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In another apparent shambles in Springbok rugby the reported unity between the Springbok management and players during the difficult Tri-Nations competition is now under strain following accusations of a breach of an undertaking to the players earlier in the year.

In a thrilling match at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, South Africa won for the first time in this year’s Tri-Nations Championship, by 44 points to the Wallabies 31. The match was in doubt right to the final minute, with the Wallabies attacking frantically to bridge the six point margin. A ball turnover in the tackle gave the Springboks their opportunity to seal the match and they did just that, with a try on the final whistle by right-wing JP Pietersen.

The Boks had been able to field their best team of this year’s tournament, with de Villiers and Fourie together at last in the centres, and tight-head prop, Janie du Plessis, and blindside flanker, Juan Smith, recently returned from injury. Subsequently, the Wallabies were always going to be the underdogs, particularly with the game being played at altitude. Visiting teams rarely win here and the Wallabies last win was in 1963!

Selection plays a vital role in the fortunes of a team. The Boks have belatedly begun to understand that simple fact, but not so the Wallabies. Can someone please tell me, “In what part of the game is Saia Faainga considered superior to Stephen Moore?” Moore is a much better scrummager and lineout thrower, surely the two fundamental roles of the hooker. Then Moore is an excellent ball-carrier, compared to Faainga’s modest talent in this facet of play. Both do their share of the defensive work. Moore is vastly more experienced than his younger team-mate and surely this is a vital commodity in such a crunch match.

That’s the background of the two hookers. Now let’s look at this specific game. Faainga struggled badly, even in the first half. He played only 30 minutes, due to a blood injury, but he still managed to give away three penalties and had two poor throws, which resulted in Springbok ball. The Wallaby scrum was, dare I say it, dusted once again, with Faainga (and Mafu) unable to combat the Springbok strategy. In the second half, his performance deteriorated still further, with even his tackling less sure.

My total was four penalties, three poor throws, one missed tackle, and two ball turnovers at the tackle (although his team-mates must accept some of the responsibility for this last statistic). When you add his inability at the scrum, this is a terrible performance, yet Stephen Moore remained on the bench. This is nothing short of bloody-mindedness on the part of Robbie Deans – and perhaps his assistants. I would have made the change, no later than the 50 minute mark – perhaps even before!

Without taking anything away from the Springboks, this was a game that the Wallabies could have won. Yet, despite the fact that they did NOT score a point in the last 30 minutes of the game – the Boks scored 17 – and were clearly tiring, Deans left FOUR players unused on the bench. The ARFU’s media releases refer to the bench as “run-on replacements”. ” Bench spectators” might be a better description. Deans frequently leaves us puzzled with his handling of the bench, but Saturday’s effort reached new heights. His pig-headedness, and/or lack of selection ability, made a significant contribution to this Wallaby loss.

The Wallabies were dusted at the scrum, dusted at the lineout and ran out of puff. We had at hand, the answer to most, if not all, of these problems and we stubbornly refused to use it. How much longer are we Wallabies supporters going to be forced to tolerate this treatment?

The Boks had their best selection of the year at hand – even the Yappies are less pig-headed than us! – and deserved their win. With clear ascendancy in the set-pieces, they controlled the match, once they made the decision to control the territory and forget the helter-skelter. In a few unSpringbok-like moments, they declined kicks for goal – even with the world’s best goal-kicker at hand – and backed their ability to score tries. This they did – five of them – and picked up a bonus point, while denying the Wallabies their losing point. They looked for the quick recycle throughout, although good Wallaby defence denied them frequently, and, with the Wallabies tiring, managed a number of off-loads from the tackle. These, as always, were productive and in the lead-up to Pierre Spies’ try, there were in fact two off-loads.

The Sprinboks showed some continued improvement, with their obvious centre pairing, together at last, giving freedom to Morne Steyn. He played his best game to date for this international season. Juan Smith and Schalk Burger were industrious and effective, and this gave Spies the freedom to play ‘his’ game. Only Francois Steyn was below par, but I’m sure that he has not forgotten how to play and he will be better for the outing.

Kurtley Beale was outstanding. Even our blinkered selection panel seems finally to understand this – although he was only given his chance because of injuries. Quade Cooper was very good again and Will Genia seemed to benefit from his presence. There are rumours that Matt Giteau lacks the communication skills necessary in a quality fly-half. If so, he could have a chat to Michael Lynagh and a look at a few of his performances; Noddy was one of the great communicators and the “eyes” of his scrum-half!

For the first time in a long while, I saw some progress in the Wallaby performance. You know, as in the “work in progress” that we’ve been promised for the last two years. We played, as usual, with passion and commitment, and this time, we had some alignment, even a little realignment. Now, maybe, we can work on our catch-and-pass skills – Session 1, Practice 1 in my Coaching Manual. Every single pass – yes EVERY – from the Wallabies is a “reload and sling”, making it absolutely impossible for any player to change or adjust his line onto the pass. This is not good enough! Oh yes, and, once again, it’s simple!

My parting suggestions:

1. 1. I’m not sure that David Pocock is worthy of the huge raps being piled on him. He’s definitely a good player, but a great player? Maybe time will tell. He’s for sure no Richie McCaw, or even a George Smith! Come to think of it, didn’t our selectors dump George Smith for Pocock? Most world-class backrowers can at least pass accurately – and more frequently.
2. 2. Adam Ashley-Cooper to fullback, where he is GREAT under the high ball and runs excellent lines in the #13 channel. Kurtley Beale to outside-centre; I want to see if my idea is right. He will be a GREAT player; I’m sure of that!

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The All Blacks won the Tri-Nations on Saturday night by beating the Boks 27 – 29 as Israel Dagg scored a try in the final seconds to clinch an epic come-from-behind win over the Springboks.

The Kiwis only needed a bonus point to make sure of their title, and they would have felt they had made sure of that when skipper Richie McCaw went in for a try on the corner flag with two and a half minutes remaining. Dan Carter missed the angled conversion to leave the teams level pegging, but at that stage it looked like the All Blacks were at least certain of the one point they needed.

Anyone who thought though that the Kiwis would be content to play safely in the final seconds to make sure of the draw was mistaken. Instead of kicking the ball back into Bok territory they did what they had done for most of the match, they probed for an opening — and it came.

Big Ma’a Nonu was the man who surged through the gap, and with Dagg at his side the All Blacks had a two on one situation — and the solitary Bok defender in their way was the diminutive Gio Aplon. It was an easy try, celebrated in spectacular style by an All Black team that showed in this match that in addition to their great skills, they also have massive ticker.

To come back like they did at this venue and in front of a 90 000 mostly Bok supporting fans was a magnificent achievement and it underlined that this All Black side has championship qualities. That they made it difficult for themselves by making mistakes in the face of the Bok defensive onslaught should only make the taste of victory that much sweeter for McCaw’s men.

New Zealand scored three tries to one, and though the winning score came late, the try tally did just about sum up the All Black advantage over the 80 minutes.

SMIT 100

That is not to say though that the Boks were not a huge improvement on what they had been in New Zealand and Australia. As you would anticipate in a home match and on the occasion of skipper John Smit’s 100th match, the pride in the jersey and the passion that was questioned on the overseas leg was very much back.

Unfortunately that is not enough at this level, and while the Boks will feel they came so close, the reality is that had Carter not had an uncharacteristically off-night with his goalkicking, the All Blacks would not have needed to rely on a last gasp try. One of Carter’s kicks was from almost dead in front when his team trailed 22-17 with six minutes to go.

Schalk Burger was immense as he strove to prevent McCaw from stamping his mark on the match as he had overseas, and for the most part he succeeded. Juan Smith also showed how much he has been missed, while Pierre Spies is always a much better player on the Highveld, particularly when he is operating behind a pack that is relatively stable.

Perhaps the biggest revelation for the Boks though was Francois Hougaard. The young Bull has been mentored by Fourie du Preez, and at times you needed to shake yourself to be sure that it was Hougaard on the field and not the senior player.

His high kicks and his little snipes around the breaks were a huge improvement on what the Boks had in that position in New Zealand, and perhaps it was questionable that the coaches should bring Ricky Januarie on for those fateful final minutes.

But it was not Januarie who lost the game for the Boks, or even Bryan Habana, who came off his line again to allow McCaw in for the second try, but rather their inferior fitness. From about 25 minutes out from the final hooter it was clear several Boks were out on their feet, and you got the impression that had this match had another 10 minutes to run, the Kiwis would have won by 20.

PHYSICAL BOKS

For long periods of the first half though it seemed that the All Blacks might pay for what appeared to be the folly of running too much ball back at the Boks instead of kicking it. At altitude the ball just travels so much higher and further from the boot, and the All Blacks just weren’t able to get as much distance from running it.

With the Boks so much more physical at the breakdown and making the first time tackles they missed in Australasia, it looked like the All Blacks were committing suicide. Indeed, even though the All Blacks scored a try on the break to bring them back to two points behind, the view at half-time was that the match had been reminiscent of what we saw in last year’s Tri-Nations, when the All Blacks were severely punished for their ball in hand approach.

The All Blacks drew first blood through a penalty in the first five minutes, but two Steyn penalties took the Boks into the lead and they were not headed again until on the final hooter. Although Carter drew the All Blacks back with another kick of his own, he also hit the post from near halfway.

It was in the middle stages of the first half that the All Blacks, determined to avoid contact whenever possible, signalled that it might be a long afternoon for the Boks, and only determined defence repelled the visitors. Yet it was the Boks who scored the first try, which came thanks to some quick thinking which saw them take a tap penalty instead of kicking for goal and Burger dotted down as his team surged over the line in the 25th minute.

The All Blacks struck back just short of half-time with a try that took a long time in coming given the threat they appeared to mount when they did have ball in hand and were able to spread the play.

It was sparked by Joe Rocokoco running the ball back after Mils Muliaina had failed to hold onto a kick, with Brad Thorne making the all important surge through the Bok defence before the play was spread to the right with the Boks having run out of defenders.

The Boks led 16-14 at the break, the first time in a long while that the All Blacks have been headed at the halfway point. But sadly for the hosts they had 75 minutes of defence in them, and not the necessary 80.

Scorers:

South Africa - Try: Schalk Burger. Conversion: Morne Steyn. Penalties: Steyn (5).
New Zealand – Tries: Tony Woodcock, Richie McCaw, Israel Dagg. Conversion: Dan Carter. Penalties: Carter (4).

Source: supersport.co.za

Pic: sport24.co.za

Believe it or not, despite all the talk about the quade train, and the All Blacks only needing a bonus point to secure the Tri-nations this year, there is still actually some rugby left to play in this tournament. The Blackwash so far has actually been a bit of a tipping minefield for some, a lot doubting they could be that good for this long. fingers crossed the run is coming to and end. The current tipping table stands as:

1 TheRiddler 10.50

2 RunningRugby 10.00

2 Bagolfer 10.00

2 Crookie 10.00

5 chriscullen 9.83

6 Stumpy 9.50

6 ChrisBob 9.50

6 brighton75 9.50

9 Ham 9.50

10 cyclopath 9.00

Not much point in walks of shame with the Wallabies doing enough of that for all of us, but if you read their press (I am sure the wallabies do…) they are not too far from a win. Are they?

Before you vote this weekend, Tip.

The Wallaby team has been named for Saturday’s test. This is an opportunity to storm the Kiwi beachhead in a do or die effort to remain alive in the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cups. 

In the real world most will say that this is an impossible task. Is the best that we can hope for an honourable defeat and strategic withdrawal à la Dunkirk? 

Or can we steer our undermanned battlegroup through the obstacles of Juno, Omaha or Gold Beach and give Jerry (or Smug Ted in this case) a bloody nose? 

Perhaps a win is beyond us but let’s go down fighting in the process. Although Dunkirk was a loss, at least they lived to fight another day and eventually prevail.

They don’t come much tougher than at Lancaster Park (formerly Jade, now AMI, to be Stadium Christchurch for the RWC - yawn)? 

The weather isn’t likely to do us any favours either as they’re forecasting rain, a top of 5C and a 14km/h zephyr on Saturday night. 

That should lower the Wallabies’ fragile mental state another notch or two. Inclement NZ weather has always provided a ready-made excuse for losses in the past. 

Let’s hope that this unique group rises above all that and displays a bit of passion. You know, I think that’s one of the downsides to professional rugby. It’s a bit sterile and seems more focussed on tactics. 

As Buddha would say, where’s the passion Gordon? Didn’t see too much of it last week. We were out-enthused by a team who would die for their cause. 

Speaking of tactics, the weather may necessitate a change in ours but the kicking will have to be deadly accurate as their counter-attacking skills are, as we’ve seen, damaging. 

And those restarts? I doubt whether they’ll be a factor this week. It’ll be somewhere else where the focus will lie. Maybe scrum time – there should be plenty of those in the wet? 

The Wallabies have made a couple of changes from last week with more young talent introduced. Fair enough too if you’re not performing. 

Deans has brought in Anthony Faingaa for his debut run-on test, with Sookface returning to the bench.

Kurtley Beale gets a guernsey at fullback courtesy of Rob Horne’s injury.

Twin brother Saia Faingaa is now the starting hooker after a very solid introduction to international rugby. He plays a fairly dynamic defensive game around the ruck.

Squeeky Moore heads back to the bench but I’d imagine he’ll be getting plenty of game time.   

As expected, AAC is moved to outside centre where he is probably the only viable option at present. Cam Shepherd has overcome the flu and is in the reserves.

I’m not sure that only one change to the forward pack is going to make that much of a difference but who am I to argue with the Master Coach?

For me, the question marks surrounding Dean Mumm, Richard Brown and Salesi Ma’afu still remain. 

Inconsistency suggests that the Wobblies will be due to bounce back but I reckon it’ll again be a little ugly and Saving Private Deans will be beyond our capabilities. 

More likely Meet the Fockers. Same result but perhaps a little less hurtful…. 

Wallabies: Kurtley Beale, James O’Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Anthony Faingaa, Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau, Will Genia, Richard Brown, David Pocock, Rocky Elsom (c), Nathan Sharpe, Dean Mumm, Salesi Ma’afu, Saia Faingaa, Benn Robinson. 

Reserves: Stephen Moore, James Slipper, Rob Simmons, Matt Hodgson, Luke Burgess, Berrick Barnes, Cameron Shepherd. 

All Blacks: Mils Muliaina, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Joe Rokocoko, Dan Carter, Piri Weepu, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (c), Jerome Kaino, Tom Donnelly, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock. 

Reserves: Corey Flynn, Ben Franks, Sam Whitelock, Victor Vito, Alby Mathewson, Aaron Cruden, Benson Stanley.

Where are the opportunities for the Wallabies v All Blacks in Melbourne this weekend? 

Let’s take a look back at some of the things the Wallabies did well against the Springboks in Brisbane last weekend and what opportunities arose in the first two Tri Nations games between the Springboks and All Blacks.

Did you get a feeling of deja vu watching game 2 of the Tri Nations between the All Blacks and Springboks?  The All Blacks picked up where they left off in game 1 and the Springboks again looked to have no answer.

The only area of the game won by the Springboks was at the lineout where the second half performance by the All Blacks was very poor resulting in a very low 56% win rate for the match.

Possession was again fairly even with 53 possessions to the All Blacks against 50 for the Springboks.  Whilst it wasn’t apparent to me when I first watched the game, the All Blacks actually kicked more that the Springboks – 49% of the time they had the ball to 42% from the Springboks.  Those figures were vastly different between the first and second halves.  In the first half the All Blacks kicked 41% of the time compared to 58% in the second half.  The Springboks kicked 63% of the time in the first half and 23% in the second half.

The All Blacks dominated at the breakdown winning 95% of their own ball whilst the Springboks could only win 87% of their own ball.

Click on the Team Statistics icon to download the full set of statistics.

WARNING!!! If the pain from yesterday’s video on lost possession hasn’t subsided, don’t watch the video because although it’s not quite as painful, it’s shows plenty of ”basic” mistakes the Wallabies need to eliminate.

In the first four tests of the season the Wallabies have kicked the ball 82 times – that’s around 40% of the times they’ve started a possession sequence.

In the first game of the Tri Nations last weekend New Zealand kicked 44% of the times they started a possession sequence and South Africa 53%.

Click on “Read More” to see the video and further anlysis of the teams kicking performances so far in 2010.

As part of our statistical analysis we measure the effectiveness of kicks based on the outcome so a Kick (-) is a kick that:

• Gained no ground; or 
• Gave possession back to the opposition without a contest; or
• Opened an opportunity for the opposition to counter or kick the ball back and gain more ground than the original kick; or
• Wasted an opportunity to attack with ball in hand.

For example a box kick that goes too far and gives the catcher time to take and then shift the ball before the chasers can get there is a Kick (-), whereas the same kick that gives time for the chasers to arrive and contest possession is a Kick (+), unless of course there was an overlap in attack and the ball should of been passed instead of being kicked.

It’s a subjective thing but those are the sort of guidelines we work with. Other kicks like the Kurtley Beale grubber against Ireland are not contentious and are clearly a Kick (-). If a kick was the right option but it was poorly executed it will also earn a Kick (-).

As you can see from the graph the Wallabies kicking was worst in the game against Fiji but that was to be expected, being the first game of the season.  The game against England in Perth was the Wallabies best kicking performance but then dropped back against against England in Sydney and then Ireland. 

Our season rating for the Wallabies so far is 72% (+).  In the first game of the Tri Nations last weekend we rated New Zealand at 68% (+) and South Africa at 63% (+) so the Wallabies performance hasn’t been too bad, albeit against lesser opposition. 

Where the Wallabies do need to improve is in cutting down some of the simple mistakes they’ve been making as you’ll see in the following video.  

International specialist bank and asset manager Investec has signed a deal to extend their existing sponsorship of the Investec Tri Nations in New Zealand for a further five years and to take the New Zealand naming rights

A characteristic of the Deans era Wallabies is their seeming inability to sustain their performance over the full 80 minutes of a game. This raises the question of whether their training methods are appropriate for the intense physical demands of modern international rugby. In short, is there enough emphasis on strength training?

It is difficult to draw any firm conclusions from the team’s patchy performances in the June Tests as quality of the opposition and the effects of long distance travel were complicating factors. A more valid measure is how the team has performed against its closest neighbour. In contests between Australia and New Zealand distance travelled is not really a relevant factor and both nations always endeavour to select their strongest team, so these matches provide an ideal environment to search for consistent patterns evident over a number of matches.

In the ten Trans-Tasman Tests prior to Robbie Deans assuming control the Wallabies led at half-time in 3 matches, were level in 2 matches and were behind in 5 matches. In the second half the Wallabies outscored their opponents 4 times, scored equal points once and were outscored 5 times. Overall they won 3 games and lost 7.

There have been 8 Wallabies-All Blacks games since Deans has taken over. During this period the Wallabies won an impressive 6 out of 8 first halves, but lost 7 out of 8 second halves and 7 out of 8 matches! The one time when the Wallabies won the second half and the match was in July 2008, when Deans and his assistants had just taken over.  Since then the team has lost every second half and every match.

On June 28 the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article titled, “Don’t despair – fitter Wallabies might rise from last in Tri Nations rankings”. The author, Spiro Zavas, wrote:

“It is an open secret that many Waratahs and Brumbies players shirked their full training obligations in the Super 14. An unfortunate feature of the Wallabies, this season and last season, has been the way they have faded in the second half of Test matches. A fitter Wallabies team might convert those half-time leads to full-time victories.”

To address this problem “the Wallabies conditioning coach will monitor the entire squad with GPS tracking devices that will record the intensity of their training.” Distance covered is hardly an appropriate measure of intensity given that rugby players spend much of a training session in prolonged static physical engagements. But having been labelled “shirkers” it is totally predictable that the players will run themselves into the ground to impress their masters.

Unofficial feedback from Wallaby training in the lead-up to the Tri Nations is that the players are running hills three times a week as well as having forwards running 100 metres 10 times with a 20 second rest between and 200 metres 10 times with a 20 second rest.

So the overwhelming emphasis appears to be on trying to improve aerobic fitness which ignores the fact that rugby is a strength-oriented sport, certainly the most strength-oriented of all the football codes. Players need to have a solid strength base to be able to compete for 80 minutes.

Traditionally Australian rugby has placed less emphasis on strength and physicality than any of the other major rugby countries, and it appears that this has become more pronounced in the Deans era. Rather than pursuing max strength the Wallabies’ weights sessions have reportedly seen a heavy focus on bar-speed routines using loads as little as 30% of 1RM.

One of the enduring impressions of the 2007 World Cup was the ferocity of the Northern Hemisphere teams at the breakdown. It is probably too late to do much about the upcoming Tri Nations, but unless the approach to training changes dramatically the Wallabies are likely to be physically overpowered in New Zealand next year.