A chilly, dry evening awaited the Wallabies and France at the Etihad Saturday night, for the second match of a three Test series. What unfolded was not the same free-flowing rugby seen in Brisbane last week and the score resembled one more likely to be seen at the current FIFA world cup.
The low scoring match made for plenty of talking points, one of the main ones being how the Wallabies were able to place pressure onto the French in attack, but were unable to turn that into points.
“We got down there and got the errors and put the pressure on, but we didn’t convert the shots at goal and weren’t patient enough in the attacking quarter”, Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie stated.
Statistics show that the Aussies struggled to break the French defensive line. Only one Australian player, Israel Folau, was able to, and there were only three linebreaks in the game – the other two coming from the impressive French hooker Guilhem Guirado. This further highlights the strong defensive display from both teams.
There was one moment at the start of the 21st minute that nearly rewarded Australia’s constant pressure with points. This was a dubious disallowed try to Wallabies Number 8 Ben McCalman, following a delicate chip-kick from Matt Toomua.
The video referee, along with on-field referee Wayne Barnes, agreed that Toomua had made enough contact on Les Bleus’ fullback Brice Dulin to stop Dulin from making a fair play at the ball, even though Toomua only had eyes for the ball, as seen in the video.
Toomua, however, did not use his arms in the contact and there is no clear evidence that Toomua propelled Dulin forward. He may have made small, chest contact with Dulin, but from the video, it appears Brice actually over-ran the ball after being deceived by the bounce.
http://youtu.be/BdG0yVsYi1c
When the Wallabies did pour on the pressure and camp down in French territory, they were unable to execute, highlighted by the above example and the Aussies’ poor goal-kicking. The Wallabies kicked 2 from 5 penalties, with a notably poor kicking performance from Nic White, who kicked 1 from 4.
Goal-kicking was an issue in last night’s Test and placed the Wallabies under more pressure, which they would have not have felt if Australia had converted their opportunities. In the past two tests, The Wallabies have not had the luxury of a goal-kicker like Christian Leali’ifano, who usually plays 80 minutes and who finished with an 86% goal-kicking success rate at the end of the 9 matches he played in the Wallabies 2013 International season.
Bernard Foley has done well, with an 80% goal-kicking success rate; however, we lack a solid back-up and long range kicker, with Nic White averaging 20% success. In a tight match, this may prove to be a problem for the Wallabies, if the substitution of Foley in the 6oth minute is repeated and the contest goes down to the wire.
Australia was also unable to capitilise on their superior total number of runs, metres, rucks and mauls. “We had our chances in the second half, and didn’t take them”, McKenzie said, which was a testament to the French defense.
AUSTRALIA: 89 runs, 542 metres and 80 rucks and mauls, along with 54% possession.
FRANCE: 79 runs, 431 metres and 59 rucks and mauls, along with 46% possession.
It could have been a worse outcome for the Wallabies had France not committed 21 turnovers and 14 handling errors, significantly more than that of the Wallabies, sitting at 10 and 6 respectively.
Even though it was a sloppy and gritty performance, Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie seemed rather impressed with the performance, “At least we are showing week-to-week that we can find ways to win”, he said.
“It was a contrast to the (first Test)….obviously on the scoreboard, but it was a contrast in tactics too”, McKenzie continued.
Twenty-two year-old captain Michael Hooper agreed and stated that, “You have to be able to find a way to win and all the best teams are doing that”. No tries were scored, but Australia were still able to get the win and get the first piece of silverware for the 2014 International season.
Statistics sourced from: http://www.rugby.com.au/wallabies/GameDay/livegame.aspx?matchid=IRB20140105
