Dithering Piri Weepu undoes All Blacks

WEEP not for Piri Weepu. He brought it all on himself and on the All Blacks.

All of us have pet hates. The really warped and twisted among us have several and one of mine is having to watch a game of rugby grind to a complete standstill while a halfback, with the ball at his feet, forces everyone to wait until he gets his ducks all in a row before finally delivering his pass from the ruckbase.

I'm not talking about setting up pods one off the ruck, tedious as that is. Generally that's the work of a few moments as a few straggling forwards wander back in position behind the ball before going for another rumble.

No, what really has me grinding my teeth is when the number nine stands there waving his arms around like a demented orchestra conductor, sending the woodwinds to the left, the brass to the right and ordering the strings to get the hell out of it before giving the nod to some lumbering kettle drum of a percussion instrument in the hope he'll make a big bang.

On occasions, the halfback will dither too long and a counter-rucking surge will see him buried in an avalanche of bodies - always a good look - but what happened to Weepu was even more delicious.
Having totally shut down the All Blacks' momentum, just when they had clawed their way back to 13-17 against the Springboks at Bloemfontein, he grandstanded for nigh on half a minute before throwing a shocker of a pass to Jason Eaton.

The ball bounced off Eaton's shoulder, Pierre Spies hacked it downfield, Weepu cleaned up his own mess but then created an even worse one with a wild pass that Juan Smith pounced on to send Jaque Fourie scampering away for the try that finally restored the world champions to No1 position on the IRB world rankings.

And that was that. Yet again the All Blacks didn't deserve to win and, just for once, they didn't. Better still, they didn't grab a consolation bonus point either, which would have given the Wallabies watching on television from afar, some comfort.

Otherwise, however, there was not a lot about this match that would have comforted the Wallabies. Having been outmuscled by the All Blacks in the second half in Auckland, they would have been squirming in their seats at the contemptuous way the Springboks then manhandled the New Zealanders on the Highveld.

Thankfully, Tri-Nations rugby isn't algebra. A might beat B and B might beat C but it's no given that A will beat C.

If anything, the Boks played even less rugby than the All Blacks did at Eden Park, with Fourie du Preez constantly peppering the Kiwis with box kicks. It was difficult to tell whether these were intended for some devious tactical purpose or simply to keep Bryan Habana warm chasing them. But, either way, the 2007 IRB Player of the Year, with nothing else to do, made things fairly hot for the All Black catchers.

Had Graham Henry not rewarded Jimmy Cowan for his outstanding game against the Wallabies by dumping him from the 22 and starting instead with Brendon Leonard, the All Blacks might have been able to reply in kind. But Leonard, while an adequate box kicker, generally put his kick back in its box and concentrated on what he was selected for, his running game.

The irony was that for the first half his forwards didn't present him with any ball worth running and when they finally started to come good in this respect, Leonard was whipped off the field and replaced by Weepu. Not perhaps the best utilisation of an embarrassment of riches by Mr Henry, but a timely reminder to Wallabies coach Robbie Deans of how important it will be to get his halfback selection right for August 8 at Newlands.

In fact, so skinny are the Wallabies' margins for error against the Springboks that they will need to get all their selections right and then execute better than in any game so far this season.
The expectation in South Africa will be that the Wallabies will dodge the physical confrontation and basically try to razzle-dazzle their way to a win. Granted, that has some appeal. But then, taking the easy way out always does.

No, if the Wallabies are to win in Cape Town, they will have to repeat what they did the last time they visited the Western Cape - meet the Boks head-on in the physical exchanges and tackle their hearts out.

True, even when they did that in 2007, they still were pipped 22-19 by two late Francois Steyn field goals, but it was a performance that convinced everyone that had the Wallabies made it through to a return meeting with the Boks on the neutral turf of Stade de France a few months later, they could have won a third World Cup.

Hopefully Wycliff Palu will have taken careful note of Spies' performance and realised it is possible to be both a strike weapon and a worker bee. Palu is the most physical player the Wallabies can put into the field and he in particular cannot go missing again, as he did at Eden Park, if Australia is to prevail.

He and the other Wallabies will have been given some encouragement from Conrad Smith's solo try for the All Blacks, not so much for its execution, but because he ran straight through the attempted covering tackle of replacement Boks five-eighth Morne Steyn. There aren't many chinks in the Springbok defence, so the Wallabies will need to exploit what few weaknesses there are in the South African side.

Just as they did against the All Blacks in Auckland - unsuccessfully - the Wallabies again will have to play most of the rugby and take most of the risks. The Springboks will expect to totally boss the game and even if they don't, they'll still structure their tactics to feed off Australia's mistakes.
Deans in Auckland wasn't fazed that the Wallabies were forced to make most of the running. "That was evident but it doesn't matter," he said afterward. "It was there for us to do."
It's there for the Wallabies to do all over again at Newlands.

Just as long as they don't dither.

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