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We lost the first Bledisloe Cup Test badly and so as usual we see the opportunist axe grinders doing their thing online.
I do agree with some of the criticism, but there is a big one that to me is off the mark. I’m talking about the ‘never Pooper’ crowd, who let’s face it, are really the ‘never Hooper’ crowd.
Below I will list what I see as the main Wallabies failings from the match. I will give my view on why blaming Pooper (Hooper) for each is wrong.
The lineout
I’ll start with the most contentious. You cannot just blame Pooper (Hooper) for the failure of the line-out with any kind of certainty.
We had three legitimate tall men starters for the match; which in my opinion should have been sufficient if the lineout was run well. As Nicolas Bishop pointed out in his column from last week: “After a shaky start in the first Test, the Wallaby lineout settled down to win 90 per cent of its own ball over the course of the series.”
In other words, against Ireland – one of the best in world rugby – our line out functioned really well. With three jumpers, with Pooper.
So here is my question, why is the focus of the lineout woes not on the lineout captain Adam Coleman?
I’m not saying it is an easy job, but knowing what to do when the line out is under pressure – i.e. how to change things up – is surely a critical part of the job. Things won’t always be hunky dory against the best in the business (and surely now it is safe to say the current New Zealand defensive lineout is precisely that), and you have to know how to recover.
I thought the line out lacked creativity under pressure, and therefore lacked answers. They were rattled, as can happen in any sport. Where were the change-ups? Was the good ole’ remedy for a failing lineout, just see what happens at two, even tried?
The upshot: how can people be so sure a fourth jumper would have solved these issue?
Beauden Barrett of the All Blacks is tackled by Michael Hooper of the Wallabies (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
The scrum
You cannot blame Pooper (Hooper) for the scrum. Enough said. Six momentum killing penalties. With the lineout, against a team like the All Blacks, this is match losing stuff, no arguments from anyone.
Critical errors
Here are my top five in sequential order:
1. Bernard Foley’s dumb ‘lazy runner’
2. Lukhan Tui’s missed tackle just before half time leading to the first All Black try
3. Marika Koroibete’s strip that lead to the second All Black try
4. Dane Haylett-Petty’s dropped ball and failure to re-gather leading to the third All Black try
5. Will Genia and Tolu Latu not controlling the ball in the maul when it looked like we might be back in it
Hooper did spill one ball. Fine.
Bombed tries
You can’t blame Pooper (Hooper) for the bombed tries. This was the usual lack of skill under pressure. I actually think the Wallabies have been improving in this area under the current regime, but alas, in this match it did not show.
Will Genia and Dane Haylet-Petty looked off the pace
Genia’s service was slow and predictable. I can’t recall seeing him dither quite so badly before. He along with DHP looked short of a gallop, but of course, this is the All Blacks. That last five per cent will look like a massive deficiencies. You can’t blame Pooper for these selections.
Foley (kicking, and varying depth)
Foley should not be kicking for field position except in general play. From kick receipt or restart from a scrum or lineout inside the 22m this should never happen.
Why? Simple really, there are at least three other members of the backline that have bigger boots: Reece Hodge, Kurtley Beale, DHP.
Stephen Larkham, arguably Australia’s greatest fly-half was relegated to similar duties. Names like Chris Latham, Matt Burke and Joe Roff did the kicking for territory, most of the time.
This was not one of the real killer things in this particular match – most of New Zealand’s tries were actually from long range – but it is something that the Wallabies must deal with fast. We have the attacking weapons to take advantage of good field position but we sell ourselves short time and time again.
Foley and Beale also did not vary their depth under the ridiculous and borderline offside (which is just how top level rugby should be played) line speed of the All Blacks. This relates to the Genia criticism above.
Perhaps Genia was slow and this accentuated this issue, or perhaps Genia was slow because he wasn’t working well with his fly half. Either way, we weren’t able to put the All Blacks under much pressure in attack. Either way, not the fault of Pooper (Hooper), unless of course you are making the broad Cheika-Hooper ‘axis of evil’ type observation.
Will Genia of the Wallabies (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Positives of Pooper (Hooper)
And so what did Pooper (Hooper) bring in this match? They led, in my opinion, potentially the best 40 minutes of Wallaby defence in recent memory. And lead they did.
I will again refer Nick Bishop’s article from last week for more detailed and expert analysis, suffice to say, with Hooper on one side of the field, and David Pocock on the other, our defensive line was lead up with speed and accuracy.
This was critical, perhaps above all else, to the Wallabies starting the game well and not repeating last year’s horror show. We were still in the match until Genia and Latu’s stuffed up maul with 15 minutes to go. Incredible. I would put Pooper at the top of the list of the reasons why this was so.
Some may say much of the positives I just attributed to Pooper in fact just belong to Pocock. Suffice to say I disagree. Hooper’s defensive effort was also critical. According to ESPN he made ten tackles, fourth highest for the Wallabies, for two missed, but this does not show the impact of his energy on the Australian line speed.
Was Hooper gassed earlier than usual? Perhaps. Should he have been hooked after 60 minutes? Perhaps. All of that goes no way to ‘never Pooper’.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.