Australia has passed its first true test by defeating the Springboks. Immediately you must ask yourself – how switched on were the Springboks? To go into a Test match without a true number 7 set them back. By attempting to strengthen their line-out capabilities the Springboks damaged their ability to compete at the breakdown. When this is coupled with an inability to dominate at scrum time the South Africans were ripe for the picking. Of course a couple of Tests against the All Blacks didn’t hurt to soften them up.
None of this takes away from an excellent Wallaby performance. To defeat the World Champions at a venue they are comfortable playing at does say a lot. There is a real belief within the South African side at present, so this victory was well earned. What does this all mean for the All Blacks? Nothing really. First, Bledisloe Tests are often decided by one moment. Since the inception of the Super series New Zealand rugby teams have gradually lost the intimidation/aura factor which they take onto the field with them – certainly against Australian teams. Second the baggage being carried by the All Blacks in this campaign is greater than after previous World Cup exits.
Regardless of his record, Grahame Henry is the man most under pressure. It is his arrogance which is what in part makes him a good coach – but I also feel it will be his downfall. I feel the reason John Mitchell was looked upon so badly by the New Zealand public was because they exited the World Cup playing a style of rugby Kiwis want their national team to play. To win almost everything and then come to a semi-final where they were beaten by the Wallabies hurt. To loose a rugby Test even though your team was playing in a way which the nation embraced really really hurt. So much so that when Henry was able to take All Blacks players out of the Super competition to cotton-wool them for the World Cup and they exited even earlier – New Zealand went into rugby denial. While Henry has been consistent all through his All Black career by using a rotation policy, it is now clear it is hurting the All Blacks.
I honestly feel this is an All Black team which New Zealanders do not have ownership of. Conrad Smith has clearly been the form outside centre in the All Blacks tests to date. If the New Zealand brains trust honestly believe their team is better by having a more capable defender marking the Wallaby outside centre they are probably right. But does this make Conrad Smith a better player? How does he know which areas of his game he needs to tighten up if Henry and Co. don’t have the belief in their player to do the job. International rugby is far too tough, injuries far too common, that I believe rotations are a little over-rated. Sure when you have 2 number 7s like George Smith and Phil Waugh there is a need for some rotations because of the outstanding abilities of both candidates. But to select Richard Kahui because he may be a better tackler is to stunt Conrad Smith’s development.
Perhaps this is Henry’s greatest flaw. He is not engendering a love for the All Blacks amongst his own people. It may be that many Kiwis have been stung by their romantic attachment to John Mitchell/Carlos Spencer rugby and are now willing to accept the grumpy old school head master but I think not. This needs urgent addressing because with the World Cup in New Zealand the Kiwis can’t afford to have doubts about their rugby hierarchy. It seriously hurts the game when the All Blacks aren’t at the top of their game. The way Kiwis play rugby is the greatest advertisement the game has – but it needs to have the nation behind it otherwise I fear it may come crashing down. Seldom in my life time has there ever been so many questions that can’t and won’t be answered about the All Blacks. In fact these need answering before the World Cup or I fear the instability bubbling below the surface has a tension to ignite (Henry only a 2 year contract? Whatever!) Besides Henry’s record with Auckland, his record isn’t that strong. No disrespect to his record in between World Cups as coach of New Zealand, but honestly how many would be acceptable to loose – he only met expectations, with the exception of the World Cup which was an abject failure.
To Bledisloe 1. As opposed to the All Blacks there is a “positive vibe” surrounding the Wallabies. More than anything else Robbie Deans has brought to Australia it is his relaxed demeanour which is most encouraging. No doubt he has the rugby brain for the task, but he is the perfect personality to be the first foreign coach of the Wallabies. Can you seriously imagine the dour Grahame Henry being in charge of the Wallabies? It is still amusing the lengths he went to as coach of the British and Irish Lions to stop Australians spying on his training sessions – and they still lost. Deans couples this demeanour with a steely determination that the team ethos is most important. Players must take ownership of performance – not have the coach manipulating the team because one player might be a better tackler than another. If the player has a defensive issue fix it because the other features of his game are important to harness.
A perfect example of this is Luke Burgess. Let us not doubt for a second the prestige associated with New South Wales having the incumbent Wallaby scrum half. Not since Nick Farr-Jones has this been the case. I’m sure for a lot of the Sydney based media, George Gregan would never retire. The facts are Burgess’s passing game has been poor. Under Henry he would have been replaced, but under Deans he is given time and a chance to develop. Only then can you truly judge him as a player – identify his weaknesses and challenge him to improve – if he can’t, replace him until he can, but you must give him that chance and so far he has had the chance for 4 Tests. Given Sam Cordingly is at the end of his international career and despite an outstanding Super campaign Ben Lucas seems to have dropped out of favour, Brett Sheean may not be far away. But not yet – Burgess must be given a good run at this level.
Under Michael Foley the Wallabies scrum has improved by a huge margin. It will need to perform at this level for the Wallabies to be successful. It still worries me that when Australia has a stable scrum Wycliff Palu still wants to pick the ball up at the back of the scrum. If the scrum is stable allow Burgess to clear the ball and let Australia get into the phases with the loose forwards coming onto the ball at the next phase. I still want to see more of the Australians with the ball in hand. I don’t feel they have really established a pattern of play in attack. There seemed to be opportunities against the Springboks to work the numbers around the ruck – get the forwards over the advantage line before aiming some attack wider. There is no doubt the All Blacks will be better at the breakdown and it is fraught with danger spreading the ball wide if you can’t get numbers to the breakdown. This is a problem which Australia has slowly improved on over the years. Going back a few years ago Australia acted as if it was in a training drill when approaching the breakdown. The intensity and speed were not up to the required standard, but that has improved with every Test campaign.
Kicking games will be crucial. Will Henry tell his players to kick it out and challenge the Australian line-out. Most likely the ball will be kept in-field to test an inexperienced Australian back three. Try and isolate them and flood the breakdown to get a turn over.
Whatever happens I hope the field is dry and the players get the chance to run. Good luck.
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[Kwoff]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/kwoff.png)
![[Mixx]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/mixx.png)
![[Reddit]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.irrepressibletangent.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
Tags: All Blacks, Australia, Bledisloe Cup, New Zealand, Rugby Union, South Africa, Springboks, Tri-Nations, Wallabies