What you thought – Qantas Wallabies vs All Blacks in Auckland
August 08, 2008 - 4:33pm
Story by: ARU
It was an acid dripped Men of Gold mailbox this week as Wallabies fans – and some All Black fans ! – let off steam after the Men of Gold’s loss in New Zealand. Some of the letters we received were as ferocious as the All Blacks defence.
Most savage was perhaps Carl Ferguson who wrote: “I am going out to purchase a copy of Robbie Dean's Autobiography "From Dingo to Drongo in 7 Days". Out now at all leading booksellers!!!”
If Deans goes on to lead the Wallabies to glory in 2008 Carl might also like to pick up “How to coach the Wallabies to Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations triumphs in your first year” as well.
Our Letter of the Week goes to the very gracious All Blacks fan Jonathan Flint writing from Guangzhou in China.
“To everyone who supports Australian rugby” he writes.
“Don't feel down about the result in Auckland. Believe me when I say that New Zealand is very hard to defeat on home soil. After two defeats you face the might of a nation and we are very passionate about our rugby and the result in Auckland doesn't determine who's the better team. Consistency will settle this question in time and I do feel, without doubt, that you have the best coach in the world. To seek the result you desire, you first have to play the best rugby overall and I feel you have the opportunity to achieve your goals even though you have lost in Auckland against the AB's. This Australian side has enormous ability and I wish you well in South Africa. I consider the occasion of playing each other to be bigger than the result, because without it we wouldn't have the opportunity to play or enjoy this great sport.
In finishing, I wish to say I'm very much a kiwi rugby supporter who enjoys rugby at the highest level. I love NZ and the All Blacks and proud of my heritage, just as you are of Australia. Keep your chins up and perform well in South Africa, but please never under-estimate New Zealand at rugby. Brisbane will be a big game!
Jonathan Flint
(All Black supporter formerly of Christchurch now living in Guangzhou, China).”
How’s that for the Olympic spirit ? Other All Blacks supporters were less gracious in victory !
Michael Webb really rubbed it in: “What a great way of bringing those “Wannabies” back to earth!! The "Men of Gold" are actually wearing Yellow if you take a closer look!! I have to say the honeymoon period with Robbie is over, now the pressure is on!! GO THE ALL BLACKS!!!!”
Graham Potter added we were welcome to Robbie Deans as he “would not have been 1st choice for the All Blacks.”
Blayne was another to stick the boot in calling the Wallabies forwards “soft sissies, poofs, ninnies.” Ouch !
He continued: “When I was a young boy living in South African I remember in 1992 when the Wallabies played the Springboks in Cape Town, I remember thinking how tough those guys were, and how they thumped the Springboks, I remember all the men going on how tough the Aussies were. What the hell happened since then ?”
He finished by saying he is a “loyal supporter to the end!”
After the highs of the last month – record wins over France and the All Blacks – it’s clear a number of Wallabies fans were hitting the ground as hard as the team did at Eden Park.
Peter Kearns thought the ref (Mark Lawrence) “continually missed infringements at the breakdown” though not wanting to take away from the All Blacks victory while Bill Davey from Perth said “the way to beat the All Blacks was to beat (Richie) McCaw”.
Geoff Barton from Rockhampton agreed McCaw was the difference.
Stan Krasnoff was one Men of Gold supporter who tried to stay positive:
“Hang in there boys. The ball didn't bounce your way, and there were some dubious ref calls. Never mind. One thing, the kick-off HAS to improve. Too much ball is lost because the team's not getting to it in time. Give it to them for the third!”
Nigel Strahan was another urging the boys to keep their “Chins up !” while Milton thought “Alan Jones should be brought in !” to stop the “lolly-pop passes with flat footed backs.”
Bill Moulds was one of a number who thought the Wallabies kicked too much writing “I've always believed that, to win a game of football, you need to have possession of the ball.”
Peter O’Connor thought Matt Giteau was not at his best while Debbie Reddell commented on Ma’a Nonu’s controversial last try: “We will not even discuss that last "try?" That could be the nail in the Tri-Nations coffin unfortunately.”
Hkim thinks the Wallabies are still well-placed to win the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe:
“This year's Tri Nations is proving to be quite close with all 3 sides within a shot of winning it. The Wallabies real Test will no doubt be a 2-week tour of South Africa, facing the Boks in Durban and Johannesburg.
History is against the Aussies in their SA tour because the Wallabies won only once in SA in its 13 year history of Tri Nations (2000 in Durban), but I DO believe that Deans will lead them to at least one win over the Boks. They're certainly capable.
And the ABs match in Brisbane on September 13? I think the Wallabies will win that because they proved themselves that they're very hard to beat at least on home soil.”
Chan Hum-Coue from Cape Town in South Africa weighed in with a cool-head writing: “Losing is part of learning and it had to happen sometime”.
While Wejen Reddy thought the Wallabies team of 2008 were stronger in character than some of their predecessors: “If it were the past few years I would have written the team off from winning the Tri-Nations or Bedisloe Cup. But something tells me that this team will not give the challenge away easily and we may see a complete performance from the guys in the next three games.”
Doug Mackintosh thought the Wallabies can “turn things around” while Michael Labrador said: “Faith still remains strong, green and gold still runs through my veins.”
Norm Noack was similarly optimistic about the trip to South Africa: “The Wallabies have the squad, the skills and the coaching staff and just need to focus their minds on winning away from home.”
Anil Thapa was “surprised why the other forwards did not play like George Smith, he played with courage and he was all over the place” and feels the Wallabies need to lift their “intensity” in future games.
SG was very damning, opining that the Wallabies coaching staff need to “regain your humility and intelligence and regain our short lived respect for the great Wallabies” while Giuseppe from Christchurch wished: “Good luck to Robbie and his Wallabies in South Africa, they have a massive task ahead of them.”
13-year-old Charlie Brian thinks that “One thing that Matt Giteau or perhaps Berrick Barnes should be doing is when they are 10 or 15 metres out from the opposition try line they should bomb the ball for the wing to Lote Tuqiri since he is such a large winger and a good jumper.”
He also goes on to suggest a new backline move to Robbie Deans ! Thanks Charlie.
Kevin Ackroyd from WA congratulated the Wallabies on “playing their hearts out” but wondered “why did you try run the ball after the siren” which led to Nonu’s bonus point sealing try.
“You were level on the points table” asks Kevin, “In a comp that is so hard, why ?”
Weihao and Serene Tan agreed: “I could not believe that they were not alert enough to kick the ball out at the 80th minute to prevent the All Blacks from gaining one bonus point from scoring that last try.”
Patrick Bruce was another to express that view: “Why didn't the Wallabies hoof the ball into touch when they had possession after the hooter?”
Colin Beckett questioned the Anthem singer in Auckland saying” they did nothing to help gee up the ‘Men in Gold’!”
Brian Kolia from Minto, Merv Kirkness from WA and Peter McGregor from London all made some very pertinent observations about why the Wallabies came undone.
Peter summarises: “Overall, its looks like the boys are actually enjoying themselves, going out and playing hard. A nice change. It’s like there is a spring in their step. A young side, and that inexperience shows, but I'd be a bit worried if I was another Rugby nation.”
The Last Word goes to pundit Geoff Moore who provided this very comprehensive summary of where the Men of Gold went wrong:
“1. The Australian halfback was pressured into making hurried decisions and didn’t seem to get enough support from his backrowers, in contrast the NZ halfback was given more opportunity to try things like the chip over the top and into the red zones a lot more. I like Cowan as a halfback, he is big and robust around the maul and ruck areas. Burgess was kept under control and lacked experience to snipe around the fringes etc. He is still a work in progress
2. Giteau v Carter difference being that when under pressure like the previous week, Carter’s game lifted whereas Giteau under pressure didn’t really produce a variety of options to try and change the course of the game. Carter is still best player in world with McCaw 2nd.
3. Midfield backs were pretty even although Barnes could have added a bit more positional advantage if he were to kick into the spaces a bit more.
4. Wings and Fullbacks likewise although thought Kahui played well from normally being a centre. Lote tried as did Hynes and Cooper.
5. Front rows – NZ were dominant in tight and loose field play due in main to numbers to breakdown and also better body positioning, lineout throwing was accurate from NZ and not so from Aus.
6. 2nd rows – I actually thought Australia had an edge due to my thinking that Ali Williams made so many mistakes with his ball security etc. Lineouts have been discussed to death, to me it was the gaping holes that appeared through the middle of the lineout allowing Woodcock free reign (should have tightened up after his 1st try but didn’t).
7. Back rowers, here is really where the game was won, McCaw was phenomenal and his inspirational leadership helped Soialo and Kaino to lift their games which tied up a lot of possession and their defence was also pretty strong. Smith, Palu and Waugh were not cohesive enough. Palu went missing at times and Waugh was playing partially concussed. Smith tried his heart out but he was cleaned out at the breakdowns and also in the tight by McCaw.
Roundup: NZ had to win and certainly came out fired up right from the start. Australia knew that they would need to weather the storm but unfortunately really needed to have a go from the beginning rather then wait to ride out the NZ approach. What I would change, add extra height to lineout and look at stability of front row especially with South Africa coming up. Look at involving Barnes more by splitting backline attack to give Giteau one side and Barnes the other. Get both wings to come in off the ruck more towards the centre and get halfback to vary approach and like everything ensure communications are sound so everyone knows what is expected of them. Australia really needs to focus more on controlling set pieces a lot better rather than rely purely on broken play scenarios.”
Thanks to all for writing in. See you next Test.
Yours in Rugby,
Men of Gold
