>> Guscott: Weakest Wallaby side in years
“Defence defines a man in rugby and if you’re not manning up it can become embarrassing”
It is not all doom and gloom yet for Australia despite that 54-34 hammering by the All Blacks. But this Wallabies side has to be the worst to have worn the green and gold jersey in a long while. For positives, the attacking game of Australia was pretty encouraging but, as any side who’s played the All Blacks will know, if you don’t score when you create chances you will not stay in the game against these boys.
New Zealand seemed able to get over the line whenever and from wherever they wanted and it puts in perspective the achievement of the Lions earlier this summer to restrict them to so few points.
Another thing the Lions did well was making their tackles. Checking yesterday’s match stats after 25 minutes, the Wallabies had completed only 66 per cent of the tackles they attempted. You can’t expect to challenge the All Blacks with those sort of percentages in defence.
As the Lions showed, it’s hard enough if you complete over 90 per cent of your tackles, so anywhere below that makes it all but impossible to compete.
The Wallabies got their backsides handed to them. They leaked six tries to the All Blacks, going into the break 40-6 down – conceding the most points to New Zealand in one half of a Test match in their 114-year trans-Tasman rivalry.
There was talk before the game that Wallaby coach Michael Cheika could work his magic on the squad and challenge the All Blacks as he had spent the best part of a month with his players after the Aussie franchises failed to go past the first week of the Super Rugby play-offs. The same had happened in 2015 when Australia went into the World Cup firing and reached the final.
Not this time.Yes, we got to see some great stepping early on from Israel Folau and Kurtley Beale with some good passing and decision making from Bernard Foley, but because they didn’t make it count, New Zealand were able to cruise up the gears and score from their turnovers.
I have to give a mention to Reiko Ioane for the space awareness the 20-year-old showed as he scored his first try of the night for New Zealand. There was very little space but Folau took one small step inside, having doubts about his defence inside him, and when Ioane got the ball he was already pretty much over the line. Even at such a young age he is able to spot that sort of opportunity and for me that was the story of the game: Australia tried to attack but couldn’t make it count while New Zealand struck from just a hint of a chance.
In the end I lost count of how many tries the All Blacks scored from bouncing balls or a loose pass from the Wallabies.
What was encouraging to see in the end was that Australia were able to score some tries in the second half and that even the All Blacks can switch off.
The game was won at half-time but New Zealand usually never give anything away. Cheika must have given his team an earful at half-time because he’s been talking all week about showing some pride in the jersey.
Defence defines a man in rugby and if you’re not manning up it can become embarrassing. That’s something the Wallabies will want to rectify going into the game next week.
Individually, we know how good the Australian players can be. We know how good the likes of Foley, Beale and Folau are but the pack doesn’t have any superstars and not one of them would challenge for a spot in a world XV and I include Michael Hooper.
Hooper is only 25 but it seems like he’s been around for a decade already. He’s pretty lightweight and didn’t offer what Liam Squire gave New Zealand yesterday.
If you don’t watch Super Rugby you wouldn’t have heard of him but Highlanders flanker Squire is a man-mountain and he’s turbo charged. He got his chance after Jerome Kaino was sent home for personal reasons but it was like nothing changed in the All Blacks back row.
If anything it gave them more force and power. He’s a superb player who’s big and athletic with the skills and speed required to do everything you need from a flanker, whether that’s running down the touchline or smashing through defenders.
New Zealand are a team in transition and they’re far from being at their very best, but still they were able to score eight tries. They haven’t had a settled midfield partnership since Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith retired but it didn’t matter as it looked like opposite numbers Beale and Samu Kerevi had never met.
Yes, it was the first time they played together but they were just so disjointed in defence.
People wondered if the All Blacks were going to be fresh enough after the Lions series but they were given such an easy ride that we’ll have to wait to find out.
Cheika won the Rugby Championship and reached the World Cup final with most of these guys. I can’t believe their downfall comes solely from the absence of David Pocock.
Either the players are underperforming or what Cheika used to do isn’t connecting with them anymore. He has to work it out quickly.