What you thought - Wallabies vs All Blacks in Tokyo
November 04, 2009 - 3:48pm
Story by: ARU
Lots of emails received in the Men of Gold mailbox with many writers expressing their (understandable) disappointment at the Qantas Wallabies fourth loss this year to the dreaded men in black.
Once again it was the “second half syndrome” that brought the Wallabies undone, which many of our contributors commented on.
Typical of many emails received was this insightful missive from Richard Stephens from Clayfield in Queensland:
“The Wallabies continue to lack composure under pressure in the 2nd half - at which point their error rate is such that they are flat out ever getting to a second phase without turning over possession. I wish I knew what could be done to change this.”
So do we Richard. Kathleen Bolster also thought “Australia were once again out-muscled by the All Black's in the second half”.
Frank Paulo felt similar: “Great first half for the Wallabies, but they choked again and the only reason they had a great first half was because the All Blacks was a player down.”
Only for ten minutes Frank.
Ian Kay from Ormeau Hills thought it was a “better performance than last game. Perhaps the fade out towards the latter part of the game was due to lack of game time.”
Very measured Ian.
Hywel Edwards agreed: “Good start, then the seemingly inevitable fade away.”
John Gamble was at the game: "I live in Tokyo and was at the game (it's the first time I have watched Rugby live for a long time!) In my opinion we have a great team... NZ and RSA are just really strong right now. I wouldn't be surprised if the same boys turned around and came off lossless in Grand Slam tour. We have a great team, and the right coach... it's just unfortunate that we're not quite up to the high standard set by NZ and RSA.One day we'll catch them; I think youth is the key... we need to stop being depended on dad's army."
Steve Williams had some other ideas on what went wrong:
“Seems very clear to me – the team is down on confidence and one of the best ways to remedy this is for them to keep the ball in hand, but we seem to willingly kick it away, only in the last five minutes did we look like we were enjoying the experience.
It is fairly obvious that Digby Ioane is a potent strike weapon also Rocky Elsom is very effective at running on to the ball around the lose and I therefore suggest we bring about some plays that use these (and others like Wycliff) to get us over the gain line running forward, gaining confidence and letting the backs loose in some space.
Since the last Bledisloe NZ has obviously spent time fixing up their line out (about their only weakness) this work paid dividends to the extent that they gained a lot of our line out ball and it seems we obviously need a quality line out jumper to replace Nathan Sharpe (can anyone lure Dan Vickerman out of retirement ?)”
Good question Steve. Maybe Robbie can have a chat with him while the team are in the UK.
Steve McCullough in Perth says we need to get physical:
“For the last couple of years the Wallabies game plan has been to avoid contact at the breakdown. Teams such as the All Blacks have no respect for teams that do this.
We have to embrace the contact situation and make them fear us. We will never beat them while they know we can't hurt them!”
Them be fighting words Steve.
The All Blacks “foul play” came in for a hammering from even from there own fans ! We received this from Ben – an All Blacks fan:
“I'm an All Black supporter, but to watch the game end with Woodcock elbowing and punching George Smith on full time and to see little said or done about it is embarrassing!(He did get suspended for a week – MOG)
Is anything going to happen about this kind of crap? I know I don't like to see the All Blacks be on the end of cheap shots and poor sportsmanship, but I think seeing them act this way is more troubling, especially when they are past the 80 min mark and you have the game won.
Smith was entitled to clear you out Woodcock....handle it and yourself with the class and dignity that is expected when you put on the All Black Jersey! You should suspend yourself for the rest of the tour if the IRB isn't responsible enough to review this atrocity and act!
Sorry George and thanks for the competitive spirit you bring to the games against the All Blacks.”
Wow Ben. Think we better make you an honorary Wallabies fan!
There was some high points – Will Genia amongst them - as Lachy Brown pointed out:
“Will Genia is arguably the best talent to be unearthed by the Wallabies this year. He had the All Blacks guessing his next move - seizing upon opportunities to run he took them and sensing an absent (Sitiveni) Sivivatu he passed and put the ball right in front of a charging Peter Hynes. He improves with every game – an exciting prospect for Australian Rugby.”
Rob Forsyth thinks we need to concentrate on the “three p’s of Rugby”: “Possesion pace postion.”
“It was great to some of the no nonsense attitude of the forwards finally forcing the All Blacks off the ball doing what the Boks and All Black forwards have always done Low and hard working together.”
Spray of the day week (year, decade, century...) goes to Raj Sirimanne who really let the Wallabies have it:
“Dear Men of Gold,
Honestly, WTF?
The Wobblies: can't kick, can't pass, can't catch, can't hold the ball, can't throw it straight, can't ruck, can't break the line - no heart, no balls, no mongrel, no hope. I have been watching the Wallabies since I stood at Concord Oval watching Serge Blanco score the try in front of me to cruel Australia's hopes for the 1987 Rugby World Cup. (I was there too Raj. Still remember the ball bouncing away from Campo – MOG)
You have a photo of Wycliff Palu on your site at the moment with a caption "Wycliff Palu was prominent for the Wallabies in Tokyo". Quite an ambiguous caption, was it written before the game? I'm glad I taped the game, I was only disgusted for 15 minutes tonight instead of the full 80.
I was going to write more, but at the moment I really couldn't care. There is a desperate lack of commitment, a lack of pride and skill; I am embarrassed that these guys are representing Australia. This is not a comment on individuals, Adam Ashley Cooper, Digby Ioane, Will Genia tried; this is a team comment, essentially there is no team.
Good luck for your Grand Slam (hah), I won't be watching.”
Ouch ! I think we all need a good lie down after that. The Wallabies may want to put that up in the dressing room to really get them fired up before England.
bndiege thinks the coach may have a bit to answer for:
“I am going to lay it down for real, maybe it’s time we all realised Robbie Deans isn’t the answer, after all. For him to have people like Ryan Cross, James O'connor playing full time is just nuts. Some of those boys don’t belong there at all really.
Let’s all agree this team is in disarray, their isn’t team work, I saw Rocky chassing the ball alone at each kick off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Mark Wagg wonders if "we have a bench" while another Mark, Condon, had some equally strong ideas:
“The Wallabies need bigger, stronger and more mobile forwards with real mongrel in them to match that of the enthusiastic All Black forwards as well the Springboks.
We need to bring in a specialist fly-half like Quade Cooper to work with Will Genia. Move Matt Giteau to inside centre partnering Adam Ashley Cooper with Digby Ioane and Peter Hynes on the wings with Drew Mitchell at Fullback as young James O'Connor, as good as he will be, makes too many mistakes in judgment, especially his kicking game and defence. ( Give him time, don't feed him to the Lions just yet ).”
Stephen Barber from Pinang Coal in Indonesia, felt: “The All Blacks were repeat offenders around the rucks and mauls on Saturday night and given the Ref didn't nothing about the situation then one or two of the Wallaby forwards should have taken the matter into their own hands.”
“Whilst, throwing a punch is not part of Rugby, nor is the All Blacks' style of play, especially Richie McCaw's continued style of 'cheating' around rucks and mauls. A quick blow to the scone would make him think about doing the same thing again!”
Not sure if Men of Gold supports that line of retribution but thanks for your email Stephen.
Len Gordon from the ACT is still a Deans fan: "you are still the best and one day these men you have in your team will perform again and hopefully consistently."
Alex Hickton from Rozelle in Sydney isn’t giving up hope:
“Dear Wallabies,
We all know you can turn this around in Britain and Ireland!
I’ve been watching you passionately since 1991 (you’ve had me ever since that quarter final vs Ireland in the Rugby World cup where we won at the death) and I know you’re made of the stuff to give that Grand Slam a good nudge - I bet a couple of cartons with pommy mates of mine that you’ll achieve it!
Good luck fellas – I’ll be staying up for all your games!”
Thanks Alex. We all need a bit of cheering up at present.
Michael Low in Singapore remains positive: “Well Wallabies will beat all the opponents in the Grand Slam, with such a talented squad, I believe they will be able to do it. As for the All Blacks, they are more mature and I believe it’s a matter of time the Men of Gold will beat them.”
We also had to mention this delightful email from a new Japanese supporter, Atsushi Fukuda:
“Dear Australian rugby football association
Thank you for coming to Japan ! I was excited very much !
Unfortunately they have lost, but want to watch their match again by all means in Japan. I'm sorry. I was a Japanese All Blacks fan, (we forgive you – MOG) but came to like young Wallabies, too.
I want to try a Grand Slam tour hard. I am watched a game of on TV, but want to watch not only All Blacks but also their match. By the way, I watched a game of all Tri-Nation’s matches on TV.
Finally In awkward English, I am sorry. I support Wallabies distantly from Japan.
by Atsushi Fukuda ( All Blacks and Wallabies Fan ! ) from Japan”
Thanks Atsushi !
There was well reasoned contributions from regulars such as Stan Krasnoff, Anil Thapa, Amit Raj, Greg Longhurst and Liam O’Regan.
But our Email of the Week goes to our guru from Darwin, Mick Taylor:
“Nothing has changed. The Wallabies are still so full of promise and yet so full of disappointment. Yet another game of two halves. First half was a fantastic effort in the forwards. We were very aggressive at the break down and it was working well for us. The backline was flat and one dimensional. I can say I predicted that. The kicking game was dismal with nobody to back Giteau up which I also highlighted as a concern. It was a delight watching (Dan) Carter and (Matt) Giteau goal kicking. It doesn’t get any better than that.
My concerns are the lineout, we got dished up here. Losing the starting hooker on game day doesn’t help but it is no excuse. The European nations are stong at lineout time and we must improve. Kicking options must improve. Quade Cooper is the best option here. To put kicking options around the park, here is my solution. I would drop Ryan Cross. He did nothing all game. Drop James O’Connor to the bench. He tried but his skills were not up to the required standard. Adam Ashley-Cooper back to full back where he presents as a genuine kicking option. Quade Cooper moves into inside centre as a kicking option from 10 or 12. His running game will compliment Giteau. Digby Ioane to shift into outside centre. I lick my lips at the prospect of him linking up with Quade Cooper. Bring Drew Mitchell onto the wing as he also poses as a genuine kicking option.
Stand out players for the Wallabies were: Ashley-Cooper, Hynes, Ioane, Genia (My man of the match for sure), Palu, Pocock, Giteau.
The Wallabies will go on to have a successful tour no doubt. We only have issues at beating NZ, we can put every body else away.
I have a bit of a theory on the reason why we cant beat NZ.
We have a kiwi coach who has brought a kiwi style of Rugby to the Wallabies. It is a good style and we are adapting well to it. It is more than a coincidence that the only team we can’t beat is NZ. We are trying to beat them at their own game and they are the Masters of it. Under a more Australian style we were putting the kiwis away. Not consistently, but we had the ingredients. Robbie needs to liase with past Wallaby coaches to learn a bit of insight to what those ingredients are. Rod Macqueen is the bloke he should speak to as he was at the helm during our most successful period against NZ.
Australia mastered the sequence style of play and we beat teams by frustrating them into error. This is how we generated our dominance at the breakdown and suck. This isn’t Robbie’s style but maybe he needs to learn a bit and open up to new options.”
Thanks Mick.
The Men of Gold mailbox will be open again after the first game of the Grand Slam against England this Saturday night (1.30am Sunday morning AEDT) and we look forward to your comments then.
Yours in Rugby,
Men of Gold
