Wallabies make inroads for rugby

What a relief it was for Australian fans to see some attractive rugby played in the Wallabies final match of 2009 – minimal aimless kicking, and well-structured, entertaining tries. The embarrassing loss against Scotland at Murrayfield left many red faces in the Wallabies. From that agonising low they could have fallen in a heap and waited for the daggers to come out upon their return Down Under, but they responded well with a clinical performance against Wales to finish off the tour.

The most satisfying of all turnarounds was the form reversal of fly-half Matt Giteau, and the equally impressive supporting role played by Quade Cooper at inside centre. Both were guilty of overplaying their part in Edinburgh, which effectively translated to a rudderless attack that simply couldn’t penetrate a courageous defensive effort from Scotland. Seven days later that was totally transformed and Giteau responded with a Man of the Match performance, while Cooper rode the wave of confidence that came with Giteau displaying more purpose.

There have been too many lows this year for Australian fans to give the final performance of the tour the credit it deserves, but praise from Welsh legend Barry John is one of the best endorsements Australian rugby has received during the two-year reign of coach Robbie Deans. John, himself one of the great fly-halves the game has seen, described the performance of Giteau and Cooper as “masterclass” and pinpointed it as the main difference between the two sides. “The Wallabies won this game for a number of reasons, but principally because they were so superior in the key 10-12 axis, where Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper totally and utterly ran the show,” John wrote in the Wales on Sunday newspaper.

“In modern rugby, there is so much kicking that you have to have a couple of proper playmakers with real vision … when they chose to run, they did it expertly. Their variety of passing was splendid, their kicking pegged us back in the wrong areas of the field. Those two didn’t just punt the ball aimlessly down field as so many others do, they kicked with precision and purpose.”

The performance of Giteau and Cooper was the standout, but it’s the engine room up front that is so often forgotten. Perhaps the most distinguishing aspect of Deans’ reign as coach has been Australia’s transformation in the front row, and that improvement has not been lost on our northern counterparts. The days of Matt Dunning being stretchered off Twickenham, and Al Baxter enjoying no more than parity against opponents, are thankfully coming to an end. The Wallabies have a quality front row combination and praise is coming from the most unlikely places, with infamous Aussie-basher Stephen Jones from The Times describing Australia’s men up front as “a platform as solid as Uluru”.

“In the past decade, Australia’s props have barely been good enough to inspire music hall jokes. All they have attracted is stretcher-bearers,” Jones wrote. “But somewhere in Australia, among the ranks of people prattling about moving the ball and the lack of importance of the set-piece, some blessed guru has found props in Benn Robinson and Ben Alexander.”

Jones went on to describe the match against Wales as “the fastest and most entertaining of the [northern] autumn series”, but the spectacle it became was largely the result of two teams who turned up to play rugby rather than adopting a strategy of endless and aimless kicking until the other team makes a mistake. The chief executive of the International Rugby Board, Mike Miller, made a valid point recently when he said everyone in rugby is responsible for making the game a better spectacle – not just the lawmakers and referees. Miller targeted England’s mentality as a major contributing cause to rugby becoming less about tries and more about kicking, but one could also add current world champions South Africa into that mix. Miller highlighted the All Blacks, Wallabies and Wales as teams that genuinely want to play rugby as it should be played, and Wales v Australia demonstrated that.

All rugby teams from club and provincial through to Test level could learn a good lesson from the match in Cardiff for how modern rugby needs to be played in order to win back disillusioned spectators. Jones captured it quite nicely in his closing remark … “Cue celebrations. Welcome back Wallabies. And welcome back the concept of rugby as something you would like to go to see.” (source)