Men of Gold Email of the Week - Qantas Wallabies vs France in Sydney

Men of Gold contributors were impressed by the Wallabies performance against France.

Thanks to all who wrote in to the Men of Gold Mailbox after the Tests against France in Sydney and Italy in Melbourne - some excellent comments and insightful analysis. It's clear Men of Gold followers know their Rugby.

Many of the emails after the French Test were full of praise, especially for the Wallabies defensive effort. We've selected three Men of Gold Emails of the Week after the win over Les Bleus.

First up is Robson:

"Only one try, but the team put so much pressure overall on the French, that when the penalties came they were kickable.  So I think the Wallabies get full marks for making sure the blowtorch was turned up on full heat for the eighty.

Similarly the defensive effort was huge and worth 11 out of 10.  Scrums were so so, and the lineouts got the staggers a bit, so there is some work to do here.  Not a lot of work, but some work nonetheless.  Good to see TPN getting the ball into the lineout straight when he came on.
 
The backline attack looked very promising early on but lost a bit of shape at times due to some uncharacteristicly poor handling and the odd aimless pass.  Nor was the kicking as potent as it was in the first three matches.  All this will need to be tightened up before they meet the ABs in Auckland in three weeks.
 
On current form I think there is maybe 10 points between the Wallabies and the ABs in the Wallabies favour.  But Richie McCaw will be back for the next test and it's in NZ.  The ABs have also had a right royal ticking off from the three wise men.  So we can be guaranteed of one thing.  The ABs who take the paddock against the Wallabies on the 18th of July will not be the same as the disjointed team we saw against the French twice and the Italians only last Saturday.
 
With all that in mind I believe that the Wallabies and All Blacks will enter the first test of the Tri Nations as even stevens.  Whoever makes the best of their opportunities on the day will be the side which prevails.  There may not be much in it."
 
Next we have Bennalong:

"The French test provided further evidence that the Wallabies are making great strides toward their goal of becoming a champion team.

If Rugby Union is a numbers game, then Australia had the numbers.

Yellow jerseys were everywhere, in attack, in defence and at the breakdown. And they were having a go !

Robbie Deans must have been reminded of his days at Jade Stadium – no wonder he was chuffed.

For me the standout performance was not George Smith’s, because he simply had one of his trademark great games. (read the piece on George’s fantastic game elsewhere)

For me the standout was Nathan Sharpe. I’ve never seen him look exactly sharp before! To see this huge man, chosen for his bulk and height, striving for the loose ball like a loosey, showed me that Robbie Deans already has his team. They’re playing for each other, alongside each other and confident in the bloke beside them.

I haven’t seen this spirit since the John Eales days.

Bugger the World Cup. The spirit of the game is what it’s all about. It’s here!"

And finally Dennis Reidlinger:

"Wow!!!!!!!!!!!  This was an extremely impressive display by the Wallabies.  Although the backline didn't show as much flair as previous weeks against the Bah Bahs and the Italians, it was still a very impressive all round display by the whole team.  The main difference that I noticed which is a huge sigh of relief, is that the team didn't go to sleep in the middle of the match.  The intensity was there for the full 80 minutes.  Something we haven't seen for a long time.

The Wallabies defence was also impressive, along with the numerous amount of turnovers stolen at the breakdown.  The impressive pilfering of the ball was not only done by the master George Smith, but Ben Robinson and David Pocock showed.  They all showed amazing skill and determination.  It is obvious that there has been a lot of work concentrated on the breakdown over the past week.

The kicking game wasn't as good as previous weeks, but if the kicking performance against the Italy in the first Test can be replicated, I think the Wallabies will shine this up and coming tri-nations series.

All in all, a great game to watch, an impressive win and I would imagine that if this level can be raised slightly higher, the Wallabies have a great chance to take both the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe cup this year.  Well done gents!!!!!!!  Keep it up!!!!!"

Thanks to all other contributors who wrote in including Anil Thapa, Chris Mitchell, Peter O'Connor (Sen), Roland Wilson, Paul Grainger, Doug Mackintosh and Julie Samuel.

And thanks also to Tony Crane who sent in these thoughtful remarks after the Test against Italy in Melbourne:

"I attended the Test against Italy in Melbourne and felt that the fringe players performed well and if and when they are called into the first squad as individuals they are all capable of stepping up, as a team they failed to take advantage of some gaps in the Italian game but not playing under the ELV’s went against them.

It was a shame that there wasn’t a bigger crowd in Melbourne and the ARU will need to re-evaluate what games are given to Melbourne, I think if the first match on the Italian tour was held in Melbourne the crowd would have been better, we took the opportunity to travel from Qld for a week and take in some AFL, The Socceroos qualifier as well as the Wallabies game and played golf down the Mornington Peninsular during the week. For the game to gain momentum in Melbourne there is a real need to make sure that the Wallabies game gets marketed strongly, maybe have a Victorians premiers 15 play the leading Super 14 team as a prelim and the Victorian Premier gets to pick an A Team minus the players from the leading Super 14 team. The A team should wear a Victorian jersey and be there representing the state therefore getting the local public to have a team to own for the night.

All the best for the rest of the season, I will be at Suncorp in September for Brisbane’s only Test this year but will be following the team with interest as usual."
 

Thanks Tony, plenty to think about there. Thanks also to Eddie Paulsen, Sharon Altman and Charleen Henegan for their comments.

Till next time.

Yours in Rugby,

Men of Gold