If the Wallabies are to stand a chance against the All Blacks in Bledisloe II, they must fix their issues at the breakdown.
It’s something that the Wallabies are fully aware of.
In the moments after full-time in their 16-16 draw with the All Blacks at Sky Stadium on Sunday, Dave Rennie immediately highlighted the area as their biggest work-on.
“We found a lot of space in behind them, we had a lot of ball, but the quality of our cleanout just wasn’t good enough and it’s an area we need to be better next week,” Rennie said in his post-match press conference.
“We gave away 14 penalties and a big chunk of those were post tackle.”
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The Wallabies themselves managed to earn two penalties at the breakdown, with Michael Hooper clamping down on the All Blacks in the seconds before half-time.
Winger Filipo Daugunu, too, earnt his side a penalty in the minute after half-time after Damian McKenzie gave the Wallabies a sniff to go hard at the ball by dropping Nic White’s box-kick.
But overall it was the Wallabies that were punished at the breakdown and unfortunately it was largely on their own attacking ball that they suffered the consequences of inaccuracy at the cleanout.
2nd minute - lost ball followed by penalty
That inaccuracy started from the get-go.
James O’Connor carried the ball into contact and in the process of placing the ball back, prop James Slipper nudged the ball forward and as a result it spat out the side.
The Wallabies may have managed to scamper to the ball first, but they left themselves exposed and Ardie Savea managed to get over the ball and earn his side a penalty.
12th minute – penalty
The Wallabies next gave the ball away after 11 minutes 50 seconds.
After dealing with some pressure, the Wallabies found some space out wide on their third phase as Marika Koroibete straightened before passing to his outside centre Hunter Paisami, who got over the gain line and was tackled 44 metres out from his own line.
But Koroibete undid his earlier good work by going off his feet at the breakdown, with New Zealand referee watching like a hawk just behind the ball.
22nd minute – penalty
The Wallabies were hurt badly midway through the second half.
Nic White, who had probed the line twice in quick success, had another poke at the line and managed to get in behind the All Blacks’ defence as prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi was slow getting back on-side.
Having poked his head out the other side of the defensive line, White offloads very well to a barnstorming Matt Philip who is tackled just a metre short of the line.
At that point though the Wallabies are too slow in support and suffer the consequences as fullback Damian McKenzie gets over the ball to earn his side a penalty when the visitors were hot on attack.
33rd minute – penalty
The Wallabies again are penalised at the breakdown just a metre short of the line, after White probed the line just moments after a rolling maul.
37th minute – penalty
At this point the Wallabies attempt to play the short side to attract more numbers to the ruck and open up space on the other side of the field, but the decision comes back to bite them.
White plays the blindside and hits fullback Tom Banks, who straightens the line but is hit by Rieko Ioane.
But the Wallabies don’t have the numbers to be effective at the cleanout. The closest man is Matt To’omua on his right and White too his left, meanwhile Joe Moody is practically already over the fullback and Sam Whitelock is just to his right. Moody cleans out To’omua and Whitelock is straight over the ball to earn his side a penalty.
“The Wallabies at the moment are a little ineffective at the breakdown because they've got players competing,” pundit Rod Kafer said in commentary after the penalty.
“The Wallabies are getting to many players at the breakdown, one breakdown and not enough at the next and that’s why they’re getting turned over. Just not the balance in the game around understanding who is going to what.
“If Nic White’s going to have a dart of the edge, somebody always has to be following. He got turned over on Sam Whitelock because support players didn’t react quick enough. The just need to balance out their numbers at the breakdown.”
39th minute – penalty
This is just a basic error from Taniela Tupou, but it’s also savvy work from mischievous halfback Aaron Smith.
After Hooper carries the ball forward, Tupou sprints into the breakdown to cleanout Smith. But just at Smith looks like he’s going to get over the ball, he pulls out and Tupou carries through and clears the halfback beyond the ruck and goes off his feet and Williams penalises the giant prop.
43rd minute – penalty
With Williams watching Tupou’s every move, the tight-head prop is penalised once again when the Wallabies are on attack.
Tupou comes fractionally from the side to attempt a cleanout and is pinged by Paul Williams.
“He’s got Tupou again,” former Wallabies captain Phil Kearns said in commentary for Fox Sports.
“He’s looking for it Paul Williams,” adds Kafer.
“Aaron Smith has been talking to him the whole time about the Wallabies and their cleanout. Their cleanout has been sloppy. They haven’t had players on the right line in support, they’re coming in from the side, there was probably two or three rucks before that – I was watching it going, well, that could have been a penalty, we got away with one, we got away with another.”
56th minute – lost possession
With the Wallabies coming back into the contest following Koroibete’s well-worked try, they lose control of possession on another attacking cleanout.
We saw earlier in the match Slipper’s foot knock the ball sideways at the ruck and it resulted in a penalty to New Zealand and on this occasion they end up with the ball too from a toe.
After To’omua straightens the line of attack as the All Blacks rush up to shut down their out-the-back play, the inside centre ends up doing well to get well over the halfway line.
But Philip, who was excellent for the Wallabies and shows he can belong at Test level, unfortunately slightly knocks the ball forward as To’omua places it backwards. Whitelock picks up the ball and Banks picks up the ball on his own tryline.
59th minute – penalty
Here the Wallabies are possibly hard done by because there’s no clear release from Tu’unigafase.
The Wallabies had played the short side again and kept the ball alive with some quick second phase ball.
But they were exposed for being just fractionally passive with their carry as Philip took the ball forward and didn’t have another forward latching on him to get over the gain line.
In virtually a two-man tackle, Tu’unigafasi gets immediately over Philip and at that point Samu has no chance to move the tight-head prop, who is in a position of strength over the ball.
69th minute – knock-on after pressure at the breakdown
Here, the Wallabies made a rare error because of pressure, once again, on their own ball at the breakdown.
Banks carries the ball forward and actually gets fractionally over the gain line.
But the Wallabies only have one man protecting the ball – fly-half James O’Connor – and Savea attacks the cleanout hard and looks like he’ll win it before White flings the ball back between his legs.
The Wallabies should have settled the play down, but they compound the pressure at the breakdown by passing the ball through the hands and To’omua’s pass to Hooper is too hot to handle.
Speaking on Tuesday, White said the cleanout remained a focus for the Wallabies.
“We spoke about that,” he said. “Urgency at the breakdown will be key this week. I think that alone will solve a lot of problems. We are leaving them a fair bit of time with the ball-carrier by himself before we are getting there and they have threats all the way across the park who can get on the ball. That is an area where we didn’t do well.”
In one simple ‘Yep’, Rennie said the Wallabies could make instant improvements at the crucial area.
But will there be changes to the Wallabies’ selection to further address the area?
Probably not.
Former Wallabies prop Ben Darwin said they were missing Scott Fardy, who would “clear 50 rucks a game in attack and no one would notice.”
Queensland Reds captain Liam Wright is one of the best exponents of the cleanout in Australian rugby, but it’s unlikely that the back-rower will be brought in ahead of either Harry Wilson, who carried superbly for the Wallabies, or Samu who was solid across the park.
Ultimately, the responsibility of the cleanout comes down to every single Wallaby needing to be alert to get to the breakdown.
READ MORE:
ANALYSIS: How White swung Bledisloe I and exposed Foster's All Blacks selection
PLAYER RATINGS: How every Wallaby performed in Bledisloe I
'REPLAYED HUNDREDS OF TIMES': Hodge opens up on THAT Bledisloe kick
