can’t tackle, you won’t win many games
At the end of the game England made 77/94 (82%) tackles and Australia made 85/113 (75%). Only a 7% difference, but the Wallabies’ missed tackles often led to huge gains or tries. A missed tackle lead to Elliot Daly’s try.
Not for the first time this season, Genia’s backfield defence resembled him doing an impersonation of a witches hat.
This has been an issue for some time and the answer remains unclear – is it technical or mental, or probably a combination of both? Missed tackles are difficult to plan for and inevitably lead to pain. It is hard to see this changing anytime soon.
5. England have the tools to win the World Cup
Eddie Jones’ side have had a difficult 2018. After winning back to back grand slams and going 18 matches undefeated, England had a dismal showing in the 2018 6 Nations and then lost a three-Test series in South Africa.
(Photo by David Rogers – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)
Ignoring the fact that most of the squad had not had a rest with the Lions tour and then heading almost straight into club rugby, the knives were being sharpened but Eddie Jones can head into the new year with renewed optimism.
The set piece is solid, the defence has tremendous line speed and wins the collisions against most teams. They have forwards that get over the gain line and are excellent as unit at the breakdown. They have a clear identity and depth in all bar a couple of positions.
This was a team missing the Vunipola brothers, Anthony Watson, Joe Launchbury and Chris Robshaw. Manu Tuilagi made his return and got through 12 minutes unscathed. His ball running and defence will be a huge weapon if he can stay fit.
Joe Cokanasiga had a breakout game with the winger making several devastating runs and providing another selection headache for Jones. It is early days but the relatively diminutive Jack Nowell should be watching over his shoulder.
6. Change is needed but do RA have the funds?
The Wallaby fanbase is disillusioned. The Wallabies have endured their worst year in decades. I cannot remember seeing the Wallabies as low as this.
With less than a year to go, it is highly unlikely a change will be made. In some ways, it would be easier to accept if RA just came out and said we don’t have the funds to pay out his contract but I imagine that would open another can of worms.
So we endure, and whilst winning the World Cup would be wonderful, it does not excuse three years of mediocrity. I fear that something just below this like making a final might result in this another four years under this coaching unit and no questions being asked.
Bodger
Roar Rookie
We’re not looking good.
Olly
Roar Rookie
The measurement is the refs call. Get over it. League has an extra ref on the field, less crowding with the 10m rules making it far easier to ref. Having ref both games I can assure you it is far easier and a lot less to look at in a league game. Anyway the rule in league are once again relative to the player passing the ball and not the ball receiver or the flight path of the ball... In simple terms, does the ball go forward out of the passers hands and they go to the bunker which is a TMO..... All sports rely on the ref perception...that is sport. The TMO is also relying on a 3rd refs perception. League has two refs on the field and they are relying on their perceptions...they are not measuring anything but judging on their perception of what happened. Please read the laws of the game.
Tom G
Guest
I totally agree. We are always spruiking the myth of our more positive adoption of the game without any demonstrable evidence. Any team that chooses to run the ball when it isn't on and the kick is the better option will lose more games than it wins. The fact is we are inept in our kicking game and that is not a positive it is a deficiency.
No.24
Roar Rookie
Hooper was so far our best player on Saturday it wasn't funny. Without him we would have been beaten by 30-plus.
Dave
Roar Rookie
It has always been a massive problem - just look at league, they don't go to TMO for forward passes. As I said before, how do you measure ‘out of the hand’, just a feeling, a vibe, mabo, just the vibe?? It’s even more ridiculous when the on field referees think it was fine ‘out of the hand’ when they were so close and perfectly in line with the pass and then a television referee over rules them watching it in slow motion and from an angle. I guess you could take the next two frames of footage after release of the ball and calculate the player forward velocity and the ball forward velocity and if the ball forward velocity was greater then it was ‘forward out of the hand’, but of course this is not done, the ‘vibe’ of the television referee trumped the ‘vibe’ of the on field referees. It has nothing to do with the Wallabies blowing up (it's always a flip of the coin whether passes like that are called forward or not - regardless of who is playing, so no one has a right to blow up about it), it's a complete grey area - no one can ever agree whether long passes are forward or not and neither can the referees - all the on field referees thought it was fine in this case. As for shoulder charges there is absolutely no grey area, shoulder charges are completely obvious and easy to referee, just in this case the ref had a brain explosion.
Colvin Brown
Roar Guru
Skelton?
coldturkey
Roar Rookie
Thank you for pointing out the chip kick that Folau slowed down for, I thought I was the only one who thought that.
Olly
Roar Rookie
I recommend having a quick look at the Laws of the game. From memory I think they even have a video showing this section as it is easy to see in practice (I hope the video is still up as visual aid always helps). It is all about the action of releasing the ball. Out of the hands is the basic terminology rugby players use to explain the rule as it makes players focus on the releasing the ball action (a coaching tool). This Law has been enforced around the world for a long time without problems and this is only blowing up as Wallabies fans are desperate for a win of any type. Read the laws, they are clear and use your energy on focusing on the real problems within the Wallabies. Rugby does have a few grey laws around how the refs enforce them (the shoulder charge in this game is a good example, supporting your own weight at the breakdown is another) but the forward pass is not one of them.
Olly
Roar Rookie
Direction of the opposing teams dead ball line....very easy theory boy.
Dave
Roar Rookie
That's where Ollie's argument completely falls apart - how do you measure 'out of the hand', just a feeling, a vibe, mabo, just the vibe?? It's even more ridiculous when the on field referees think it was fine 'out of the hand' when they were so close and perfectly in line with the pass and then a television referee over rules them watching it in slow motion and from an angle. I guess you could take the next two frames of footage after release of the ball and calculate the player forward velocity and the ball forward velocity and if the ball forward velocity was greater then it was 'forward out of the hand', but of course this is not done, the 'vibe' of the television referee trumped the 'vibe' of the on field referees.
Dave
Roar Rookie
You say it is simple "forward out of the hands" but there is no way of actually measuring or judging that. And you diss the position of the passer at the moment the receiver gets the ball on the basis that he could of changed speed - well you can easily just extrapolate his speed at the time he passed the ball and just move that line forward at that constant speed until the ball is caught. If it is caught in front of that line it is a forward pass. That would be able to be measured. "out of the hand" is not measurable and everyone has a different opinion on it every single time. The reality is that pass would be called forward half the time and not forward just as often. Or the rule could just be simplified to the ball has to be caught behind the point where the passer passed the ball (ignoring momentum) and it would be easily and fairly judged with no arguments.
soapit
Guest
define travelling forward dave, thats where it gets tricky. its not my fault
Homer Gain
Guest
One thing we can surely all agree on is that Izzy Folau is not Australia's main weakness.
Dave
Guest
It came out the hands and went forward...not sure how hard it is to work out. Also the trouble with our supporters is we focus on excuses.. the best team won and we played really badly. But if we want to focus on bad calls how about the tip[ tackle that wasn't red carded ..or even a yellow!! Swings and roundabouts folks. The real story was how we got stuffed by a weakened England side missing loads of stars. Vunipola, Genge, Obano, mullan, Kruis, Launchbury, Vunipola, Robshaw, Joseph and Watson
Eelboy
Guest
The forward pass was correct but the body check on Rodda should have been a penalty try. What surprised me most was how Rodda didn't get over the line off his own steam given that he's got to be at least 20kgs heavier than Farrell. This pretty much summed up the day. Our forwards didn't mix it with the English pack at all.
soapit
Roar Guru
Can someone point me to where out of the hands is mentioned in the rules? My reading it just says thrown forward towards the try line
The Terminater
Guest
Cheika please please for the sake of rugby andAustralia resign You can’t manage,you have unfit non mobile forwards,your backs are totally lost kick for the sake of kicking,no strategy,not big or importantly fit and hard enough Blind Freddie can see you can’t do the Job ,you lose great players like Higgenbottom,Will Skelton who since moving to England is becoming a star,Sean McMahon,even James Oconner plus many others whose skill levels are fantastic You are not good at your Job and you continually moan instead of getting on with the Job leading the team,remember the success of a team is the depth and width of the man who runs it ,you are sadly missingDo the right thing and resign
Graeme
Guest
Surely 3 of the main things should be the refereeing. 1). Rodda drop daily on his head. That’s a yellow card and probably a few weeks off after the game because it was technically red. 2) The forward pass that wasn’t. There’s a pretty good test of whether the ball goes backwards out of the hands. If the passer doesn’t accelerate and is in front of the receiver when the ball is received then the ball was passed backwards out of the hands. DHP slowed down after passing the ball and was still a meter in front of Kerevi, the receiver. 3) The non-yellow card/penalty try, with the bizarrest justification ever, that the ball carrier also led with his shoulder, ie didn’t attempt to wrap Farrel when being tackled. WTF?
soapit
Roar Guru
have you tried viewing the motion of the passer as its caught?
soapit
Roar Guru
true