No more puns, I promise.
It’s been a weird week. Not because of the texting scandal. Or the coach being forced out. Or the simply bizarre predicament of the ARU being forced to agree that Michael Cheika could coach both the Wallabies and Waratahs simultaneously in 2015, which has “clusterf*ck” written all over it.
No, it’s been weird because Alan Jones referred to John Eales as “overrated”. Doubtless, if the classy, two-time World Cup champion, one-time World Cup captain, allowed his guard to slip for a minute, he’d tell Alan the feeling was thoroughly mutual.
Where to from here? Let’s break down what Cheika needs to do on this spring tour and soon.
Leadership and Culture
This has to be top of the list. Australian rugby is a laughing stock at the moment and this kind of absurd drama cannot be allowed to happen again. Earlier in the week, I talked about John Mitchell’s comments on the exaggerated sense of player power in Australian rugby. Today, Robbie Deans said much the same: the ‘celebrity culture’ was damaging the Wallabies’ effectiveness on the field.
The contrast between the handling of Aaron Cruden’s misbehaviour recently and the entire Kurtley Beale incident is striking. If, as seems likely, the ARU hearing uncovers that Beale’s “people” fueled this shit storm (for instance, by leaking the text messages to New Limited; if not him, then who?), then he should rightly be hung out to dry. The new foundational principle of the Cheika era has to be: No Dickheads. No-one is bigger than the team (I’m looking at you Mr O’Connor).
How to implement this? Having two no-nonsense figures like Cheika and new defence coach Nathan Grey at the top will help. But ultimately it comes down to the player group. Again, Deans’ comments are revealing. A strong leadership group among the players is no bad thing in and of itself, so long as the values of putting team above the individual and committing to each other are there.
Cheika’s choice of captain will be crucial. As I’ve written before, my personal feeling is that Michael Hooper just isn’t cut out for this. Being rebuked by the referee, of all people, for a lack of on-field sportsmanship was pretty poor. There aren’t a lot of options, but choosing a non-Waratah would be smart. James Slipper, 59 caps, an automatic first choice pick, and a Queenslander, might be a left-field choice here.
Game Play
Cheika would do well to re-watch the game tape from Bledisloe III. The Wallabies played at pace and backed each other. But – and it’s a big but – they really lacked in leadership and composure, which is the story of the season. At several crucial times, the game plan seemed to break down entirely.
During one single phase in the first half, prior to the Foley try, Tevita Kuridrani, Israel Folau, and Adam Ashley-Cooper all found themselves in as first-receiver; each ran straight and hard at the defence. All well and good, but in the whole team those are three guys you really want to see at first-receiver the least. And in the final minutes, the halves seemed unable to get the team into a winning position and keep the attacking momentum going.
What did work well for the Wallabies, and what needs to be replicated, were four things.
First, they used the blind side extensively, a play straight out of the Robbie Deans-Will Genia era. Against a side like the All Blacks which loves to drift in defence, spreading the defenders out on both sides of the ruck stretches the opposition line. It’s clever rugby.
Second, the ruck work was, overall, superb. Guys went in and really cleared out bodies, past the ball.
Third, the use of the back of the lineout was long overdue. The Wallabies have had a real tendency to stack their jumpers in the middle of the lineout this year, which exposes them to steals if the throw is even a foot wrong. Using the back opens up so many more opportunities and provides crucial variation.
Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, discipline. It’s been a year of near misses. Beale hitting the post in Bledisloe I; Foley doing likewise in Argentina with a laser in the eye; and of course last Saturday. But the shirt pull from Sekope Kepu on Handre Pollard just before Nick Phipps scored in South Africa, which would have put the Wallabies out by 9 at the 50 minute mark, was the worst. Pointless penalties have hurt the Wallabies so badly this year. Conceding only eight in Brisbane made it hard for the All Blacks to get much momentum.
There is also clear room for Cheika to add pieces to the puzzle. The Wallabies should make more of the fact that all eight of their forwards can carry effectively by using more offloads in the pods. Lots of time should be spent on bringing back the 2013 maul, as refs are currently giving the attacking team plenty of leeway in how they form and reform the maul (as the Springboks have shown repeatedly this year). Lineout callers other than Rob Simmons need to be trained immediately.
Finally, there is a lot of room for improvement in defence, specifically regarding how many men Australia commit to the rucks. A focus on displaying more patience, choosing the moment, and striking when the ball carrier is dominated, rather than committing lots of guys every time, needs to be instilled. This is especially effective against Northern Hemisphere teams (other than Wales), as they really don’t feel comfortable playing multiple phases in attack if they’re not going anywhere and will usually resort to kicking it back to you.
Personnel
This is the least important of the three areas, for all the focus on the forums about individuals rather than structures.
The squad chosen for the spring tour is, on paper, a strong one. The absence of Scott Fardy, who has been much improved in recent weeks, will be sorely felt, largely because there isn’t a ready replacement who combines his unique skill set both at the lineout (where he has been underused this year) and at the tackle. While other problems will emerge for Cheika – how to ease Quade Cooper and Will Genia back into the top level, how to sort out the lock selections – the 6 jersey emerges as the real problem.
Scott Higginbotham has shown his best in the 8 jersey, but the coach will be sorely tempted to shift him to 6 and have Ben McCalman at 8. This hasn’t worked in the past. Other contenders include workhorse Luke Jones or contact junkie Sean McMahon, both raw. This conundrum, with no clear answer, will keep Cheika up at night.
It’s a little bemusing that the two Bens made the plane. Both guys are very experienced. Benn Robinson perhaps still has something to offer as a cover. But Alexander is clearly, visibly, indisputably past his best. An archetype of the mobile prop a few years back – a match winning try against the Boks in Perth in 2012 springs to mind – he’s lost all that mobility and added little in return. On balance, bringing in Paul Alo-Emile or even Alan Alaalatoa, guys who might be able to contribute at a World Cup, rather than Alexander, a guy who’ll just be there because no-one else can cover that spot, would have been a brave but farsighted choice.
By the same logic, I was surprised that Andrew Kellaway didn’t make the squad. There aren’t a lot of options at winger; Joe Tomane continues to disappoint and his defence is, at times, really woeful. Tom English offers something, but is untested. Kellaway hasn’t even played Super Rugby. But he is a guy who has real, undisputed class. He could be a first-choice winger at the World Cup next year and needs time to develop into that role. In a sense, Cheika needs to choose players based on where he wants them to be, not where they are.
Looking Forward
Ultimately, I’m not sharing the general mood of doom and gloom. Perhaps the shit was just so bad that a new broom was needed. That’s been supplied. A line has been drawn and we’re moving forward.
The cohort at 10 and 12 – Quade Cooper, Bernard Foley, Matt Toomua, Kyle Godwin, and Christian Lealiifano – is as good a playmaking group as we’ve ever sent to Europe. All of the twelves have significant experience at 10, which suggests they’ll all be able to fit seamlessly into a two playmaker system. Kurtley who?
Up front, it’s great that Andrew Blades has been retained as Forwards coach. The improvement in the Wallaby scrum has been out of sight, night and day, with Slipper and Kepu two of our very best all season long. Watching them utterly dismantle the All Blacks in the second half on Saturday really did it for me, I’m not going to lie.
