Gallant but not glorious
JOHN EALES
August 9, 2010
Gallant but not glorious was the status for the Wallabies after their 20-10 defeat to the All Blacks in Christchurch. Gone is the Bledisloe, for the eighth year in succession, however also gone was the substandard performance of just a week ago.
After the high scoring and largely one-sided exhibition of the previous week this was more standard Bledisloe fare. And despite only three tries being scored it continued the spree of entertaining matches which have dominated this season over some of the soporific contests in recent history.
But while the nightmarish streak of losses continue the cracks in Robbie Deans's ceiling will be wider than the cracks in the All Black's defence. Which is not saying much as short of Kurtley Beale's opportunistic effort in the 10th minute the All Blacks gave up nothing.
The silver lining to this gloom is that we compete against the All Blacks more regularly than any other nation. It may seem masochistic but that privilege in turn allows us to gauge ourselves against the best, multiple times a year. Each of these experiences, so long as they don't destroy our confidence, may enlighten our path forward.
Contrary to much opinion however, the ultimate goal from this learning phase must be to become the best team in the world and not to win the world cup. The William Webb Ellis Cup should be an impressive chattel collected on the journey but not the destination.
So we must be considered in our approach. If all we do is mimic the All Blacks they will have moved to the next stage by the time we arrive. One of the reasons Rod Macqueen was such a great coach was that he operated with the dual focus of the present and the future. Not only did he prepare fastidiously for the game on the weekend he also had a view on how the game would be played in 12 or 18 months time and trained to be the first team to do so. Some things like physicality and accuracy don't change but the nuances of tactics do and that's where the difference is realised.
Of course it helps to have your most capable players on the field at any given time, which we have not.
Quade Cooper would have been useful in Saturday's game. In defence the All Blacks again only committed selectively to the breakdown but from there they lined up tightly from the inside out. There were times when Cooper's bi-lateral, 20 metre passing range would have forced the All Blacks to defend evenly across a broader area thereby offering more opportunity to break the line.
In tight matches you need the X factor and while we competed across the board we didn't seriously threaten.
Another opportunity would be to create mid-field rolling mauls from general play. Such a tactic, so easy to espouse but so difficult to execute, would force defenders to commit significantly to the breakdown. The world cup winning English were possibly the last masters of this tactic. When interjected amidst a ball in hand possession game the results could be devastating.
I was also intrigued during the week with the news that Cobus Wessels, the touch-judge who recommended Drew Mitchell be yellow-carded for his late hit on Richie McCaw in the first Bledisloe Cup test, had been dropped from test rugby, I felt the same as when I heard that Plastic Bertrand didn't actually sing his hit song Ca Plane Pour Moi; I couldn't believe it.
I feel sorry for Wessels. For years rugby has tolerated substandard refereeing performances yet there has been no consequence to the men with the whistle, or not that we were told.
If it is now the intention to hold referees more accountable for their performances I agree whole heartedly. If each country is transparently ranked, from the All Blacks at number one to Finland at 95, so should be the referees.
1991 World Cup winning captain, Nick Farr-Jones, used to say of lineouts that they are not like lollipops, you don't have to share them evenly. The same should be said for the big test matches. Referees should be ranked from one to twenty with the most important international fixture each week being awarded to the highest ranking neutral referee.
These comments are in no way a reflection on Saturday's referee Jonathan Kaplan as I thought that he had a very fair match and in no way contributed unduly to the outcome and our continued sleeplessness.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/au...809-11tld.html
