Australia dispel another myth as they fight for quarter-final spot
LONDON: Having dispelled the myth against England that they do not have a scrum, Australia again broke from tradition at Twickenham on Saturday night.
The Wallabies have a reputation for winning games with their Harlem Globetrottersstyle attack, but it was gritty and gutsy defending that got them over the line against Wales.
With Will Genia and Dean Mumm in the sin-bin, Michael Cheika’s side survived a 10minute onslaught, seeing off wave after wave of surges at their line.
Israel Folau flew out of the defensive line to cut out Liam Williams, while Ben McCalman intervened to hold up an almost certain score after George North stepped inside to crash over the line.
Wales were left kicking themselves after failing to capitalise on their numerical advantage to end their Australian hoodoo of 10 straight defeats.
Once again, it was flyhalf Bernard Foley who proved so important for the Wallabies, kicking all 15 points.
With Michael Hooper and David Pocock in their back-row, Australia managed to recycle the ball at the ruck in under three seconds against Fiji and England.
That allowed the half-back combination of Genia and Foley to provide Matt Giteau and Folau with quick ball, but the Welsh had done their homework.
Combined with a rush defence marshalled by Jamie Roberts, Wales starved the Australian back-three of opportunities.
They adopted an effective choke tackle system in midfield, even though such an approach was criticised by defence coach Shaun Edwards earlier this year.
“I think the choke tackle is very, very dangerous,” Edwards said previously. “To me, it’s a bit of a blight on the game at the moment.
“It encourages people to tackle high.
“Everyone is going on about concussions and people tackling too high. Does anyone here think it adds to the game in any way, shape or form?
“Do any of you think it makes the game more exciting?”
Australia’s backline were strangled of attacking opportunities but instead they were allowed to kick their way to victory.
The result of a successful choke tackle is a scrum for the defending side, but Wales again struggled at the set-piece after a promising opening quarter and they were consistently penalised by referee Craig Joubert.
Australia will be glad of an extra day’s rest before their quarter-final, assistant coach Nathan Grey said yesterday.
The Wallabies were still assessing injuries to flanker Pocock (calf), fullback Folau (ankle) and centre Giteau (rib) yesterday as they turned their focus to next weekend’s last-eight encounter with Scotland.
Long after the injuries are forgotten, however, Wallabies fans will recall the dramatic period in the second half on Saturday when 13-man Australia repulsed wave after wave of red-shirted attackers on their own try line.
“There’s a few sore bodies, it was a physical game but everyone’s got a smile on their face,” winger Adam AshleyCooper told reporters yesterday.
“It was a very proud performance, it was a gutsy effort, particularly that 10-minute effort from the team when we were two men down.
“It was highly stressful, I won’t lie. But we stuck to it, we held together when our backs were against the wall and we never gave up. That’s a great trait of this Australian team.”
It was Ashley-Cooper’s manand-ball tackle on Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar that brought an end to the Twickenham siege but defence coach Grey should also take great credit.
The former Test centre was happy to pass it all back to the players, however.
“From one to 23, everyone who came on the field delivered and we were able to put them under pressure when they had the ball but also when we had the ball,” he said.
“The effort it takes the guys to make those tackles, getting up off the ground and getting back into their defensive lines, that doesn’t take a lot of talent, that just takes a lot of determi- nation.
“That was evident out there and we can take a lot of confidence from that and continue to build on our performances throughout this competition.”
The victory means that Australia not only avoided a knockout match against South Africa next Saturday, not to mention a potential semi-final date with the All Blacks, but also get an extra day to prepare for their quarter-final.
“An extra day’s recovery is crucial,” said Grey.
“We play on Sunday and, believe me, we’re really going to need that extra day.” – Daily Mail