Sitting up for the 1.30am kick off took me back to 1984, when as a Schoolboy our entire Brisbane State High School 1st XV sat up to watch the Wallabies complete their Grand Slam tour against Scotland at Murrayfield. Back then the Wallabies had a record win over the Scots (37 v 12) and they completed the Slam in fine style. Mark Ella capped things off scoring a try in every Test as he rewrote the art of support play.
If the 1984 team won so easily why did the 2016 Wallabies make hard work of putting the Scots away? From a coach’s perspective we did a lot right last night. We’ll look at that in a minute but there are a couple of things we need to get on top of this week.
Fix Up 1 – Exit Lineouts
Under Michael Cheika the Wallabies are encouraged to play a few phases before kicking the ball. It’s something the All Blacks were doing back around 2010 and the rationale is to run the opposition pack around before setting the kick chase team loose. It means that when Scotland finally get the ball, they’ll have tired forwards and that in turn will give the Wallabies fetchers (Pocock and Hooper) opportunities to win tackle turnovers.
Like most things that’s fine in theory, but you must be able to control the ball for 3 or 4 phases before kicking and last night that was a bit of an issue. Particularly at lineout time. I’m sure that when the Wallaby coaches were doing their game planning they anticipated that Scotland might fade late in the game so playing the extra phases on Exits was also designed to put miles on the Scotland pack’s clocks. With 6 x Wallaby forwards on our bench we had clearly planned to run Scotland’s pack into the ground.
The lineout turnover at 45 mins was a key moment with Ritchie Grey scoring almost immediately from the error.
We were turned over again in the 64th minute throwing to the front close to our own line. It may be time to change that up for next week. This could be the difference between winning and losing in the coming matches.
Fix Up 2 – Red Zone Errors
After posting big scores in Test matches like the Wallabies did against Wales, teams often trip up in their execution in the next Test. Not sure exactly why it is but our boys were clearly forcing passes particularly in Scotland’s 22m area. It’s like an unwritten law of the universe, the mantra is “we’re keeping our feet on the ground” but somehow the timing is off and that results in errors. What looked easy last week suddenly becomes hard yakka this week.
No coach wants to stifle the creativity of players but there is a fine line between backing yourself and forcing the pass. Last night we might have forced the pass a few times in the Red Zone. Had we held onto the ball and built pressure we might have put Scotland away with a bit more breathing space.
The Good Stuff 1 – Strike Play
The Wallabies first try was a peach. The lineout strike play in the 12th minute was well executed and is a play made famous in rugby circles by Steve Larkham and company in the Brumbies’ halcyon days. In fact almost every backline on the globe runs this play and call it “ACT” or “Brumbies”.
The play had Israel Folau in a ball playing role at 12 with Tevita Kuridrani running a hard line off Izzy as Foley received the pass out the back of Kuridrani. The play is designed to hold up the midfield defence just long enough for the 10 to set up his back three in a second wave of attack.
It’s a simple play but run well is very effective. Whilst the rugby world know the play to be from the Brumbies it was originally used by the Canberra Raiders in the 1994 NRL Grand Final. So in fact it was borrowed by the Brumbies when they formed in 1996.
When the Raiders ran the play Laurie Daley played Foley’s part, Ruben Wiki played Izzy’s part and Mal Meninga ran Kuridrani’s hard line. Apologies for the digression, both combinations are more than a handful for any midfield defence.
The Good Stuff 2 – Kick Offs
Israel Folau has got to be one of the greatest athletes to play our game. He’s used as a ball player on strike plays, he catches all the box kicks and he’s redefined kick offs. He’s easily the best kick off chaser of all time and it won’t be long before the TV Broadcasters start running a stat for “Kick Off Turnovers”.
They say the kick is only as good as the chase and that’s true but the kicking skills have to be admired too. The only thing the Wallabies have to look at for next week v France is where to stand Izzy. The French will be looking to block him in centre field so expect to see him moving around a bit at kick off time.
The Good Stuff 3 – Driving Mauls
The drive has become a weapon for the Wallabies. They are using it well to squeeze penalties around halfway with a view to kicking the penalty to the corner to launch Red Zone shots at the defence. Last week we scored from a drive close to Wales’ try line this week we didn’t get over the line but we built a lot of pressure on Scotland and further drained the energy out of their forward pack.
In Europe the driving game is used a lot to take the juice out of opposition forward packs so at the back end of games you can run them around. But like most things it comes down to execution and balance.
If you become predictable it’s easy for teams to defend you. We’re also using the dummy drive very well. The dummy drive holds up the oppositions loose forwards and stops the backline rushing up. It also gives the attack some nice options to attack the seam between the tail of the lineout and the start of the backline defence.
In this instance we all but scored from a penalty advantage off the back of a terrific drive from the Wallaby pack. Michael Cheika and Mario Ladesma should take a bow, they have built this forward pack into a formidable scrum and drive unit.
Good Stuff 4 – Keep Playing Flat
Last night Bernard Foley was targeted by Scotland. He was banged a number of times just after he passed and Scotland’s defence coach (Matt Taylor) clearly had his troops wound up to pass rush Foley. Bernard was not the only player targeted, Scotland also employed the same tactic when Stephen Moore was ball playing. Taylor had clearly looked at the Wales Test last week when Foley and Moore were allowed to ball play with great effect.
Matt Taylor had clearly decided that the best way to shut Bernard Foley down was to blitz him with a Spot Tackler. That would make him play deeper and put less pressure on the defence. Ball players on the front foot are a nightmare for defence coaches. Spot tackling is fine but banging ball players once they’ve passed the ball is not on.
Watching the game last night I reckon Bernard was saying to himself…”so this is what it’s like to be Jonathan Thurston playing State of Origin”. Unfortunately, it’s a price your ball players must make in order to play flat and square. Their sacrifice puts other runners into space, keep up the good work.
Summary
The Wallabies now head to France with plenty of momentum. Having won well against Wales and ugly this week it’s time now to head across the English Channel and face Les Bleus. The next game is not part of the Grand Slam but Australia will want to keep the momentum rolling. It’s a good sign when you win and play well below your best.
There are two monster games (Ireland and England) after the French when the Wallabies will need to be at their best to win.
