Whilst the Wallabies played by far their best game of 2010 against the Springboks on Saturday, there are a couple of areas that need urgent attention if they are to be competitive against the All Blacks this Saturday.
Some of the positives were the performance at the breakdown where the Wallabies retained 98% of their own ball but inflicted damage on the Springboks whose retention was only 92%, the pressure exerted in defence, the ball in hand strategy and a return to top form by Will Genia.
Apart from the return of his running game, Genia’s performance at the base of the ruck laid the platform for the Wallabies to get on the front foot. Not only was his delivery much faster than his last game against England but the accuracy and width of his passes was world class again.
| V ENGLAND | V SOUTH AFRICA | |||
| Pass Type | Number | % | Number | % |
| Good | 38 | 66% | 62 | 77% |
| Average | 18 | 31% | 18 | 22% |
| Poor | 2 | 3% | 1 | 1% |
| Total | 58 | 100% | 81 | 100% |
| Average – At Receiver | 16 | 28% | 18 | 22% |
Whilst the Wallabies applied pressure with their swarming defence, there were 22 missed tackles (an 87% success rate) with Rocky Elsom missing 6 and Rob Horne & James O’Connor each missing 4. It’s great to put pressure on in defence but that doesn’t offset the need for completing the tackles. This defensive performance needs to step up again against the All Blacks.
| 1st Half | 2nd Half | Match | % | |
| Tackles Attempted | 61 | 108 | 169 | |
| Made | 51 | 96 | 147 | |
| Missed | 10 | 12 | 22 | |
| Made % | 84% | 89% | 87% | |
| Tackles – Dominant | 13 | 21 | 34 | 23% |
| Tackles – Completed | 38 | 75 | 113 | 77% |
The main area that needs attention is the amount of possession lost – 54% of the times the Wallabies started a possession sequence. It was extremely frustrating watching the Wallabies blow good attacking chances over and over again but fortunately the Springboks weren’t playing well enough to take advantage. That won’t be the case against the All Blacks and the Wallabies really need to tighten up in this area so they don’t just give cheap ball back to the All Blacks.
| 1st Half | 2nd Half | Match | |
| Times in Possession | 25 | 12 | 37 |
| Possession Lost – Breakdown | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Possession Lost – Other | 12 | 6 | 18 |
| Total Possession Lost | 13 | 7 | 20 |
| Possession Lost % | 52% | 58% | 54% |
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