As I watched the Barbarians game last night, barely kept awake by Phil and Brendon’s Archie and Jughead comedy routine, a frightening thought came to me.
Four short years ago we saw the Wallabies, seemingly baffled by their 49-0 trouncing of the Springboks two weeks before, revert to a field position game and stick with it for the remainder of Knuckles’ tenure as coach.
They went from one of the most exciting teams in world rugby to one that kicked away possession from first phase play whenever they were in their own half of the field.
Why did the Baa Baas kick so much in Gosford?
First we saw Beale run fifty meters and kick straight into the hands of a defender. This you can explain, since Kurtley kicks often in attack (although it is usually a grubber into space, not a pinpoint mark to a Pom). Then Barnes came on, and kicked, and kicked. This you can also explain, since Sookface is a serial offender. But then Lachie Turner, the fastest man on the pitch, in his own quarter with one or two slow English chasers trundling slowly towards him, also kicked. And kicked. He even kicked at six points down and a minute left on the clock.
Virtually all of these kicks went straight to the hands of a deep defender. None were intended as attacking kicks. Even the crab Giteau’s kickpass would have been a blessed relief from the monotony of it all.
My nightmarish (if perhaps slightly paranoid) vision was that all this kicking was all done on strict instructions from Robbie Deans, that it was his response to the scrumming disaster in Perth.
Is it Deans’ big idea that if we are going to be penalised, then it should be fifteen metres out from the opponents’ line, not fifteen meters out from ours, and that we should kick the cover off the ball at every opportunity to make sure we play it down there?
You might argue that Deans would not waste the prodigious talents of Quade Copper in that way, but the kicking flyhalf on that fateful day in Sydney in 2006 was Bernie Larkham at the peak of his powers.
Will we see the Wallabies adopt the same tactics on Saturday?
Hopefully the Barbarians loss means that we won’t!
