I’m probably gonna cop a bit of slack for this column because we are all tired of hearing the old “We’re getting there” or “They’re so close to clicking”, but here goes anyway.
As Wallabies fans we must recognise the positive signs out of the last few weeks. This is not a column defending Dave Rennie or any of his staff and players, but rather one that points out that Wallabies are not in crisis and capable of great things.
No doubt about it: the Wallabies’ performance at Eden Park was their worst this year and a new low. They coughed up the ball too often conceding 17 turnovers and countless clumsy penalties, practically handing the All Blacks victory.
But can you really dash all hope built in the last week because the Wallabies repeated what many teams in the past have done at Eden Park? No, of course not.
It must be also recognised that it is still only a little over one week on from arguably the Wallabies’ best performance all year, maybe even in years. This up and down strike rate has been the narrative of Dave Rennie’s reign in the top job and is painful to watch at times, but has also produced some of the best Wallabies rugby in some time and is necessary if we want to see a return of the glory days.
Brett McKay, Harry Jones, Jim Tucker and Tony Harper pick the bones of another Bledisloe loss in an Instant Reaction podcast
A question that must be asked is: are we in a better place than we were in 2020?
The answer to that is yes.
Just look at the the three standout games the Wallabies had in The Rugby Championship. The Aussies, despite losing inspirational captain Michael Hooper and flyhalf Quade Cooper by the 35-minute mark, marched to a bonus point victory over a very capable Pumas side.
They then completely dominated the Boks in Adelaide in what was described as their most complete performance of the Rennie Era.
Two weeks later they produced an incredible comeback to almost stun the All Blacks in Melbourne. The rugby they played in that golden 20 minutes was the best we’d seen since at least 2015.
Of course all three of these promising shifts were punctuated by humbling losses, bringing the players crashing back to Earth along with their loyal fans.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
The media then returned to this old storyline of the Wallabies are dead, one week after proclaiming their resurrection.
The fact of the matter is that the Wallabies are inconsistent and struggle to string two good performances together. Not incapable but rather unreliable.
The cause of this is for someone on a much larger salary than me to figure out and the solution will prove to be game-changing, for not only the national team, but for the game in Australia.
Fans must realise that Wallabies at their best can beat anyone, and the precursor to every great team is a period of growth and development. This includes showing glimpses of capability mixed with a lack of class to know how to win the big moments.
The ability to win those tight games comes with two things: experience and a sense of identity. Keeping the same players together and playing the same game plan will lead to sense of identity; something to go back to when it all falls apart.
Rennie is certainly onto the identity part, persisting with a running style of rugby that makes the Wallabies so entertaining to watch at times. But now he must look to the youth, especially in the halves.
Australia must prioritise youth now by giving minutes to younger players such as Noah Lolesio and Tate McDermott. Blood these young guns and let them grow together and build a combination.
We know what Lolesio is capable of, just look at his games against England and South Africa, while McDermott has the potential to be one of the best running halfbacks in the game. Give these two (and others) time, and you will see combinations grow in years to come.
As the current crop of players rack up more caps, experience will come, along with better decision-making and ability to win big moments. This is the journey.
2023 won’t be the year of the Wallaby, but 2027 might be. It is time to start building a team for the home World Cup, so that by the time it comes around they are seasoned Test players. The building blocks are there, they just need to be put in place.
Two Cents
Guest
Well, I guess, except for the fact that I'm talking about a professional or semi-professional competition above the club level but below the Super Rugby. Schoolboys is below club level and can't be professional for obvious reasons.
Two Cents
Guest
Yeah, I was way off. The number of players in registered clubs is about 87000. This figure doesn't include schools and universities (except for those that are registered as clubs) so the total figure probably jumps up to somewhere around 110000.
Two Cents
Guest
I appreciate that you liked my post and that you agreed with what I was saying. Your second statement was only incongruent because you said that the high penalty counts seen from the Wallabies are because of a prejudice that match officials have regarding Australian discipline and you posited that this is due to referees adjudicating on a balance of probabilities rather than in response to what they are seeing in front of them. I don't agree with that particular statement, that is all.
Redbeard
Roar Rookie
Hi Two Cents, My second statement is not inconsistent with what you are saying about the disturbing trend towards committing penalties by Australian rugby sides.
Jimbo81
Roar Rookie
watching - not posting
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
his ability as a coach is unquestionable And yet the evidence in front of us says otherwise. as he has got more out of the Wallabies at times than most coaches have ever Again... not seeing it. There are patches of brilliance... but we've always had patches of brilliance. It's the patches of complete ... whatever the opposite of brilliance is... that are cruelling us, and on Rennie's watched we've turned in some real stinkers. I think we just need to persevere. On this I point I agree although the reasons we probably do not. We have almost zero chance of making the RWC final, and we may even struggle to make it past the QF, but the campaign is over and we're just one of the teams making up the numbers. No point pretending, we should just let Rennie ride out his contract and the attention beyond that should go to what's next. 2027.
Stuart White
Roar Rookie
Its nowhere near that level. If I recall it's about 86,000 at all levels in Aus. South Africa have about 600,000. My comment relates to School boy competition that fuels the grass roots development of rugby players. NZ, SA and England lead the way with that. Aus have a long way to go. I think your last comment is actually agreeing with me ...we need a national Schoolboy competition to drive grassroots development.
Two Cents
Guest
"Handful of elite GPS schools"? I don't recall exactly how many registered players there are in Australia but it is somewhere between 630,000 and 650,000. Are you going to tell me or anyone else that all of those players play for "elite GPS schools"? And a national schoolboy competition would not address any of the deficiencies that you and many others seem to think are central to why Australian rugby has been so uncompetitive for 20 years.
Two Cents
Guest
Fair point
Two Cents
Guest
I tend to disagree with your second statement because if you look at most of the games from say the last 5 years, there has been a disturbing positive trend across Australian Super franchises and Wallabies squads committing penalties and fouls, including plenty of dubious or suspect calls in their favour. The lack of performance has been neither hindered nor aided by the inconsistency of referees. This should instead indicate a core problem in the Australian rugby program at all levels that is tolerating players with soft character and lack of resilience in favour of whatever "statistics" they can bring to the game. Such was in plain sight on Saturday. How is it that after 2 minutes of game time, we already had a man in the bin? I had to actually check that I was watching Australia play and not another Pacific nation. Why has this total absence of composure become so commonplace in Australian sides? It is both baffling and extremely vexing that this very basic element of the game has seen not only no improvement, but a deepening into the soul of Australian rugby over the last 20 years. And, worst of all, I can't see it ending anytime soon.
AndyS
Guest
Interesting analogy. Trench warfare was past its use-by date before WWI, having failed to account for the evolution in weaponry. The result was a generation of young men sent over the top into machine gun fire pointlessly, because these in charge were still living in the past and unable to adapt. So probably a reasonable parallel to Australian rugby, but anyone who wanted to be in one of those trenches waiting for the whistle or thought it was a good or worthwhile place to be, was probably an idiot.
Stuart White
Roar Rookie
Have you watched the wallabies over the 10 years? Hard not to be negative. Now #9 in the world. Feel good about that - NOT!
Stuart White
Roar Rookie
I think Australian Rugby has been in crisis for 15 years....the most visible manifestation is the wallaby performances but it goes way deeper. Not enough grass roots development, other than a handful of elite GPS schools there is no real school boy competition. In England, South Africa and New Zealand this is heart of breeding next generation rugby players. If we are serious about growing the game and building a deep talent pool we simply MUST fix that. AFL and Soccer are outgunning Union in that department by a country mile! Rugby leadership failed to leverage the glory days of the "Eales" era to set us up for the future. Its been a failure in administrative leadership. Thats the harsh truth!
Reframe
Roar Rookie
To be completely honest the players earnt the silverware not Foster. Condolences indeed, thanks :thumbup: :happy:
Redbeard
Roar Rookie
To me the current Wallabies journey started about 30 years , the problem is that they don’t know where they are going nor where they have been. Too many Wallaby top-up contracts made for all the wrong reasons; too little support for grass roots . Too many SR coaches making wrong-headed decisions and over-coaching at SR and Wobblies level. Rugby “ nous” and natural talent are present at club level,, but what happens next ? The “pathways” presented to aspiring talent in Oz, typically shows those players the “international door”!
Redbeard
Roar Rookie
Well said Two Cents. To me even the refs will penalise Australia first, because they know we are the team most likely to have offended! (Rightly or wrongly, because that is their expectation)
Mark
Guest
As a kiwi i think Wallabies currently have some awesome players and will continue to gel .
Two Cents
Guest
I can understand why you might think that but you can generally tell whether someone is genuinely a fan or not if they try to extol the virtues of a sport other then rugby or are talking only about rugby. In any case, a moot observation. There's a general sense of stagnation about the Wallabies and I think people who would like to see a return to old days where we were competitive are just tired of these constant disappointments and failure. I would genuinely like to see the Wallabies play intelligent, flowing rugby like they once did. But this seems like a impossible dream and that the best years for this team are consigned to an increasingly distant past.
Two Cents
Guest
The messiah approach to coaches applies also to players it seems. Because of the catastrophic rate of injuries in the Wallabies, they have run out options for their "choice" players and have no alternative but to experiment with selections. Always a mixed bag. Failure has probably become entrenched in some ways into the mentality of the Wallabies program as it has been such a long time since we have enjoyed any success at all. I think our last major was 2015 under Deans when we won the RC that year ahead of the World Cup. That loss, however, was very painful to watch even if it was against a far superior team. I'm not really sure what you could do to fundamentally change the negative culture and recapture the spirit of Australian rugby. But whatever they have been doing and whatever they are doing is clearly not working. And, perhaps worst of all, Australia's failings are potentially masking the vulnerabilities of the ABs as Foster now has all the silverware along with a positive record to close out the year. I guess you guys will be stuck with him for the foreseeable future. My condolences.
Fin
Roar Rookie
Jimbo I thought you said you were done until Rennie and McKellar were sacked? You only lasted 14 and half hours and you’re back on. I think you might have a problem.