Rugby season may help Wallabies
Wallaby Nathan Sharpe, we shared a glance and laughed at what lay ahead for the team. Simple explanation: run.
There is a certain standard that you need to get to when you are playing New Zealand. We all know their skill and physicality, but it’s their ability to attack when they are under fatigue that catches so many teams out. Often they are length-of-the-field turnover tries after their opposition have been hard on the attack.
In effect, most of our boys will have had a four-week mid-season "pre-season" to get ready for the All Blacks. As our old trainer Steve Nance used to say to us, "boys, it’s a chance to back up to the bowser". In other words, fill up the tank for the tough road ahead.
I know from the players’ perspective, there is a burning desire to right the wrongs of the June losses. A big part of that series clean sweep by Eddie Jones’ Englishmen was the limited preparation, and the enforced lay-off the Wallabies are now "enjoying" could play into our hands.
The correct planning for the assault on the Kiwis, the Boks and the Pumas is paramount and can’t be underestimated. That time wasn’t committed to the campaign against the Poms and undid any chance of winning, yet they actually weren’t far off.
The opening game of the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney really is all-or-nothing for our men. Test matches are big occasions, granted, and I amnot taking away from the importance of other fixtures, but this Bledisloe Cup opener has a World Cup final feel about it for the Wallabies. Win, and you give yourself a chance to challenge for the cup, reestablishing confidence within the team and in the support for the team. Lose, and things get mighty difficult. To dig themselves out of a massive hole would be some feat, considering the following week, and the third Bledisloe game in October, are in their backyard.
But, hey, our boys will be rested but strong, calm but on edge knowing what they need to do to turn things around.