The Wrap: We saw nine different ways to lose a game, and six of them from the Wallabies

It’s not all bad news for Australian rugby fans. Of nine different ways to lose a rugby game that were on show over the weekend, the Wallabies were only responsible for six of them.

The first belonged to the England women’s team… don’t telegraph your final lineout throw! A dominant feature of the World Cup, England’s lineout maul delivered 14 tries in total, four in the final, including one rumble all the way from the 22m line.

But the one they needed most, eluded them. Unconvincingly clinging to a 34-31 lead, the Black Ferns correctly determined that to concede the final lineout catch would be to concede the cup. And perhaps used to having everything run their way at lineout, it was almost as if England expected a free jump.

Problem was, there wouldn’t have been a person inside Eden Park who didn’t know the ball was going to the front; where it had gone moments earlier; precisely where the Black Ferns’ Joanah Ngan-Woo was thrown up into the air to pick it off.

For much of the game, New Zealand seemed intent on feeding England’s strength, inexplicably refusing to employ a long kicking game to clear the ball out of their own half.

As the match went on and the tension levels rose, New Zealand clammed up and started kicking the ball away in the attacking half, ceding the tactical battle and turning the match, just like their semi-final against France, into a flip of the coin.

With that coin flip falling the Black Ferns way, Wayne Smith was instantly anointed genius and hero for turning the fortunes of this team around in seven months. It was something that many judges – including this writer – hadn’t thought possible.

Smith’s biggest achievement was to provide his players with not only a skill-base, but the licence and self-belief to express themselves. In a tournament where a lot of the sides resembled each other, New Zealand offered a point of difference. At times it was clunky, but the quarter-final performance against Wales hinted at what was possible.

That approach was a double-edged sword; Stacey Fluhler’s thrilling try to open the second half vindication of New Zealand’s run-at-all-costs approach, but on other occasions, they were punished for poorly chosen options and failed skills execution.

In the end, the good outweighed the bad, and the strength of spirit contained within the side got them home in a thrilling and fitting contest.

By contrast, England were much clearer in their tactical objectives, albeit failing – by the narrowest of margins – to deliver on them. Their first loss since 2019 will sting more than a Yorkshireman’s skin after a day on Bondi Beach sans sunscreen, but after playing with 14 for much of the match, they return home with their heads high.

Spare a thought too for France and Canada, both of whom would have been worthy finalists; and in the case of France, quite possibly, winners.

This tournament marks the Women’s World Cup – and women’s rugby – coming of age. 45,000 fans at the final speaks volumes, with the quality of play much improved on previous iterations. All without it coming at the expense of goodwill and enjoyment.

The sense that players from all nations were pinching themselves at being there was palpable, and while that innocence will no doubt disappear in the future as professionalism spreads its tentacles and the stakes rise, for now at least, the product has proven to be a winner.

As for Australia, the message is clear. Compete on a professional level or accept a middle-of-the-road ranking. It’s not as if Rugby Australia doesn’t have the secret sauce; the Olympic Games sevens gold medal in 2016 came about largely because Australia recognised the need for, and adopted, a professional program before everyone else did.

But, just like adding a condiment to the hot chips at the Sydney Football Stadium, the cost of that secret sauce has gone through the roof. At precisely the same time as Rugby Australia’s debt. It’s a classic ‘can’t afford to, can’t afford not to’ situation.

The standard of refereeing at the tournament was uniformly high; helped, it must be said, by players unburdened by the testosterone of their male counterparts, who appeared less insistent on cheating and waging private battles.

One familiar gripe reared its head in the final however, when a TMO intervention forced a reversal of a lineout throw from England to New Zealand. While this correction was the ‘right’ call, because it is applied inconsistently, the notion that a sideline official should arbitrarily step in and correct certain decisions but not others – if they have time and don’t interrupt the flow of the game – is troublesome.

After conspiring to lose from a winning position last week against France, the Wallabies found another six ways to lose this week against Italy, 28-27, their first defeat in 19 matches between the two nations.

Ange Capuozzo of Italy celebrates  (Photo by Federugby/Getty Images)

Top of the list was the Wallabies old, familiar nemesis; discipline. Brendon Pickerill can be an officious referee on occasion, but the stream of penalties against the Wallabies can hardly be argued.

Examples abound, but Jake Gordon and Tom Robertson playing opponents off the ball were brain-dead acts that hurt a side that keeps promising to do better, but never does.

Next was the Wallabies slipshod commitment to the breakdown, due in large part to a loose forward trio that lacked any sense of cohesion. With Pete Samu and Ned Hanigan both intent on stamping their mark on the match as wide ball runners, it was as if little mind had been paid to who was going to secure the ball in the first place.

A third reason was the Wallabies midfield failing to come to terms with the Italian backline’s second wave of runners; coming up empty twice, as Ange Capuozzo breezed his way to the try-line.

This dove-tails nicely with the fourth reason; sometimes your opponent plays better than you on the day. While the Wallabies were only a few centimetres away from stealing the match at the death, in truth, this would have been an injustice.

Like a dog laying claim to a new neighbourhood, the Italian goal-kickers sprayed the ball in all directions; very nearly undoing all of the good work going on around them.

Italy’s 22 years in the 6 Nations championship has mostly been marked by mediocrity. But with a solid set-piece and keen tactical awareness, backed by clinical execution at the key moment the hammer was put down, these were good signs for Kieran Crowley’s team.

Test rugby isn’t called Test rugby for nothing, and while the Wallabies flocked to Ben Donaldson to console him and ensure that he wasn’t blamed personally for the defeat, the raw fact is that his missed conversion of Cadeyrn Neville’s last gasp try was the difference between a one-point loss and a one-point win. Chalk up reason number five.

The sixth way is one that many fans are frustrated with; the inability of the Wallabies to settle on a consistent selection strategy.

To some extent, the Wallabies have been provided with a leave pass all year, courtesy of an injury toll that has accounted for all of Australia’s black cats and broken mirrors. And with a punishing five-Test schedule and Italy sandwiched in-between the two heavyweights, France and Ireland, this was always going to be the place where squad depth was mined.

Nevertheless, it is time for the dial to shift from ‘revolving door’ to somewhere nearer ‘pick and stick’. The Wallabies have used 65 players in the last two years. If there are players in the current group who are not going to deliver Australia a World Cup next year – and there are more than a few – then hard decisions need to be made.

Last week, coach Dave Rennie explained the late replacement of playmaker Bernard Foley by Reece Hodge as being due to Foley’s exhaustion. Fair enough if that was the case, although I’m not sure that applied with respect to Noah Lolesio’s late replacement by Donaldson.

Head coach of Australia Dave Rennie (Photo by Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)

No knock is intended on Donaldson, who is a fine young player, and who looks to have the potential to step up to Test level. But his late injection felt less like a quest for game-changing spark from the bench, and more like rewarding a bench player with a cap for all his trouble.

This is not something unique to the Wallabies; ask Stephen Perofeta about his nonsensical debut against Argentina in Christchurch. But whatever one’s views on Lolesio, with him carrying strongly to the line and in a solid goal-kicking groove, the tougher call to slap Donaldson on the back, apologise and wish him better luck getting on next time, might have been the better move.

Positives for Australia? Few, but Will Skelton edged closer to locking up the third overseas pick for the World Cup squad, alongside Samu Kerevi and Marika Koroibete. What this means for Quade Cooper, and to a lesser extent, players like Rory Arnold and Tom Banks remains to be seen.

What odds some creative ‘exemption’ clauses coming into play next season?

Rebels fans also got a sneak preview of their new signing Monty Ioane, and must have liked what they saw; Ioane a slick contributor to Capouzzo’s brace of tries.

So that’s seven ways to lose a match; six of them mastered by the Wallabies. The eighth is to suffer a World Rugby conspiracy such as the one against South Africa; referee Wayne Barnes and a mysterious communications failure once again sending Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus to social media to stoke things up.

Perhaps the best thing to be said about Barnes’ decision to award a wriggling, worm-burning try to France’s Sipili Falatea, crucial in securing their 30-26 win, was that it gave the benefit of any doubt to the attacking side. It was, undoubtedly, a generous read of what others saw as a clear double movement.

In different hands, decisions like this – perhaps an Australian being hurried along in Melbourne, or Lion Ken Owens being adjudged ‘accidentally’ offside against New Zealand – sting for as long as it takes the aggrieved to realise these are merely rugby’s glorious imperfections.

The shame is that Erasmus’ players deserve better than to be pitched as victims of incompetence and unfairness. The Boks pack battled manfully, a man short, after the early red card shown to Pieter-Steph du Toit, and even their motley crew of back-up goal kickers delivered, in what was a classic, hard-man’s Test match.

Perhaps Erasmus might be better placed to advise Kwagga Smith not to push his teammates into contact areas? Or ponder why his side is so consistently capable of physically dominating proceedings without extracting full value on the scoreboard?

But don’t hold your breath.

At Murrayfield, a lively Scotland entered the final quarter 23-14 ahead of the All Blacks, with momentum and the run of play all their way. A massive upset, Scotland’s first ever win against New Zealand, was well and truly on the cards.

But the ninth way to lose a rugby match kicked in; as well as Scotland had scrapped and hustled in behind the impressive Duhan van der Merwe, they were overcome by the weight of history, not truly believing that they were the anointed history makers.

To be fair, they weren’t helped by a harsh yellow card decision against Jack Dempsey, who appeared to be making a genuine attempt to wrap in a tackle, but with the All Blacks finally playing with urgency and continuity, normal order – New Zealand’s 30th win against Scotland – was made complete, 31-23.

This All Blacks’ side has an uncanny ability to switch on and off, the gulf between their best and worst a massive one. But with TJ Perenara providing much-needed direction and composure, and Codie Taylor again confirming his return to form, depth off their bench remains a key strength.