Wallabies take blame for woes
WALLABIES flanker Ned Hanigan has bluntly detailed that the heat is on the players, rather than coach Michael Cheika, to shake up the misfiring team’s fortunes without excuses against South Africa on Saturday.
Hanigan revealed that the team meeting to open their week in Port Elizabeth on Monday was a call to arms to better own individual shortcomings rather than a regular review and planning session.
The tall, improving Waratahs forward can help dictate the tone himself because he seems certain to start for the first time in 10 months in the back- row revamp to cover absent Lukhan Tui for this criti- cal Test. The public angst stirred by the poor two- fromseven start to the year has dumped the Wallabies in the tough corner where they have to win in South Africa for the first time since 2011 to regain any lustre.
Cheika has become the easy target for the disgruntled and the reasons range from the grating win- loss stat and Israel Folau’s no- pass brain snap against Argentina to whether he should shave more for TV.
“It’s such an excuse and it’s easy to point to someone else ( to blame) but the 15 blokes who walk out, it’s our responsibility to do what we say we’ll do,” Hanigan said.
“In terms of the coaching staff, they’re the people for the job 100 per cent.”
If it is “own- your- mistakes” time, Folau should still be asking why he didn’t throw a simple left- to- right pass to Bernard Foley that would have won the Test over Argentina and winger Marika Koroibete should be examining his positioning to make better tackles when he’s missed the most ( 14) in The Rugby Championship.
Adding overdue precision to the malfunctioning lineout must be a huge starting point against the Springboks because little glitches there become big problems.
When the Wallabies’ attack purred with 25 tries in six Rugby Championship Tests last year, 12 were ignited off lineouts that were won with 88 per cent efficiency, according to Fox Sports Stats.
In this year’s tournament, the Wallabies are winning a lamentable 71 per cent of lineouts. They have scored just eight tries in four Tests as almost a direct result because only four tries have initiated from this ideal platform for backline moves.