Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
The success or otherwise of our EOYT depends on one's point of view:
Those who say the glass is half full will say:
• It was no use picking journeymen for the tour. We were forced to use inexperienced players who are are not rugby savvy. They lack a bit of confidence and on field leadership in various positions. That game against Scotland was bound to happen. A lot of young players are now more experienced and we will see the benefit later.
The counter to that is that the scoreboard guys take no notice of inexperience. As George Allen the NFL coach of the Rams and Redskins said, famously, “The future is now.” Our inexperienced players should have stepped up against Scotland and the experienced ones should have taken more on themselves and not looked at Giteau and the likes of Rocky and Moore all the time.
They would point out that the Wallabies were like Brown's cows in the two EOYT matches they didn't win. The coaching staff should have done a better job with the players they had.
So many times we lost ball or gave up points just because of a lack of due diligence and attention to what was going on. You don't have to be experienced to to be alert. Nor do you need it to have a bit of poise and patience. All those things and otherwise not playing smart meant that Oz couldn't close out the tight matches against Ireland and Scotland. It was 3N all over again.
• The scrums were terrific this year and the lineout was good against Wales.
Some of us used to say: why do we worry so much about the our poor scrums? Our lineouts are good and make up for it; and there are more of them in a game.
Rubbish, say the half empty guys: our set pieces are average at best. These people add in semi set pieces such as mauls and restarts into the definition. Mauling is improving but restarts are an abomination. Arguably we would have had a Grand Slam had our lineouts and restarts been better in the 2nd and 3rd games. It is no use crowing about good scrums if they are not converted into good points.
• But our work at the breakdown is a lot better than last year.
It is better say the half empty critics, but it is often inaccurate and that makes cleanouts less effective. We are definitely getting there earlier but sometimes our first player in misses the cleanout of the first in opponent. It's like missing a tackle in my book.
And some of the cleanouts could do with taking out the other guys arm by bashing into it, or just lifting it on the hit. Our blokes are a bit like blowflies bashing against the window pane: they don't observe carefully enough where the force should be applied. There should be a bit of science to bashing.
• We would have won a Grand Slam if Giteau had kicked better in those two games.
Maybe so; but you have to take the bad with the good, especially when you don't have another elite goal kicker in the squad. It underlines a huge problem in Oz rugby: that the depth in goal kicking is paper thin. Of those who played for Oz this year only Giteau and Mortlock are goal kickers of note. Besides, it's karma. We won a game in Paris last year we didn't deserve to win for the same reason.
And there are no other great goal kickers on the horizon either: I have raved about a few schoolboy players in the last 5 years but I have never raved about one for his goal kicking. But I digress.
• We played some exciting rugby in parts and scored some good tries – especially against Wales.
There we go again - getting excited about style over function. Scotland are a very limited team, but they deserved to beat Oz because they played basic rugby on a wet day better than we did. We lacked a basic structure that was suitable for the conditions at Murrayfield. Our play was too random and our faults that day are too many to mention.
If you want to know what I mean by structure: look at the Poms of 2003. Often their players in 6N, over here on their EOYT and in the RWC, were like cogs in a team wheel. Our players are not of that standard but they should be coached to play like cogs in the set and semi-set pieces, and even in the tackle.
• Those bloody referees – Kaplan missed Bull Hayes, the Ireland THP, having his hand on the ground in that last scrum, from which BOD scored, and why did the French ref let the Scotland scrummies delay putting the ball in on every Scotland scrum?
Well, Ireland fans could probably have their own list but we didn't deserve the win against a vey rusty Ireland team because a rugby game is 80 minutes long, not 60. As for the Scotland scrummies: it's karma for what Gregan did for 500 test matches.
• We could have won the Grand Slam with Barnes, Sharpe and Mortlock there.
The absence of these three fellows was a major part of the leadership problem. Sharpe would have been a better lineout leader for us and although Cooper did better on his 2nd EOYT than I could have hoped for, Barnes would have reduced the amount of Browns Cowism in the back line and improved kicking out of hand at Murrayfield.
Mortlock was missed too but don't forget that England and Wales had a lot of players out – including those in the Wales butcher's bill during the game.
Well this kept me awake watching the All Black game, just as it will send most people to sleep reading it. But my eyelids are drooping and I'll have to record the other games.
Those who say the glass is half full will say:
• It was no use picking journeymen for the tour. We were forced to use inexperienced players who are are not rugby savvy. They lack a bit of confidence and on field leadership in various positions. That game against Scotland was bound to happen. A lot of young players are now more experienced and we will see the benefit later.
The counter to that is that the scoreboard guys take no notice of inexperience. As George Allen the NFL coach of the Rams and Redskins said, famously, “The future is now.” Our inexperienced players should have stepped up against Scotland and the experienced ones should have taken more on themselves and not looked at Giteau and the likes of Rocky and Moore all the time.
They would point out that the Wallabies were like Brown's cows in the two EOYT matches they didn't win. The coaching staff should have done a better job with the players they had.
So many times we lost ball or gave up points just because of a lack of due diligence and attention to what was going on. You don't have to be experienced to to be alert. Nor do you need it to have a bit of poise and patience. All those things and otherwise not playing smart meant that Oz couldn't close out the tight matches against Ireland and Scotland. It was 3N all over again.
• The scrums were terrific this year and the lineout was good against Wales.
Some of us used to say: why do we worry so much about the our poor scrums? Our lineouts are good and make up for it; and there are more of them in a game.
Rubbish, say the half empty guys: our set pieces are average at best. These people add in semi set pieces such as mauls and restarts into the definition. Mauling is improving but restarts are an abomination. Arguably we would have had a Grand Slam had our lineouts and restarts been better in the 2nd and 3rd games. It is no use crowing about good scrums if they are not converted into good points.
• But our work at the breakdown is a lot better than last year.
It is better say the half empty critics, but it is often inaccurate and that makes cleanouts less effective. We are definitely getting there earlier but sometimes our first player in misses the cleanout of the first in opponent. It's like missing a tackle in my book.
And some of the cleanouts could do with taking out the other guys arm by bashing into it, or just lifting it on the hit. Our blokes are a bit like blowflies bashing against the window pane: they don't observe carefully enough where the force should be applied. There should be a bit of science to bashing.
• We would have won a Grand Slam if Giteau had kicked better in those two games.
Maybe so; but you have to take the bad with the good, especially when you don't have another elite goal kicker in the squad. It underlines a huge problem in Oz rugby: that the depth in goal kicking is paper thin. Of those who played for Oz this year only Giteau and Mortlock are goal kickers of note. Besides, it's karma. We won a game in Paris last year we didn't deserve to win for the same reason.
And there are no other great goal kickers on the horizon either: I have raved about a few schoolboy players in the last 5 years but I have never raved about one for his goal kicking. But I digress.
• We played some exciting rugby in parts and scored some good tries – especially against Wales.
There we go again - getting excited about style over function. Scotland are a very limited team, but they deserved to beat Oz because they played basic rugby on a wet day better than we did. We lacked a basic structure that was suitable for the conditions at Murrayfield. Our play was too random and our faults that day are too many to mention.
If you want to know what I mean by structure: look at the Poms of 2003. Often their players in 6N, over here on their EOYT and in the RWC, were like cogs in a team wheel. Our players are not of that standard but they should be coached to play like cogs in the set and semi-set pieces, and even in the tackle.
• Those bloody referees – Kaplan missed Bull Hayes, the Ireland THP, having his hand on the ground in that last scrum, from which BOD scored, and why did the French ref let the Scotland scrummies delay putting the ball in on every Scotland scrum?
Well, Ireland fans could probably have their own list but we didn't deserve the win against a vey rusty Ireland team because a rugby game is 80 minutes long, not 60. As for the Scotland scrummies: it's karma for what Gregan did for 500 test matches.
• We could have won the Grand Slam with Barnes, Sharpe and Mortlock there.
The absence of these three fellows was a major part of the leadership problem. Sharpe would have been a better lineout leader for us and although Cooper did better on his 2nd EOYT than I could have hoped for, Barnes would have reduced the amount of Browns Cowism in the back line and improved kicking out of hand at Murrayfield.
Mortlock was missed too but don't forget that England and Wales had a lot of players out – including those in the Wales butcher's bill during the game.
Well this kept me awake watching the All Black game, just as it will send most people to sleep reading it. But my eyelids are drooping and I'll have to record the other games.
