I’ve not even attempted to quantify this, but I can’t imagine the list of teams to turn around a 17-point loss to New Zealand into a two-point win over the current Rugby World Cup holders a week later is particularly long.
And it’s not until you put the last seven days into words like that that the magnitude of the Wallabies’ win over South Africa really becomes clear.
The degree to which they were well beaten by the All Blacks in Perth makes the turnaround in performance in just a week to beat South Africa on the Gold Coast so much more impressive.
And it really was.
After lamenting the Wallabies’ complete lack of composure and some genuinely terrible decision-making in the loss the week before, that performance to open their account in the Rugby Championship really was something.
And for sure, a lot of it was Quade Cooper.
(Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)
As the build-up moved from a few whispers early last week that he was line to play, to the very strategic tipping off of numerous outlets last Thursday evening that resulted in the flurry of ‘he’s back’ headlines, to Rennie confirming what we already knew when he named the team on Friday, this was only ever going to end one of two ways.
Cooper was either going to have minimal impact or – and I think we all had this feeling somewhere deep down – he was going to win the bloody thing.
His scriptwriters are working overtime at the moment, and all praise and plaudits are well deserved.
But he’s the first to admit there were many other reasons the Wallabies beat South Africa. So let’s attempt to widen the focus, even if just for a few moments before returning to the altar of St Quade.
For one thing, Angus Bell was excellent up front in his starting debut, learning a few lessons of the dark arts of scrummaging and ultimately holding his own against Frans Malherbe, one of the great international tightheads.
Not unlike the switch at flyhalf, promoting Bell for James Slipper felt like a bit of a gamble on Friday, though there would have been much sense in the reasoning, almost certainly about managing Slipper’s workload as much as giving Bell an opportunity to show his mettle.
And he did. Showed plenty of it. And that will please Dave Rennie to no end, because it gives him confidence in his young prop with a tough little tour to the north coming up.
(Supplied photo by Andrew Phan/Rugby Australia)
Rob Valetini was outstanding again, heavily involved in the physical side of the game and averaging well over three metres with every carry.
It took him a few games to become the destructive force he was in Super Rugby this year, and that seems to have repeated again on the Test scene. But he’s really warming to number eight now and it really feels like he’s converting that really good domestic form into international impact.
And there’s no doubt in my mind that Valetini’s form has played a significant role in Isi Naisarani being granted an early mark to take up his Japanese contract.
Tate McDermott started okay in the first half, but Nic White was a lot better after halftime and will have to come into starting consideration for the return bout against the Boks in Brisbane next weekend.
Maybe it’s a northern hemisphere experience thing, but White certainly seemed to adapt to referee Luke Pearce’s welcome calls for scrumhalves to (for God’s sake) ‘use it, nine’ a lot easier than McDermott did. White just seemed prepared to play even if the runners and carriers and forward pods he was waiting for weren’t quite set.
Rennie said post-match that McDermott was being hampered by a shin injury by halftime, and so White starting next week might be a necessity anyway. But, like Cooper’s selection this weekend, it kind of feels this is a change worth making anyway. McDermott has played all seven Tests to date, it’s worth noting.
(Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
On the subject of the Englishman Pearce, there has been a surprising amount of commentary on the number of penalties blown – but I have to admit to much more surprise at seeing the total number of penalties blown was 28 – 17 to South Africa, 11 to Australia.
Because it just didn’t feel like an old-fashioned northern hemisphere refereeing whistle-fest to me. And if the teams and the players couldn’t get the message from Pearce in the very clear and direct terms he delivered them, then they really have no-one to blame but themselves.
The north-south divide in terms of officiating has certainly switched on the traditional axis (viewed with southern hemisphere eyes, obviously), and even though I don’t really pay attention to or keep notes on referees, it was very clear that Pearce similarly enjoys an excellent working combination with TMO countryman, Matthew Carley.
SANZAAR could do a lot worse than to confiscate their passports and put the Queensland authorities on their tail, to ensure they remain in place to officiate the rest of the tournament.
Samu Kerevi was again a handful, and it’s worth looking at his 17 runs for 46 metres with six defenders beaten alongside the numbers of Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am: a combined seven runs for 29 metres and one defender beaten between them.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Different styles of attack, very obviously.
But there’s some other numbers that need looking at in the context of Kerevi’s game, and it’s an issue that plagued his game up to his decision to head to Japan after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Len Ikitau carried the ball once for the game and didn’t register a single metre.
Kerevi is certainly making an impact, there’s no denying that. But his ability to link with his teammates on the outside remains a significant flaw in his game. It’s great that Andrew Kellaway is playing with the growing confidence to go looking for the ball, but the point is he and Ikitau shouldn’t have to.
It’s one of many areas the Wallabies still need to work on, though to their credit post-match both Rennie and Michael Hooper suggested they were a long way from satisfied with everything they did on the Gold Coast. Some of the decision-making in the final few minutes immediately springs to mind.
And obviously, the best time to keep working hard on your game is immediately after a memorable win.
So anyway, that’s done. Back onto Quade…
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Sometimes you can only play as well as the opposition let’s you.
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
2013 not 2003 (was typo)
Emery Ambrose
Roar Rookie
Kinda thought the the WBs beat them at there own game, WBs did really well to build into the game by keeping it tight early, taking a penalty kick to settle things and then going wide later in the 1st half. Great vision by Cooper for the kellaway try. Just his experience throughout the game definitely brought a lot more direction , you could see in the corner of the screen he was directing two phases ahead where he wanted guys. Will only help Lolesio being around him. Really want to see Hodge given a shot somewhere in that backline. I think SA played a game they wanted too and certainly had the WBs number in areas, just Pollard left quite a few points out there and a clean drop ball with no defenders around by the Am at the try line hurt them.
Combesy
Roar Guru
Brett interesting that you say Valentini had over 3m per carry, as I didnt think he looked that effective with ball in hand (which is his key skill). I thought the backrow (hooper excluded) looked well outgunned on the weekend. But no complaints, we won!! so happy to roll on
numpty
Roar Rookie
Who said I thought Ikitau was poor? Re-read my initial comment. I bet most roar voters didn't agree with your paisami ratings which would only agree with my initial comment too.
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
@Numpty I notice now in the Roar member DIY player ratings Ikatua got a 7 from most voters against SA. I gave him a 7 too so most voters agreed with me. For games against ABs he consistently got 6 from voters. For Paisami's Tests in 2021 I rated him a 1, 3, 3 and 4 :laughing:
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
@numpty ok we can agree to disagree :thumbup: Doing a few good things over 480 mins in 4 games is not relevant to his massive error rate and does not begin to compensate for it. I think you're blind to Paisami's error rate :laughing: But if he's again picked for WBs we can only hope that Kerevi never passes it to him hehehe
JC
Roar Rookie
That’s a worry. Hoping he catches enough on Sat for he and Kellaway to do some damage.
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
It's easy to be good, when the opposition is not played well.
Brett McKay
Expert
Handles, you're trying to create a black and white argument where there isn't one. My observations on Kerevi's passing and distribution game are that what he's showing now is not much different to what he was showing years ago. Again, that's not saying he can’t pass, just that it’s not a first instinct for him. So it's certainly based on more than one game, and it's also not cancelled out by the good things he did do on Sunday night..
Brett McKay
Expert
It wouldn't have been a frustration at the lack of coverage, Tony, because again, I've been producing a lot of it..
FatOldHalfback
Roar Rookie
Yeah ScottD this reflects what Sonny Bill said during the Perth test. SBW was asked how he was able to get away so many offloads under tackle pressure, to paraphrase, his reply was that support positioning was pracitised so much that he didn't even need to look because he knew the support would be there. I think one of the things QC didn't do so well was wrap around his 12 after passing. I know this is blasphemy on Roar but support running was something Foley always did much better than Cooper, sure Foley wasn't Mark Ella but then who is?
numpty
Roar Rookie
Yep plenty - Wright, Banks, Toomua off the top of my head. I think your grasp off hunter's error rate may be a little exaggerated waxy. Can you name a time that Ikitau crossed the chalk like hunter has? Or busted multiple tackles on the way to setting up a try like hunter did for kellaway? Or put a pinpoint grubber in like hunter did for Wright against the french?
Reds Harry
Roar Rookie
For sure. Also important ... Quade has never been afraid to take it to the line and on occassion go himself. So important the flyhalf at least shows the intent. I thought Noah looked a whole better when he did this (square shoulders, occasionally went himself) but you could see he was coached to shovel it on (out the back) - too often. Look at the kiwi flyhalfs Beauden and Richie and the running threat they bring.
TonyH
Roar Rookie
Apologies Brett. Your sterling work for Aunty is to be applauded, but only a few weeks ago I recall you posting a comment about your frustration with the lack of ABC TV coverage.
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
@numpty Ikatau also made some very good tackles. Hey ... anyone who doesn't give away 7 pointers, kicks over side line, gifts penalties, drops passes, and passes to no one about x10 per game is x10 better than Paisami imo :laughing: Can you name anyone who's played worse in any game against the French or ABs in 2021 ?
Lindsay Amner
Roar Guru
Ikatau’s problem is his hands. The wallabies ran drills right in front of me before Bledisloe 2 and he dropped the ball three times. He was the only player to drop it during these drills. He’s also knocked on during the games he’s played since. The natural ability to catch the thing is not strong with this one.
Lindsay Amner
Roar Guru
So England’s win in 03 must be rubbish as they didn’t beat the Lions after??? Not sure what the Lions have got to do with RWC wins but anyways… You usually need a bit of luck to win RWCs. You can make your own luck or just be lucky. The ABs were probably lucky in the final in 2011, but the Boks have been pretty lucky in each of their wins. In 07 and 19 they had dream runs to the final because of upsets in pool play. Those same upsets meant the ABs were unlucky and got the tough side of the draw, as they also did in 2011. Teams always struggle getting up for a second big game in a row. In 2011 the ABs got up massively for the Australian semi, and had little left for the final. In 2015 they were up massively for the French quarterfinal and scraped past SA in the Semi. In 2019 they got up massively to play Ireland (world #1 and their recent bogey team) and were down when they played England, who were massively up for it and then had nothing left for the final. SA on the other hand had not got out of second gear to play Japan and Wales and were able to rise massively for the final. If you look back through the history of world cups they are littered with regular instances of these up and down moments. Teams try to replicate the three big games but still struggle to overcome the downside of getting up for a perceived big match. But luck plays a big part in giving matches that don’t require a massive lift.
Lindsay Amner
Roar Guru
Brett, I didn’t say that. I think the Wallabies played really well, as they did at times against the ABs. With a little luck I think they could and should have won the first Bledisloe game. But I think they dropped down a class level to play the boks. My point was less about how well they played and more about the largely unearned hype about the world champs.
kgbagent
Roar Rookie
Dont worry Connor33 is noted for weirdly delusional and condescending dribble