(Cue – singing) Seagoon: Hear that crazy rhythm, driving me insane, strike your partner on the bonce. Eccles: Ooh. I felt no pain!
The Goons Sellers, Milligan and Secombe’s classic Ying Tong song is a metaphor for Australian rugby in 2009. No, really…..stick with me…..
You could feel the rhythm starting to happen but every time you got comfortable with it you were smashed on the scone and didn’t it drive you crazy.
Unfortunately we did feel the pain. Wellington and Edinburgh in particular. However, this isn’t the full story, not by half.
It started in February with the Super14. Wasn’t it Robbie and Co and the smug Kiwis telling their audience that the Super 14 results weren’t going to be a factor in the international season. Tell that to the Saffas!
I guess they told us that because we didn’t win it. In fact, the Australian teams were mid ranked at 5th (Waratahs), 7th (Brumbies), 8th (Force) with the Reds cellar dwelling again at 13.
The Reds have been the basket case of Australian rugby over the past five years but there are finally some ‘green shoots’ appearing again, especially in their backline. Some might say rebuilding……
The Kiwis had three teams in the finals, won convincingly by the Bulls in Pretoria. I suppose you could say that New Zealand’s international results didn’t quite live up to their Super 14 form, although they certainly had the wood on the Wallabies.
There’s positive news for Super 14 2010 with NSW significantly strengthening their side with Barnes, Anesi, Mitchell, Sidey, a fit Dennis and the Rooter; and a maturing group of players like Mowen, Beale, Turner, Horne and the underrated Caldwell.
The Brumbies have got the prized signatures of Matt Giteau and Rocky Elsom and will certainly feature. Josh Valentine is another recruit and it’ll be interesting to see Googy Harrison’s impact. There’s a load of young talent time as well.
I think the Force will be the dark horse. Any pack with Cowan, Dunning, Sharpe, Brown, Hodgson and the new sensation Bam Bam Pocock in it is going to be a contender.
Pretorius has always been rated and with Sheehan, Bartholomeusz, Cross, Cummins, a fit again Shepherd and the sensational O’Connor anything can happen.
Back to this year. The international season got underway with relatively easy wins over a Baa Baas side (highlight – Morty smashing SBW) and a tiring French outfit.
Le Frogs had snuck one over the All Blacks so weren’t any pushovers but after playing about 35 games each during the season they’d had it.
Lets talk Bledisloe. An outrageous four game program – who schedules these things? I know we’re under the pump for dosh but four bloody games this year is just overkill.
It’s no wonder people are beginning to turn off this stuff. I can’t wait for the Argies to come in and inject a bit of….difference.
Like cricket it’ll end up the goose that laid the golden egg. Especially in a year where we can only compete with them in the first half.
The disgrace of Wellington will resound for many years to come. I suppose the initial losses gave Robbie some ammo to change the personnel. Goodbye Le Fuse, Phil (undeserved) and a few others.
That’s all well and good; however, without a breadth of competitive rugby in Australia we have no depth. We can’t afford a second tier competition so I suppose it’ll remain the same for a while to come.
The good news was that Melbourne were awarded the Super 15 spot. Great news after a bid that wobbled and just about fell off it’s perch due to…well, who knows what? I don’t think the ARU covered themselves in glory with this one. But, it’ll help the depth.
The Tri-Nations came and went and in addition to the All Black losses we were defeated by South Africa in Capetown and in Perth. Surprisingly, we beat the (then) No 1 rugby country 21 – 6 in Brisbane, although there were suspicions that they were thinking about bigger fish the following week.
In the meantime, we lost the U20 RWC Semi-Final to New Zealand in Tokyo17 – 31 when the opposition unleashed their next long term All Black No 10 in Aaron Cruden.
To add to that, the Australian Schoolboys team lost their international match to NZ in October in Brisbane 24 – 28 when they looked likely lads in the first half but were blown away by Kiwi ingenuity in the second.
The Spring Tour again highlighted inconsistencies in the Wallaby play with two wins, a draw and a loss when with a little more application a Grand Slam was there for the offing.
The reality is that they didn’t deserve it and the tour reflected their season as a whole.
The Irish game was there for the taking but they let them back into it and they won against an injury riddled and under performing England.
The Wallabies got the ying tongs against the Scots when a bit of maturity would have won the day but top class performances on the back of their loosies helped to deliver a sound beating of Wales.
This year their lineout was shite. There’s no other description that aptly fits. Dan Vickerman is sadly missed (and Sharpe to some extent later on).
Some commentators said that the Wallaby scrum was the best in the world. Haven’t they turned it around and isn’t it great.
Benn Robinson is taking over from Tony Woodcock as the best loosehead in the business and Ben Alexander is showing plenty of promise.
But the scrummaging is a unit thing, not just the front row and the work of Michael Foley and latterly Patricio Noriega is now paying off.
Although we’re light-on in some areas (like lock, halfback and THP), this young team does promise a future with the Genia’s, TPN’s, O’Connor’s, Horne’s and Pocock’s providing a bit of bling to the established order.
Don’t mention the Sevens. Ying tong iddle I po.
