Happy Monday to you G&GRs. A weekend with no test rugby means jobs around the house and Mrs. BL’s ‘things to do list’. And I must admit as many things got done this weekend and crossed off the list. The list didn’t appear to get any shorter, in fact, I think it got longer. But I digress.
So let’s look at the rugby news around the place, and then have a bit of an ‘Old Man Shouting at Clouds’ moment. So sit down at your desk, log on to the work machine, grab a big cup of you know what ☕, and let’s get it on.
We are Not There Yet!
As covered yesterday on the ‘Shouty site’ here, Lord Loz reckons that #InJoeWeTrust is getting the old Wobblies headed in the right direction, but, there’s still a lot of work to be done with “not a single area of their game that is world-class”.
When the Lord joined the Wallabies coaching set up under Kiwi Dave he stated “I saw one clip from that game and said, ‘This can’t be us. If that’s us, we may as well not go to the World Cup’. We’ve got nothing,” Fisher said. “That’s my starting point.”
But then Fisher wasn’t invited back to coach under Australia’s Dr Evil, Eddie ‘Nah Mate” Jones. Because, apparently, Evil Eddie doesn’t like having competent coaches in his set up. But Joe Schmidt is no Dr Evil, and recognises coaching staff with talent, so a recently retired Lord Loz was given the call-up back to the green and gold.
Laurie stated “The major lesson is that we’re not where we need to be to compete with the best teams in the world, I don’t think there’s anything in our game that we can tick off and say that that’s world-class at this point” he said. “We’re still in the process of working on everything. Joe’s got an attacking plan in the way he wants to play the game. Our set-piece is a continual work on, defensively … there are many areas. There’s nothing locked away.”
Laurie continued “I don’t think we’re in a position to say, ‘Well, we’ll just work on that this week’. But we’ve got a whole-of-game approach. We need to make sure that each coach has identified areas that are going to get us to where we need to go, and we work diligently on those over the rest of the year.”
For all those diehard fans out there wondering how long this might take? “It’s hard to say,” Fisher said. “He’s (Schmidt) obviously building a game that he’s comfortable with and that he knows works. I know a lot of what worked in Ireland revolved around Johnny Sexton and numerous other good players. We’ve just got to build game understanding. Look, I think we’re on the track. I think it’s important that you lay down a base first before you put the frills on.” This is in tune with our Nutta’s ‘meat and potatoes first, then the gravy’.
“He’s driving the workaround ball retention, carrying our breakdown, our ability to be live so that all options are on, and we’ll see what grows from there, I think.”
So for us G&GRs, there is a plan. We need to be patient. And expecting miracles against the No.1 team in the world is like Mrs. BL expecting that I will do all of the things on her to-do list. It’s a work in progress.
The Tongan Thor Returns
In what is great news for the Wallabies squad, the coaching staff, and Wallabies fans, the Tongan Wrecking Ball Tight Head Prop Taniela Tupou is back in the squad. He’s fit and ready to go after taking personal leave upon the death of his father (condolences from the G&GR crew to the big fella and his family). Not only will all of the above be happy, his rehab partner from last year Angus Bell is glad to have his mate back.
The Wobs squad jetted off to Buenos Aires over the weekend for the two Test games against the FISMs. With Nella back in the front row and a fit and firing Angus Bell, our front-row power game and scrum are looking good to push the Argies.
Speaking to Angus Bell, he stated “Nella’s doing a lot better since being back from Tonga, It’s a tough thing to lose your dad, but I feel like Nella’s in a better headspace to contribute with the team. We all support Nella and everything he’s going through, but he’s well-supported in our environment. We’re looking forward to having Nella back.”
Tupou’s return is partnered with second-row duo Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams returning after their stand down due to concussion protocols in the opening round of the Rugby Championship. The squad is starting to look in a lot better shape for the tour of Argentina, and hopefully with two weeks off the squad will have been able to lick their wounds and work on a few of the issues that they needed to in order to face the Argies.
Old Man Shouting at Clouds
Well, my shouting at clouds this week is pretty simple. Why isn’t there any test rugby on? Who’s going to save me from Mrs.BL’s to-do list? I would much rather be sitting on the couch with a tasty beverage in hand, watching our team lose, than having to mow lawns and do jobs around the house. I’m hoping that the squad gets announced early so we have something to engage with. I need more rugby!
Anyway, enough of this old man whinging. Over to you G&GRs. Have at it.
