AUSTRALIA NEEDED that win over England, and it won’t have done any harm for next Sunday’s rendezvous at Croke Park. World Cup football matters the previous evening were always likely to detract from Ireland’s first Test of the season. And the November finale against the world’s foremost side, South Africa, loomed larger, which is why the IRFU linked ticket sales for the games: that wasn’t to boost the attendance for the game against the Springboks.
The Wallabies are an interesting case study right now, particularly as they are Ireland’s pool opponents in the 2011 World Cup. They arrived in the Northern Hemisphere having lost six of their last seven Tests. Of course, these things are relative: it would be interesting to see how Ireland or any of the Six Nations would fare if they were obliged to play New Zealand and South Africa seven times in a row.
It still leaves them ranked third in the world, just above Ireland, and as Declan Kidney would be the first to agree, playing the two best sides in the world seven times in succession constitutes one hell of a learning curve. Even so, the Australian sporting public tend not to suffer from an inferiority complex, so had Saturday’s result been the other way around, Robbie Deans would probably have been copping the flak back in Oz which was instead reserved for Martin Johnson in England.
This seems a little harsh on Johnson, and a little fickle. Aside from England’s horrendous casualty list, it was their first Test in seven months, whereas since June the Wallabies had been virtually permanently in camp and had played a dozen Tests. Ireland, who’ve had two three-day get-togethers prior to last week in that same time, will have a similar disadvantage, though at least they are more settled than England.
Unsurprisingly, the Wallabies looked a far better coached side. Even though England had much the better lineout, and came off better with referee Bryce Lawrence – especially in the first-half and at the breakdown – they never remotely looked like scoring a try. A bit like Wales against New Zealand.
In contrast, and a bit like the All Blacks, the Wallabies butchered at least two tries and could easily be coming to Croke Park on the back of, say, a 32-9 win. Their 10-12 axis of Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper worked far more effectively than Jonny Wilkinson and the somewhat wild Shane Geraghty, both in terms of their kicking and running games.
The handling of the Wallabies’ backs was vastly superior to their English counterparts, who repeatedly had to check and jump to take lofted passes above their heads. Critically, though, it also helped Giteau and Cooper that there was so much more work going on off the ball and that they had so many decoy runners and options to pass to. This in turn meant they could keep the English defenders guessing longer and so take the tackle on their terms and recycle ball more effectively. There was certainly plenty of meat in Saturday’s Twickenham video for Les Kiss to digest.
Ben Robinson has been a huge boon at loosehead, Ben Alexander is a real discovery at tighthead, as is Will Genia at scrumhalf. Luke Burgess hasn’t become a bad player, but he appeared to suffer a crisis of confidence this year (second season syndrome?) and must now adapt to the absence of the ELVs, which perhaps suited his tap-and-go, strong running game. But Genia has also provided a sniping threat and improved the service to Giteau.
Clearly on an upward curve, Deans appears to be fashioning a young team even more of his making on this tour, although to a degree his hand has been forced by injuries, notably to Berrick Barnes and Stirling Mortlock, which obliged him to play Cooper with Digby Ioane (who had been the Super 14’s leading line-breaker and ball-carrier until injured). Save for perhaps rotating David Pollock for George Smith, it may be an unchanged side.
Even so, Deans risked ruffling a few feathers in preferring Rocky Elsom to Mortlock as captain, and initially in choosing Barnes ahead of Giteau as vice-captain. He probably reasoned that, as chief decision- maker and goal-kicker, Giteau had enough on his plate. But Mortlock and Giteau had publicly expressed their desire to be captain. Think back to the debate and speculation surrounding the possibility of Paul O’Connell taking over the captaincy from Brian O’Driscoll, and this would be akin to Kidney not only making that call but preferring, say, Luke Fitzgerald to Ronan O’Gara as vice-captain. Given Australia and Ireland have pools of four professional squads, the comparison is valid.
Another two or three wins, along with strong performances on this attempted Grand Slam tour, would cement the authority of Deans and Elsom, and as we appreciate here as well as anywhere, Rocky has the potential to be an outstanding captain. When the penalty count was 6-0 against them in the first half on Saturday, he apparently called the Wallabies into a huddle and told them to ease off at the breakdown, as their defence had England in control. Smart leadership.
Last week Kidney spoke of the “challenges” facing Northern Hemisphere coaches in a seasonal structure which does not permit them the same smooth, elongated chunks of the year which their Southern Hemisphere counterparts enjoy. Aside from the southern teams generally having better all-round skill sets, and an ability to play at a higher intensity, this contributes to the lop-sided results of recent times. Since the 2007 World Cup, the head-to-head tally between the Tri-Nations and Six Nations is 23-2.
France, at least, had a summer tour together, and won in New Zealand, though Marc Lievremont’s constant tinkering makes you wonder if they can take that into Friday night’s seismic collision with the Boks in Toulouse. Nor would it reflect well on European rugby if the Tri-Nations’ weakest link were able to beat the European Grand Slam champions on their Croke Park sod.
However, the contrasting itineraries makes the Southern Hemisphere season more repetitive and ultimately almost boring. If the Heineken Cup were run-off in nine successive weekends, it wouldn’t generate anything like the same sense of suspense which it does in the European itinerary. Jumping back and forth between competitions may be challenging for the coaches, but it makes for far more interesting viewing.
gthornley@irishtimes.com
