2010
The Wallabies got 2010 off to a flyer by scoring seven tries in defeating Fiji and scored another three in beating England in Perth. That momentum was halted with a one-point loss to England from a missed penalty before getting back on track with wins over Ireland 22-15 and South Africa 30-13 at Fortress Suncorp.
The All Blacks then brought us back to earth with back-to-back wins including a convincing 49-28 victory in Melbourne.
The next period of games gave Wallaby fans some hope with a hard-fought loss to South Africa in Pretoria followed by Kurtley ‘Gilbert’ Beale’s game-winning penalty in Bloemfontein to end a 47-year hoodoo on the Highveld. In just those two games the Wallabies managed to cross the line on nine occasions.
It all looked promising for the next All Blacks game in Sydney, but once again the Darkness had the edge — this time by a single point.
On the way to Europe for the Spring tour, the Wallabies stopped off in Hong Kong to play the All Blacks. A James O’Connor try and conversion saw the Wallabies rack up only their second win over New Zealand in 12 attempts under Deans.
The northern leg got off to a great start with a 25-16 win over Wales but that good work was undone when England’s chariot swung low and knocked the Wallabies off 35-18 at Twickenham. Squeezed in between those two games was a tour match against Leicester that resulted in a 25-16 win. The next tour match didn’t end so well against Munster in Limerick where Irish eyes were smiling in a 5-6 win for the locals.
The tour rolled onto Italy to take on the Azzurri, where the Wallabies got away with a 32-14 win before saving the best for last against the French, with a seven-try effort demolishing the French resistance 59-16 to cap off the tour.
2010 was a mixed bag with some unlikely victories mixed in with some tough losses. The season record finished at 9-6, although that could have been 10-5 or even 11-4 if the bounce of the ball had gone the Wallabies’ way. Deans finally settled on his backline with minimal changes for the last eight Tests. Notably, Quade Cooper was the first-choice fly-half in 13 of the 15 Tests that year. It was the Wallabies’ best season in attack, with 440 points scored at 29.33 and 49 tries at an average of 3.27 per game.
2011
With 2011 being a World Cup year fans were probably hoping the attacking display of 2010 would continue. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case when a somewhat experimental side got rolled by Samoa in the opening Test. This game saw Mark Gerrard and Rod Davies take to the field, but their names were never heard again at Test level.
The game also saw the beginning of the Pat McCabe inside centre project that Deans persisted with into the World Cup.
Before the World Cup, a condensed Tri Nations tournament took place and the Wallabies started off by beating the Springboks in Sydney 39-20, scoring five tries in the process, before the Eden Park hoodoo continued with a 30-14 loss.
The tournament continued in Durban where the Wallabies came away with a tough 14-9 win over South Africa before the winner-takes-all match against New Zealand in Brisbane, where a runaway Radike Samo try saw the Wallabies win 25-20 and come away with the Tri Nations trophy. It was before this match that Deans made the huge call of changing captains with Rocky Elsom replaced by James Horwill — an interesting move with the World Cup just around the corner.
The first Cup game against Italy saw four tries scored on the way to a 32-6 win but then the lack of a back-up openside flanker was exposed in the next game, when Ben McCalman had the huge task of filling David Pocock’s shoes against Ireland in a 15-6 loss. This match was also held at Eden Park.
The next two pool games against the USA and Russia saw the expected high scores clocked up. The Wallabies 21 tries in those two games with mostly experimental lineups taking to the field — remember Radike Samo stalking the wing against the Russians? — before the business end of the tournament.
The quarter-final match-up against the Springboks was headlined by the performance of David Pocock. The record books show a 11-9 win to the Wallabies, which meant a semi-final clash against New Zealand at Eden Park. The Wallabies failed to cross the line in a 20-6 loss.
The Wallabies went into the third-place play-off against Wales and Australia’s worst fears came true when Quade Cooper’s knee gave way. But the Wallabies were able to come away with a 21-18 win.
The Wallabies were the only side to head to Europe for a cash grab tour after the World Cup. A match against Wales in Cardiff saw an unfamiliar-looking Wallabies side, with James O’Connor given the fly-half role, taking a 24-18 win.
In 2011 the Wallabies played 13 Tests for 9-4 record. Two of those losses came against the All Blacks. Samoa and Ireland were surprise victors against the Wallabies. The attack stats show a total of 350 points scored at an average of 26.92 and 44 tries scored at an average of 3.38. These numbers were artificially boosted by the big victories over Russia and the USA in the World Cup.
