WAR CRIES STIR UP THE AUSSIES The enthusiasm Gregor had as a player is still there with him as head coach
But they’re so wary of influential Townsend
GROWN men have wept. Well, one very big fella was reduced to tears. Depending on how the bodies fall, a few more might break into primal screams of anguish at Murrayfield tomorrow afternoon.
If you don’t think professional rugby players are sufficiently invested in the game, just tune into the mood music surrounding the Wallabies. Lip-reading skills are not required to see what it means to them.
Touring captain Michael Hooper openly talks about the need to match the ‘ticker’ of a Scottish team who out-fought and, at the very death, out-pointed the Aussies in Sydney last summer. A monstrously proportioned new boy nicknamed the Tongan Thor, meanwhile, admits to blubbing like a baby when told to prepare for action this weekend.
And the heartfelt desire to provide an old warrior with the perfect send-off runs right though the squad. These boys certainly won’t lack for oomph in Stephen Moore’s final farewell. Yet it’s not the chest-beating
Braveheart stereotype surrounding this weekend’s opponents that most concerns Wallabies coach Mick Byrne.
The former Scotland skills guru, credited with guiding Dan Carter to his peak during three World Cup campaigns on the All Blacks staff, clearly sees Gregor Townsend — a former pupil of his, back in the day — as a major threat to Australia.
Although he’d never say it, Byrne might even regret that coaching pep talk he and then-New Zealand boss Wayne Smith gave to Townsend a little while back.
‘I came here a few years ago, when Gregor had just started coaching, and he sat down with Wayne and myself just down the road, had a coffee,’ revealed Byrne.
‘Just as he was as a professional player, he got everything out of his career. He’s been one of the legends of the game here.
‘It doesn’t surprise me at all (that he is succeeding as a head coach) because whatever Gregor turns his hand to, he’s going to work hard to get it right. His enthusiasm as a player is still there as a coach.
‘I coached Gregor, remember, so I know how he is. Under him, Scotland are playing good rugby.
‘They’re not going to die wondering as a rugby team, which is how he was as a player.
‘Watching them run the All Blacks down to the last second, you could see the disappointment in their faces.
‘We’ll probably bear the brunt of that disappointment — and we’ve got to be ready for them.
‘The Scottish players, if you look over the past few years, and talking to them at the last World Cup, the belief they have has improved dramatically.
‘They’re starting to understand what they are, who they are and how they can play the game.’
That Scotland have improved, first under Vern Cotter and now with ex-Glasgow coach Townsend at the helm, is beyond doubt.
The Aussies have arrived in Edinburgh claiming to have advanced a fair bit themselves, last weekend’s blow-out loss at Twickenham notwithstanding.
With the last six meetings between these nations evenly divided at three wins apiece, a proper rivalry has been established.
Team captain Hooper thinks he has a handle on why the sides have been almost inseparable in recent years, saying: ‘Scotland have ticker. They have shown that. And we’ve shown it, too. It showed with them against the All Blacks.
‘Our match in Sydney was a real slug-fest. There were hits here and there, penalties, things like that. They are a real grind to play against — and we know the crowd will be getting involved here, which is fantastic.
‘It’s a good chance to see where we’ve come, where we’ve improved.
‘Losing at home hurts. The fashion that it went down to the wire in Sydney, in front of a home crowd, stung.
‘We know that, in these games, both teams are really throwing punches right to the death.’
The imminent departure of Moore, whose contribution to the Wallabies over a decade and more is almost impossible to quantify, will obviously be part of the buildup before kick-off tomorrow.
His decision to retire from rugby entirely, calling time on his career for club and country, has added a certain piquancy to the occasion.
‘He is held in such high regard by all of us,’ said Hooper, the skipper. ‘I can speak for the whole squad here — and players back at home who have played with him.
‘It would be great for us to come out this weekend and put in that improvement we talked about.
‘He has been instrumental in how far we have come as a mentor, particularly when he was captain.
‘To leave that mark and legacy is fantastic. What this weekend is about is showing what he has done for Australian rugby.’
The famous Aussie winning mentality, that ability to shrug off distractions and get the job done, has certainly been put to the test this week.
First came the drawn-out World Rugby investigation into what head coach Michael Cheika did or didn’t say in the coaches’ box at
Twickenham, a farcical process that ended with no action being taken yesterday.
Then the visitors saw their training schedule disrupted when they were denied access to a university pitch on Tuesday.
‘It hasn’t been without it’s little mini challenges,’ said Hooper, deadpanning for the cameras.
If they’ve been annoyed, they don’t want to waste any anger by bleating in public, preferring to store up any ill will for use at the first breakdown.
The Aussies certainly won’t be lacking in the collision areas. Especially once the youngster straight out of a Marvel comic gets called on to the field.
Named among the replacements yesterday, just two days after completing the residency period required to make him eligible, Taniela Tupou — AKA the Tongan Thor — is pawing at the ground in anticipation of a first outing.
‘I just found out today, at the team meeting, and I was in tears,’ confessed the 21-year-old. ‘The first thought that came to my mind was my family. Growing up in Tonga, as a kid, all I wanted to do was play for Australia one day. I just wish my family was here.
‘It’s night time in Tonga, so I haven’t spoken to them yet. I can’t wait to give them a call.’
Tupou’s fascination with the Wallabies, rather than his homeland, began in childhood.
Despite attending school in New Zealand on one of those famous rugby scholarships, he knocked back offers to stay in the land of the All Blacks. For him, the green and gold was the goal.
Already famous on the back of his displays at the Queensland Reds, his team-mates are rubbing their hands together in anticipation of seeing him in action.
Hooper talks with glee about seeing him in full flight — either with the ball in hand or with players running at him.
The earth might shake. The heavens could rumble. And grown men, indeed, weep at the sight of the carnage.