I am happy with last night. But I am still quite worried with our lack of consistency at the tough stuff. Every few Tests, it all comes together, and they look like world-beaters. But then we get some in-between performances like Samoa. This lack of consistency, if nothing else, will be a problem in the RWC, where we need to front up every week. If the forwards get that right, I am confident the backs can do their job well enough to beat just about any team. But if we get blown backwards off the ball at every breakdown, and the backs are just defending and kicking, we will look decidedly average. But it was a step forward.
Cyclo - of course, going from the tortuous history of recent Wallaby matches, you are 100% right. Nearly every year there has been a 'we're building something special' after a single exhilarating win, only for a Scotland, or England (multiple times), or a 1H star performance v ABs, and then the inexorable collapse in 2H and another loss to NZ, to emerge and we all justifiably sink back into doubt and bewilderment as to how could this inconsistency be so unchanging. And this lack of enduring success, fight and always-on dynamism has affected Wallaby crowd numbers and the solidity and loyalty of the core Wallaby fan base. It's palpable amongst many people I know who used to be passionate followers of the Wallabies, but gradually became the casual in-and-out drifters.
But I sense that it could be very different this year. Two reasons why: one, we have a
matured core of truly exceptional, innovative players in what Lance F has today termed our BOCS, to which must be added Pocock and Ioane. This core fears nothing, and has immense self-confidence, as was on display on Saturday. Coupled with this, the S15 made clear that if we select carefully from the Tahs, Force and Reds 2011 forwards, we now have enough talent and mental strength there to hold our own - consistently - at the breakdown in Tests if the right coaching and technical discipline is applied. Two, and this is not a 'Red glasses on', but the massive value of the Reds' 2011 winning DNA carry-over to the Wallabies cannot be underestimated. When you have an inner and outer core of players that have striven for and actually achieved championship status and all that has entailed, in psychological terms that core will not depart, it will want more and will be sure more can be obtained and that it knows how to obtain it. This is the true gold of championship self-belief and the proven mental and skills capability for all-of-80 that has underpinned it. Just as the recent Bulls and Cru cultures fed their respective national teams' successes, it is, at last, now our turn.
And when you add to the above that the 'right type of flaws' are emerging in the 2011 Boks and ABs camps, our chances for glory - and genuine consistency - have never been better than they are in 2011.
