Progress in Paris, now Wallabies need to show it’s not a one off

This one-point loss was a different kind of heartbreak to the Melbourne Bledisloe loss.

Whereas the 39-38 loss to New Zealand left Australians baying for the blood of a Frenchman, the 30-29 loss to a lot more Frenchmen just doesn’t carry the same sort of anger and angst.

Though I’m sure you could pull Jaco Peyper’s handling of the game apart if you really wanted to, this loss came down entirely because of the collective actions of the Wallabies themselves, and not the whim of officialdom.

It was welcome relief on Sunday to see precious little criticism of refereeing after this particular loss.

There was still anger and angst, of course there was, but it was different. This anger and angst feels more self-inflicted, and in a weird kind of way, it makes it a whole lot easier to digest.

I can’t speak for Jim or Harry, but I found this week’s Instant Reaction a lot easier than the Melbourne edition. A lot less ranty, and certainly not directed at one person exclusively. I didn’t feel like I needed a stiff drink.

So when I said on Sunday morning’s podcast that the Wallabies will probably take more out of the Paris loss than out of the Murrayfield win, it wasn’t hard to see why.

An error-strewn outfit, who still missed 28 tackles, and still conceded nine turnovers and eight breakdown steals, and scored one of the tries of 2022, nearly beat Les Bleus at the Stade de France where they haven’t lost since March last year.

And there is still so much to improve, that maybe that’s why there’s far more upside to this performance than the win over the Scots.

But now the Aussies have got to show the improvements. There can’t be any regression against Italy.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Love the one percenters
One of the staple pieces of vision of any AFL team training at any point of the year is groups of players – anywhere from three up to probably six or eight – standing in a pretty tight circular configuration and bumping short handballs to the bloke beside them.

To the left, then to the right, or vice versa, and back again. Often a couple of balls going at once. All designed to make short, sharp, instinctive handballs in traffic an unconscious act. Muscle memory, almost.

Every player will do that same drill multiple times a week, every week of the year from preseason to grand final day.

Tom Fullarton (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

I’m sure the Wallabies – and all our professional teams, for that matter – do lots of skill-building drills every week for the same reasons as any other professional sporting pursuit. I’d be stunned if they weren’t.

But there’s always room for improvement.

So many of Australia’s turnover errors were little things – misdirected passes, poor ruck-ball presentation, lineout throws, shanked kicks, misdirected kicks, all of them.

Can the Wallabies say they were happy with their execution of the ‘little things’ against France? I’d be surprised.

Will they spend this week and every week from here re-loving the one percenters? I’d hope so.

All we are saying… is give youth a chance
I feel like I’m repeating myself with this, so I’ll keep it to the point.

The young guys must play this week against Italy. There are still seven on tour yet to see any action, and that can’t be allowed to extend into a fourth week.

Play the youngsters against Italy, then dangle the carrot of Ireland at Lansdowne Road in front of them. Be bold or willing enough to let them earn another game next week. And then the week after that in Cardiff.

I don’t know where I read it on Sunday but I absolutely agree with it: we can cop rookie mistakes from actual rookies. So let them learn their lessons and add to their development on the pitch wearing a gold jersey.

Enough holding tackle pads in training shirts when experience amounts to nothing on the field.

There is no ‘try’ in the set piece
“Do or do not. There is no try.”

Wise words from an old master, training his frustrated underling in a swamp far, far away.

But that has to be the attitude around the set piece, because it remains a continual source of possible exploitation for opposition forward packs.

While ever scrums remain at the whim of referees, every scrum needs to be accurate in terms of the picture presented.

Lineouts in the final minutes have to be viewed the same way as a lineout in the first. Arguably, they’re even more important when trying to close out a game with a narrow lead. There cannot be too many variables, or too much drop off in quality once the bench is in play.

Never mind World Cup ambitions, you might not win even just a Test with an accurate set piece – but you definitely won’t win one without it.

Turn pressure into more pressure
Too many times in the last two weeks, the Wallabies have fallen to their own scoreboard pressure while leading in the last ten minutes of games, when it really should be the other way around.

Last week against Scotland, it was lost restarts, knock-ons, scrum penalties, running out of room against sidelines, deliberate knockdowns and ruck penalties. All while leading.

This weekend against France it was similar. Tackles off the ball, hitting lineout jumpers before mauls were set, kicks charged down followed by even worse kicks with players in front, and shanked restarts. Again, all while leading.

It’s bad enough when decision making is poor when trailing on the scoreboard, but it’s surely worse when that poor decision-making comes while leading on the scoreboard.

The non-negotiable for Italy
Must. Start. Well.

That simple. There’s too much evidence around this playing group over the last two years being poor game-chasers, so the last thing they can let the Azzurri do is front-run.

Of the 14 losses over the last two seasons, the Wallabies trailed at halftime in 13 of them, and the other one was a draw. Of the 11 wins in that same period, they’ve come from behind just twice.

There was so much to take out of the France loss, and it will remain a game they really should have won.

So they must start well against Italy. They can’t afford not to.