I don’t know if it was as a request from the Australian Association of Psychiatrists, but Foxsports has recently been playing “classic” Wallaby games from the past; a sort of digital Prozac for recently traumatised Wallaby supporters.
So I sat down to watch the replay of the Wallabies clinching the 2001 Bledisloe Cup, where Australia wins 23-15 for a first ever victory at Carisbrook. I was salivating over some Bernie backline action, but what did I see? One, maybe two Wallaby line breaks in the whole match. The deadly weapon that this vaunted Wallaby backline exercised in this historic win was none other than the humble kick-chase.
In the video is some pretty decent territory kicking from 2001; putting the ball deep in the pocket. More important though, is the flat line of gold jerseys that arrives faster than the All Black support, and before the ball could be moved wide.
This aggressive defense not only kept the ABs out of the Aussie 22, where their powerful outside runners like Big Jonah (winning his 50th cap) and Geoff Wilson were close to unstoppable, but it also kept the Wallabies within striking distance of New Zealand’s line. Here they could apply pressure and Matt Burke’s cultured boot together Ref Steve Lander’s trigger happy whistle, racked up crucial points.
Of course, this isn’t rocket science. South Africa has made an art form out of this tactic of late, and this Gary Gold blog post (Springbok Assistant coach) shows just how thorough they are in their approach to it. While the hope is that the New Ruck Interpretations (NRI’s) will give some advantage back to a running team, in test conditions a good kicking game will never be out of fashion.
In the second section of the video are a few clips from the Sydney Bledisloe test last year. When they were originally put together, the focus was more on the kick than the kick-chase, but I believe you can still easily pick out the chasm of difference in the pace and organisation of the 2001 vs the 2009 chasing lines, i.e. last year, there wasn’t one.
The reasons for the difference could be many, but another thing that struck me when watching the 2001 Wallabies was their personnel in mid field. Nathan Grey and Daniel Herbert are not well remembered for their silky skills as second play-makers or elusive runners, but they sure as hell knew how to chase a kick and put on a monster tackle.
That year they also won the Bledisloe Cup, Tri-Nations and Lions series. Coincidence?
