The Wrap: Wallabies’ inability to win the big moments a real pain in the neck

Who would have believed it? The Wallabies, for the third time in three weeks, failing to nail a big play in the final minutes to turn a narrow loss into a much-needed victory?

And who’d have believed the Wallabies contributing to their own downfall, courtesy of ill-discipline? Failings that are at times so egregious, so needless, they almost defy discussion?

In a tight match, as this 13-10 affair was throughout, focus invariably centres on events at the end of the match. The moments where pressure, fatigue and weight of expectation collide, which feed into tension levels that envelop all but the most cold-blooded and nerveless players and officials.

But as frantic and confounding as this denouement was, the key moment in this match played out as early as the third minute, when a smart try to Wallabies halfback Nic White was rubbed out due to a foul cleanout by hooker Dave Porecki.

Almost certainly, Porecki’s action had no impact on the play; White would have scored regardless. But this was more than seven points spurned, to be made up later on. This was the match being flushed away when it had barely started.

And who’d have believed that even after Porecki’s misdemeanour, the Wallabies would double down on the neck rolls? Sorry, make that quadruple down; Cadeyrn Neville, Len Ikitau, then Folau Fainga’a costing their side hard won possession and territory.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

From the outside, it is always difficult to know where the precise lines of responsibility fall between players and coaches. No coach sends his players out to commit stupid fouls like these, most certainly not after the referee has issued a general warning to all players to keep away from the head and neck.

The piece Dave Rennie can control however, is selection. Until players are held accountable – read, have their Test careers terminated – for ill-disciplined acts, then those failings will continue to be repeated, accompanied of course by the requisite mea culpa and a shallow promise to do better next time.

For an indicator on how seriously the Wallabies are about addressing their chronic discipline issues, mark down the name Folau Fainga’a and watch carefully when the Wallabies’ first squad for 2023 is announced.

As it happened, the Wallabies, with a two-man deficit, managed a difficult period either side of half-time creditably, aided by Ireland halfback Jamison Gibson-Park twice electing to play too close to the touchline, too soon, instead of allowing his numerical advantage to run its course.

Although well intended, so as to guard against cynical manipulation, the best thing that can be said about rugby’s double-jeopardy law – where a side that causes the match to go to uncontested scrums as a result of foul play loses two players instead of one – is that in this case, it had no bearing on the result.

What was impactful was the defensive efforts of both sides; Ireland, as ever, well-connected and extremely hard to break down. The Wallabies too, manned up well, with Michael Hooper and Andrew Kellaway prominent in their defensive intensity.

Ireland’s attack lacked the fizz of their better recent efforts; flyhalf Jack Crowley competent on debut but a half-yard slower in execution than late casualty, Johnny Sexton. Sexton turns 38 before next year’s World Cup. Is there another player upon whose health and nation’s fortunes swing so heavily?

Eventually, both sides found a way to score; Bundee Aki – who appears to have mislaid his neck somewhere in the gym – squeezing over in the 66th minute, before the Wallabies responded just four minutes later.

Here was probably the best moment of the Wallabies’ season. Responding to falling behind 10-3, Will Skelton was prominent twice in the lead-up, before space was engineered for Jordan Petaia to finish.

In the disappointment that would follow, this is where green shoots are to be found for Australia; all of the back three delivering confident, assured performances (along with that other Australian winger, Mack Hansen), and Petaia finally delivering on his potential at centre.

Despite losing Porecki, Hunter Paisami and Rob Valetini (the Wallabies’ only real ball-carrying presence in the first half), the Wallabies’ coaching team still looked to have timed their run perfectly; the match still in the balance when Skelton and Taniela Tupou were injected to provide ‘go forward’, final-quarter thrust.

But the disaster that was Tupou crumpling into a heap without a hand being laid on him cannot be overstated, no matter Alan Ala’alatoa’s manful effort to come back on.

Rennie’s receding win/loss ratio will no doubt be rolled out again this week, and more quotes will be sought from Rugby Australia board members. But any criticism that doesn’t take into account the nature and timing of the Wallabies injuries borders on disingenuous.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

What cannot be escaped, however, is that if there has not been a thorough review of the Wallabies’ strength and conditioning undertaken already, there must certainly be one underway the minute time is called next week, in Cardiff.

Sometimes there is just no accounting for rotten luck. Everyone knows that a coin tossed 50 times for 50 heads still has an equal chance of coming up heads on the 51st toss. But no side is this unlucky.

Refusing to channel their inner England, the Wallabies declined to play for a draw, and instead sought to win the match with a last-gasp try. While there can be no complaints about their second attempt being snuffed out, assistant referee James Doleman’s intrusion into a lineout maul drive, to penalise Jake Gordon for incorrect entry, seemed selective, arbitrary and overly pedantic.

Nonetheless, this Wallabies side has developed a knack for this kind of non-execution on big plays. If it wasn’t Gordon who wouldn’t bet that it would have been someone or something else?

Assuming enough fit players make the trip to Cardiff, there remains a final opportunity to salvage something from the season. Following Wales’ 12-13 loss to Georgia, the mood in the valleys will be part embarrassment, part despair.

But given the topsy-turvy nature of this international season, Wales losing this week kind of feels like more bad news for the Wallabies.

Also triggering for Wallabies fans was the sight of Mathieu Raynal calling “we play” at Twickenham. A touch ironic perhaps, given Raynal’s propensity for not allowing much room for play in between the 28 penalties he dished out, equally to England and New Zealand.

It’s common for teams to come away from a draw with an overwhelming sense of anti-climax, frustrated by a ‘nothing’ outcome which ultimately represents wasted effort.

I suspect that, over time, both sides will take more from their 25-25 draw than what they were initially prepared to let on.

For 70 minutes, the All Black forward pack had the better of an opposition who, at their last meeting, in Yokohama in 2019, convincingly wiped them off the park, en route to the World Cup final.

No matter the tame finish, the assured combativeness of the forward play – the quality of the line-out maul drive and defence in particular – shows that Jason Ryan has this pack (mostly) headed in the right direction.

Perhaps the only real quibble is that more pressure wasn’t placed on the edge and in behind England’s ruck, via more dynamic pick and go; the tactic that single-handedly brought the All Blacks’ season back from the brink, in Johannesburg.

Conversely, England, for the most part outplayed, forced by a 19-point deficit to hand the keys to Marcus Smith and throw caution to the wind, found that they had the chops to not only mix it with the All Blacks, but finish over the top of them.

That was due in large part to winger Jonny May – in a Movember tribute to Freddie Mercury – injecting himself into the match with telling effect, as the All Blacks, playing the final 10 minutes with 14 men, grew increasingly passive.

This was classic Eddie Jones; knives being sharpened one minute, then in a flash, the master coach back in full control of the chariot.

As for whether England should have attempted to win from the final play? That’s mostly all woulda, coulda, shoulda from us armchair experts. Coming from so far behind, it’s fair to assume England felt they had already secured their reward and regained their self-belief.

(Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

But… taking possession in a handy midfield position, against a seemingly frozen 14-man opposition, having found the pace of the game, executing sharply, with confidence levels sky high? That’s play on, every day of the week.

The All Blacks’ late meltdown is, of course, a concern. No matter their spotty performances over the last 12 months, All Blacks sides simply do not throw games away from winning positions as strong as this one; regardless of how well the opposition plays.

Let’s not forget too, that England was effectively 21-0 down in the 17th minute – and surely out of the contest – before Rieko Ioane momentarily thought he was wearing a Wallabies jersey, cancelling out his own try with a needless neck roll.

That’s why, when the dust settles on a crazy season where the coach was sacked and reinstated in the one breath, in part saved by the assistant of the man who would have replaced him; where fans and sections of the media lost their good grace and sense of perspective in the rush to vilify him; and where the All Blacks found themselves in the uncharted territory of no longer being New Zealand’s favourite rugby team, a flawed 25-25 draw will serve the All Blacks better than the runaway points fest that looked on the cards early.

(Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

In other matches, South Africa and Scotland cranked up the try-scoring, dealing to Italy 63-21 and Argentina 52-29, respectively. A nod though to Argentina who, while down to 12 men against 15 at one stage, still managed to score a try against the flow.

Earlier, Portugal claimed the final World Cup spot after their 16-16 draw with the USA saw them qualify via superior points differential.

If there’s one constant about USA rugby it’s the uncanny ability to continue to fail to realise its potential; some might say kind of like Australia, but worse.

The US domestic competition, Major League Rugby (MLR) is still struggling to achieve traction, not helped by Australian businessman Adam Gilchrist torpedoing his Los Angeles and Austin franchises.

Even if MLR overcomes that setback, because Rugby USA’s parlous financial position meant the league was set up as a private concern, there is little sense of alignment between it and the national high-performance program.

Everyone who follows rugby has been put on notice for years now, about the ‘sleeping giant’ that is rugby in the USA. But like Rip Van Winkle, that’s proving to be one mightily deep sleep.

None of which is to suggest that the 2031 World Cup slated for the USA won’t be a success. For a start, it’s unlikely rugby fans from all around the world will turn up to find beer banned from stadiums; although imagine the kerfuffle if the contract is awarded to Bud Light…

General news story of the week centered on a flock of sheep in northern China who, for days on end, have undertaken a bizarre ritual of following each other around in a neat circle, continuously, for no apparent reason other than there being some kind of supernatural force at work.

Like all freaky, kooky, conspiracy theories, the truth, when it was finally revealed, was something far more logical and explainable. These were sheep imported from South Africa, their bleating translated by an animal husbandry expert as “Rassie was reg”, their actions a protest against World Rugby’s two-week suspension of South Africa’s Director of Rugby.

Keep a close eye on that bastion of common sense and decency, South African rugby Twitter, for further updates as they come to hand.