Ireland’s 29-20 win over the All Blacks on the weekend was a joy to watch.
Both teams played terrific rugby and it was a great advertisement for the game. The interplay of passing between both teams’ forwards and backs was superb.
After this brilliant match of rugby, I sat down to watch the Wallabies’ 32-15 loss to England.
It was like night and day. The match was an error-driven, penalty-filled affair that could turn you off the game for good.
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Ben Darwin, the former Wallabies prop, has a company called Gain Line Analytics, which analyses team performance.
Their research has shown that the performance of a team is directly linked to the cohesion of that team, whether it be in a corporate or sporting environment.
He made this comment on this Twitter after the withdrawl of the Japan-based players:
Going by the two games I saw on the weekend, Darwin might be onto something.
Here is how many different provincial teams each country had players from:
Ireland: four
New Zealand: four
England: ten
Australia: ten
On top of that, 13 of the Ireland 23 came from their top provincial team Leinster with another six from their second top team Munster.
Eight of the New Zealand 22 came from their top team the Crusaders and another seven from their second top team the Blues.
If you look at all the great international teams of the past few decades, they are generally made up of a lot of players from one provincial team.
The Wallabies’ golden era team of the late ’90s and early 2000s was packed full of Brumbies.
The All Blacks team that won the 2011 and 2015 World Cups had many Crusaders in their line-up.
Which provincial team did we select the most players from? Eight came from the Brumbies.
(Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
But wait a minute, the Reds won the Australian Super Rugby comp and in fact have beaten the Brumbies three times this year.
There were only three Reds players in our 23, the same number as the Waratahs, who didn’t win a game all season! That just doesn’t add up.
The nine-ten combination is one of the key areas in rugby. We started with a Red James O’Connor at ten and a Brumby Nic White at nine.
We finished with the opposite – Noah Lolesio, a Brumby, at ten and Tate McDermott, a Red, at nine.
Surely with all the disruption already present in the team it would have been wiser to keep the same combos as Super Rugby?
Ireland was the stand-out team of the weekend. They started with Jonathan Sexton and Jamison Gibson-Park from Leinster and finished with Joey Carbery and Conor Murray from Munster. They are some logical selections.
(Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Our five wins in a row looked like the team was building some good momentum. But our three Japan-based players have now left the side. Add in five European players and a few injuries and it looks like the team is back to square one.
Now the injuries definitely haven’t helped us, but only 12 of the 23 on the weekend played in our great 30-17 win over the South Africans at Suncorp.
A lot of people were calling for the scrapping of the Giteau law but we have already seen the major problems with bringing players in and out of team.
The five overseas players we brought in for this game all came from five different clubs.
Will Skelton has been overseas since 2017. He has hardly played a game with most of the squad. It’s a pretty tough ask to come into a new team with a week or two training and perform at a top level.
Do we really want to turn into Fiji? Fiji has plenty of rugby talent and a large number of players to draw from but their players are dispersed all over the globe.
They have to struggle with clubs for releases from contracts. Very few players have even played with each other before going into camp. They don’t get the chance to build any cohesion or combinations.
I don’t really know what the answer is but the more I think about it, the more I think Ben Darwin is right and we need to work on team cohesion and stick with combinations that have some experience with each other.
What do you think?
Lichtfield
Roar Rookie
I think, depending on how they want to play, that Queensland could look at 10 - Stewart, 12 - Paisami, 13 - Petaia and 15 - JOC. Though it seems more likely it would be 10 - JOC, 12 -Stewart, 13 - Paisami and 15 - Petaia. I would probably go with No. 2 rather than No. 1. I am really uncertain about Petaia at fullback. Nothing against him personally. There are two reasons. No. 1 I still remember one of his first games against the Crusaders and they played him at 13 and he had a b@ll tearer of a game - and I just think that may be his natural position. No.2 I have a theory, and I have nothing particularly to base it on other than my own observations over time, that fullback is a place where it is more difficult to avoid injuries, particularly those soft tissue leg injuries, hamstring and groin tears, those sorts of things. I just feel that the position requires more changes of pace and direction , long kicking, stop start and turning etc and I am concerned that Petaia's body may not be up to it. I think it seems to be a maturity (physical) issue with him and he will come good in time.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
A really easy solution is a super rugby AU cup competition that runs alongside the rugby championship where clubs can bolster their squads with talent from QRU hospital cup and Shute Shield. Maybe try and create a 6th Rugby Oz development side that can focus on giving lots of u/20s wallabies a run too.
KaivitiBati
Guest
Agree, Australia should start developing players above club level & below Super where NRC used to be. NRC was a good development competition that identified players that can move onto Super Rugby & Wallabies. Considering it was cost neutral, there was nothing to lose & lots to gain. 1) Identify players that can move onto Super Rugby 2) Identify players that can play for the Aussie 7s 3) Keep players in Australia when not selected for International duty rather than seek contracts in Europe & Japan 4) Allows players from Super Rugby & Club to play with & against each other allowing players from Club rugby to develop into Super Rugby Players 5) Winner of NRC could potentially go up against the winner of the NPC allowing greater exposure for players at club level & making the competition more meaningful or maybe an NRC v NPC all stars match 6) Chuck in a Pacific team or 2 which will allow RA to receive money from the DFAT like NSWRL & QRL receive providing some financial relief
Redbeard
Roar Rookie
In view of our three game demolition whilst in Europe, this article is spot on ! Our eight Brumby players and only three Reds in the touring 23 show that it is a sh*t show, that DR and RA are orchestrating.
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Good try mate
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
“ we need to work on team cohesion and stick with combinations” Yes Bent, but such a priority stretches farther than WB selection policy. The design of all levels of pro competition absolve to WB contenders comes into play.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Rob, This issue has been wrestled with by a few of us. https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/10/01/to-be-or-not-to-wallaby-a-question-posed-to-tier-2-by-the-rennie-vation-of-tier-1-rugby/amp/
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
A healthy wallabies is great for the Bledisloe and Tri Nations. Which sells out games in NZ and increases the tv rights money. So in a way, NZR should see it as an opportunity not a hinderance
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
I have always thought Hunter is a better 13 than 12. Stewart is the perfect 12 needed for JOCs game as he can decent that channel, run a good crash ball and take the distribution pressure of JOC. This opens up the reds back 3 and Hunter. With Hunter at 12, the link to the outside backs is limited. Bring in QC with his long passing game and player like Karevi and Hunter can play smash ball all day. I would like to see Simone from the brumbies given a crack at 12 with JOC for to see if he can open up the outside backs.
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Yeah but realistically they aren’t a threat to the ABs. RA needs to set the pathway for Aus rugby not NZ
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
That again doesn’t make sense because the NPC produces plenty of players for Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Maybe 1 or 2 in some teams but that’d be all. I’m not sure that while some may want more why would the NZRFU give up their pathways for the development of their own players?
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
I think that is a bit short-sighted. We're not talking about 100s of players. We are talking about the super rugby players who aren't in the Wallabies picture who have potential. Tim Anstee would have been a great example of someone who should have gone. Hamish Stewart another. Ben Donaldson. I also think many of the NPC sides would absolutely love a few more extra bodies to improve their depth and experience.
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Not sure NZ wants a whole lot of Australian players go over and take game time from the development of their ow. We might get the odd one or two but if I was NZ I would restrict the amount permitted to come over
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
While I think you make a good point for combinations and that in some cases they do work better I think good players should be able to combine well regardless of who they play for. The best backline the Wallabies had this year was White (Brumbies), QC (club rugby), Kerevi (Reds but not for a while) Ikitau (Brumbies) so I'm not so sure the combinations are as important as the quality of the players. Maybe the White/Lolesio and Tate/JOC combination would have worked better but it would have still had a lack of combination for the 10/12, 12/13 and everywhere else. Personally I think use combinations if they are your best players in each of those positions but otherwise go for the best individual in each position as they should be able to work with anyone. If they can't then you really have to ask "are they the best"?
Rob
Guest
Well NZR did suggest they drop down to 2 or 3 teams from 5 but Aus wouldn't have a bar of it.
Adam
Guest
The wallabies have turned into the socceroos of twenty years ago when we were beat by everyone and all 23 players played across the globe! Then something happened and the socceroos started to progress…RA should take note
Anwar
Guest
Spot on
Yusuf
Guest
Sure not good ides
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
As someone who grew up in the Melbourne system and also having seen so much good young Melbourne talent leave to go overseas etc. I don’t have much faith in the Rebels coaches haha however with Gordon I can’t seem them being able to ignore his talents