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IT might not have been a Test win but after losing in six of their last seven outings, the Wallabies were happy to accept the thrilling 36-5 victory of their Generation Next second-string team over Gloucester at Kingsholm last night.
The Wallabies might have scored five tries to one, but the scoreline flattered them with the Gloucester side regularly passing up easy shots at penalty goal in its enthusiasm to entertain the capacity crowd of 16,500.
From the viewpoint of the Australian selectors, the match - one of two midweek fixtures on the Wallabies spring tour - was not especially helpful, although five-eighth Quade Cooper turned on such a display that if Robbie Deans is still tinkering with the idea of switching Matt Giteau back to inside centre, he has a viable option at 10 even after Berrick Barnes's tour-ending ankle injury.
Cooper was the bane of the Gloucester defence and if he wasn't threatening them with his dazzling running game and deadly short offloads, he was opening them up on the flanks with his Stephen Larkham-like long passes.
“He grew in stature as the match went on and he gave our game some shape,” enthused Deans, who especially was impressed with Cooper's solid defence and near-flawless goalkicking, his only miss coming when he failed to convert his own solo try in the 78th minute.
Still, the Queensland Reds, desperate to find a goalkicker to replace Barnes, would have been delighted with Cooper's 16-point contribution.
The Wallabies had the better of a willing, if messy first half with Cooper featuring in just about every magical moment. It was his shock crosskick from a penalty almost directly in front of the posts that created the opening try of the match in the 13th minute, the ball dropping neatly into the hands of winger Lachlan Turner who waltzed over the line before the befuddled Gloucester defenders woke to the danger.
It was Cooper again igniting the Wallabies for their second try as he ghosted across field from a solid scrum win, before neatly sending a straight-running Ryan Cross spearing through a hole. Just as the gap closed, Tyrone Smith loomed at his shoulder to race over for a try on debut for Australia.
Even when Cooper made what appeared to be a rare mistake, seemingly pushing his opening shot at penalty goal just left of the posts, the local officials refused to believe it and raised their flags regardless.
A halftime scoreline of 17-5 was a fair reflection of Australia's dominance, although the Gloucester side played its part in an entertaining spectacle, declining two easy shots at penalty goal to kick for the corner.
Boldness in this case wasn't its own reward with the Wallabies defence easily repulsing both raids. But there was finally some reward for the locals in the 25th minute when that old adversary, former All Blacks five-eighth Carlos Spencer, realised the Australians were short of numbers wide out on the right and speared a kick straight into the hands of winger Charlie Sharples who spun in the tackle of Drew Mitchell to slip the ball to unmarked fullback Freddie Burns. His spectacular dive over the corner was almost worth the 62-year wait since Gloucester last scored a try against a touring Wallabies side. Certainly the raucous crowd gave the graceful swan dive the roar it deserved.
Australia's scrum was rock-solid, at least during the first half before Tatafu Polota-Nau was replaced by makeshift hooker Pek Cowan, but the lineout again was a shambles.
Gloucester won its ball with effortless ease while forcing five turnovers from the Australian lineout, although new lock Dave Dennis did manage to pull in one fine catch at number two.
Still, as Deans wryly noted, it is not many players whose first throw into a lineout comes while wearing his country's colours, as was the case for converted loosehead prop Cowan last night.
Number eight Richard Brown was his usual energetic self, well-supported by fellow back-rowers Mitchell Chapman and Matt Hodgson - back in Australia's colours for the first time since the Barbarians match in June - while Cross did not spare himself, even though he probably will be needed for his third match in a week in Saturday's Test against England.
Ominously, even Australia's youthful B team appeared to suffer from the second-half fadeout that is fast becoming the signature trait of the Wallabies.
It spent the third quarter of the match in desperate defence as the Gloucester side dramatically upped the ante, and who knows how tight the scores might have been had the locals opted to take the easy points on offer as referee Andrew Small at one point whistled six successive penalties in its favour.
So it came as a complete shock when it was the Wallabies who scored the opening try of the second half in the 65th minute, when halfback Luke Burgess caught the defence napping after Australia took a quick lineout throw.
Cooper made the telling contribution with a clever short pass to send Dennis away on a thundering 40m burst, the Sydney University second-rower finishing off his work with a switch pass to put Mitchell over between the posts for the first of his two tries.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...1-2722,00.html
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Originally Posted by TOCC
