What you thought of the Wallabies in Johannesburg PART 2 : The Acid Edition
September 04, 2008 - 11:25am
Story by: ARU
The letters to the Men of Gold Mailbox really pour on the acid in this Part 2 of our record responses from disappointed Wallabies fans after the 53 - 8 record loss to the Springboks in Johannesburg.
Peter Rigby explained how his son “went to bed after 30 minutes” as did Denis Sullivan from Sydney: “For starters I stopped watching after 30 minutes and went to bed disgusted. I'm not surprised what the final score was. The first five minutes were good and then we lost the plot. I'm sure Robbie Deans was lost for words. I'll bet the All Blacks are salivating right now!”
Wayne D. said he had “been feeling physically ill after watching the Wallabies get an absolute flogging in Jo'burg.”
But he went on to acknowledge how much the result must have hurt the players and coaching staff:
“The only thing that made me feel even slightly better was seeing that Stirling Mortlock, Robbie Deans, George Smith & the entire team were taking this defeat so hard.
Now come home, sort yourselves out & give those bloody Kiwis a good smacking in Brisbane.
Go the Wallabies!!!!!!!!!!!”
Peter Hopgood wanted someone to “wake me up when it’s over”, while Rory McQuinn from the National Gallery of Australia wasn’t feeling very artistic, venturing that we should “drop this ‘Men of Gold’ label as it is proving too heavy a burden” bu the result should be “cathartic.”
Sharyn Emery “a disgruntled (almost ex) fan” wondered “Is there a stronger word than atrocious?? What about humiliating? How is 'completely inconsistent' or 'unfathomable'. It is time for Australia to demand consistency in excellence so we can abandon the 'fingers-crossed' syndrome that has plagued the Wallabies' fans for so many years. With the best coach in the world in command, surely this is not asking too much!”
Mark Prendergast thought “There is nothing good you can say about that performance. You don’t lose by 53-8 having an off night” while Bryan Collins guessed: “the expression ‘never under estimate a wounded Springbok’ is becoming a reality!”
The toughest of all may have been Bruce Heilbuth from Turramurra: “If justice was seen to be done, a fair majority of the team should be fired and their pay should be withheld.” Ouch !
Disgusted of Sydney wanted to know “who were those guys with the Wallaby lookalike masks on?” while Ross Coggan thought the team had “No pride or ticker.”
Kev thought the Wallabies “looked like a bunch of disorientated school boys running around.”
Luke Learn thought the team had “No desire”, while S and P Aubrey wondered “where was Plan B?” and Tom Broadhurst thought it was an “utter disgrace”.
KORU felt sad for “Robbie(Dingo Deans). You will never have the Wallabies playing like the AB's” and Nick wanted us to do a “Crap Man of the Match Award”.
Michael Scanlan was of the opinion “the team just didn’t want it enough” before adding: “The Wallabies have to dig deep if they actually want to win the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup, it's not just going to happen. Step up boys!!!”
Andrew G thought “Three simple changes” would “eliminate 95% of the on field mistakes” while Mike Anderson, “a gutted green and gold supporter” said: “As a Wallabies supporter I cringed through 80mins of Wallabies play or should I say lack of? Sure the altitude has a part to play but the Wallabies were like a rudderless ship out on the park.”
Don Easter thought “The Jo'berg game really highlighted how a top side punishes the simple mistakes. Let's hope the simple things get corrected and we get the BIG BRISBANE BOUNCE BACK” and Sandra Leong was “so disappointed I can’t believe I stayed up to watch the game.”
Arnie Marchantfrom CoffsHarbour is not a big fan of ex-league players or Kiwi coaches but finished by saying: “At the moment we are a distance behind NZ and SA in terms of pride & passion, that can only come from a love of our nation & the game of Rugby.”
Alan Jackson was firm in his opinion that “The team and administration need to realise that in this country, rugby is under sever threat and at the end of the day, it is a business.”
Glen and James Holmes thought the Wallabies were “woeful” while Geoff Barton from Rockhampton said “the Boks were all over the Wallabies like a dose of measles.”
Rob Masters says “The whole team should apologise profusely to all Rugby followers in Australia before being allowed out of Johannesburg, let along back into Australia” and “to add further insult to followers, we, in Melbourne, had to sit up until 1.30am to endure such humility.”
Andrew and Helen Macintosh said “It makes you feel ashamed to be Australian” while Andrew Biggart found an old excuse: “I thought Bryce Lawrence’s (the referee) contribution to the game was pretty average – there was a lot of obstructive (and illegal) play by the Boks that went unpunished. Their flankers obstructing ours of the side of the scrum (which the All Blacks do too and no-one picks it up) and a lot of instances of the Boks blocking (Adam) Ashley-Cooper from chasing his own kicks – but (Lote) Tuqiri and Peter (Hynes) could have chased Ashley-Cooper’s kicks instead and didn’t.”
Nigel Strahan writes “there was no way to defend that performance” while Richard Williams thought it was “embarrassing.”
There was also telling contributions from Rod Williams, Dr Alan Simon, Ron Price, Anthony Balocca, Shane Rowley, Paul Grainger, James Smith, Bronte Gorfin, Dennis Reidlinger, Rob Connolly, Paul Cluff, Norm Noack while Bernard Soh’s comprehensive summary referencing the writings of Sun Tzu and Spiro Zavos warrants its own complete article.
The Last Word goes to a regular contributor Anil Thapa :
“This was the match we have to forget.
Wallabies were weak in most part of the games, no strategy or strategy not working, poor execution, lack of intensity, breakdown were poor, players look tired and there was lack of team effort, no support during breakdown, lack of communication among the players and list goes on.......
I am not sure whether Wallabies can beat All Blacks in the fortnight, however being Wallabies supporter I have to be optimistic.”
So do we all. But as for the Men of Gold’s part – I’m tipping the boys to bounce back in Brisbane, big time!
Yours in Rugby,
Men of Gold
