>> Guscott: Shocking Wallaby capitulation
WHAT A difference a year can make in international sport. Michael Cheika’s Wallaby side were riding a crest of a wave this time in 2015; victorious in the Rugby Championship and on their way to destroying England in the World Cup and pushing eventual champions New Zealand the distance.
Along with Argentina, they were the most impressive side at RWC2015 for me and looked to be building momentum. Yesterday’s performance was a shocker. It looks a shadow of that team and the most worrying aspect for Cheika is they seem to have fallen low on confidence and fallen off the pathway that had developed last season. And this with all their big-hitters back from Europe.
The only possible excuse for such a capitulation at home is injuries, and they did suffer badly in midfield particularly losing Matt Giteau. But for me, their whole intensity and game-nous wasn’t apparent.
Teams need to play with a shape, using the patterns and positions they put themselves in to play the game they practice – but the Wallabies seemed short of indentity. It’s even more alarming given they have been together longer than the Kiwis, who were involved in the latter stages of Super Rugby.
Cheika’s had this group for a long time but they came out looking fairly clueless on how to react to ther Kiwi intensity – particularly in defence where the All Blacks rushed them. In years gone by Aussies have been intelligent attackers but in a continuation from the England series, where they dominated possession but couldn’t unlock the door, their gameplan yesterday was utilising simple one-out attacks, with little pop passes from the breakdown.
It’s not the greatest gameplan against a New Zealand side brilliant in defence.
And because the Kiwis rushed the defence, they flooded the breakdown and won countless turnovers. If you win the breakdown you’ve pretty much won the game.
Aussie unforced errors didn’t help either.Their best players didn’t play well. Arguably, they didn’t get the opportunity to play, but when you get the ball that is your opportunity. They dropped too many easy passes and too frequently got isolated and lost possession. Poor decision-making and poor kicking gave the world’s best counter-attacking side the ball which you can’t do.
A lot of the tries came from loose kicks, spilled passes and simple missed tackles. It allowed the Kiwis so much space out wide that it seemed like New Zealand were on fibre-speed, the Aussies on dial-up. It was a complete annihilation. Starting up front, the pack were second best in every aspect.The much-improved scrum under Mario Ladesma didn’t look solid and the lineout didn’t function, which considering the amount of time they’ve had together is pretty embarrassing.
Then behind that, with little good ball to play with, they lacked invention in attack. They have come nowhere near the form of last Autumn when they shredded England. Bernard Foley looks a bit lost without Giteau outside him which is not good enough as a 31-cap fly-half. When the Waratahs won the Super Rugby title he was their commander-in-chief. Now he doesn’t seem to be a commander or chief.
I’m shocked by the Aussies, but we should not be surprised by the intensity of the All Blacks. I don’t think they look brilliant in the midfield and there seems a little imbalance there in comparison to the tried and tested combination of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith - but it is com- pensated for by the brilliance of Beauden Barrett, who is playing the best rugby we’ve seen a No.10 play since Dan Carter.
For a man his size – 6’1” and not overly muscular at 14st 4lbs – his speed of foot, speed of thought and skillset mean he is currently the best player in the world. He sees opportunities before others do and reads the game so well. He set up a try and scored one, and the only weakness is his goal-kicking.
And until he’s a Carter-like kicking machine, with over 80 per cent accuracy as an international – Barrett will constantly feel the pressure of Aaron Cruden nipping at his heels. It’s the only area which makes him vulnerable as a Test No.10, similar to George Ford’s case for England.
Barrett has been brought through the New Zealand system and has had to be poatiuent for his opportunities with this just his eighth start in 40 Tests. The battle with Cruden should ensure both players keep improving.
New Zealand build their performance on solid graft and what they believe is superior fitness – and probably skillset. But what they also have is these players who are able to be even another step up from that. Better skills, better understanding, better game-management, and Barrett is looking like he could be one of those Dan Carters, Conrad Smiths or Richie McCaws. He is exceptional.
The strength in depth of top-quality players is quite startling. Israel Dagg will not be a starter when the wingers are fit and firing, and I predict Ben Smith will return to No.15.
While the rest of the world are slowly catching up, when you see Sam Whitelock, a 6’8”, 18st plus second-row taking a ball off his boot laces and offloading for the Julian Savea try, you realise that the whole New Zeaalnd side can produce skills that a lot of international three-quarters would struggle with.
That’s the difference between the All Blacks and the rest. England are getting there with the likes of Maro Itoje and Joe Launcbury, but New Zealand have it inabundance.
It’s as easy as water coming out of the tap – another player turns up from the rugby factory of the New Zealand provincial game.They just produce player after player after player.
I’ve seen intricate New Zealand and clever New Zealand over the years, but this is an incredibly simple form of rugby that absolutely walloped the Wallabies.
They could not match the high-intensity and we’ll see how good a coach Cheika really is if he can turn around this lackluster performance for next week. His side cannot miss so many first-up tackles, nor can they expect to compete with the world’s best side without a solid set-piece.
“Last season Foley was a commanderin-chief, now he’s neither commander nor chief”