Opinion
Give the punters something, Joe: Wallabies fans need to see a cutting edge
Paul Cully
Rugby columnist1 ‘Work in progress’ signs can’t stay up forever
Give the punters something to cling on to, Joe. Of course, it was always going to be hard to gauge the Wallabies across two Tests against South Africa, with the danger of being disproportionately harsh.
And, there have been elements of genuine growth, including a fantastic 16 from 16 tackles from Carlo Tizzano in Perth on Saturday, including some real belters.
But the Wallabies need to show improvement in Argentina with ball in hand, because the two Tests against the Boks and the second test against Wales have been stodgy.
Schmidt is working against something of an unrealistic deadline - preparing the No 9 team in the world to face the Lions in 12 months - but this is the job that was accepted and Wallabies fans are entitled to have expectations that after five Tests a more discernible cutting edge should start to emerge.
2 Jake Gordon is the clear No 1 halfback
You had to feel for ref Paul Williams in Perth - he was part official-part playground monitor. He had to shoo away the Springboks’ ubiquitous water carriers in the first half - those blokes must have elite GPS numbers giving the amount of sprinting they do to deliver coaching messages every two minutes.
Lukhanyo Am of the Springboks gets hit by Nic White.Credit: Getty Images
But the main pest was Nic White, who had an ill disciplined game and clearly took Lukhanyo Am out in the air in the second half with a no-arms charge. Nor were White’s clearing kicks particularly long, which should guarantee the return of Jake Gordon at No 9 as soon as he is fit.
3 Jorgensen pushes for a start
It’s been said before and it’s worth repeating: Australian rugby will need to be extremely careful in how they manage the 19-year-old. Former Wallaby Cam Shepherd expressed some anxiety about this topic before the test, and he was right.
But the appeal of playing him, even sparingly, only increased on Saturday after he produced something that has been sorely lacking: genuine speed.
His rapid advances down the right unwittingly betrayed something about the Wallabies backline - that it has been somewhat one-paced in previous Tests.
4 Boks will go back to Pollard for the All Blacks
In some ways, the performance of South Africa No 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu showed what Schmidt is wrestling with. Feinberg-Mngomezulu is clearly talented, but he had a comedown Test after the big performance in Brisbane. At 22 years old, that’s just par for the course.
But you can bet the Springboks will go back to serial Rugby World Cup winner Handre Pollard for the upcoming Tests against the All Blacks in South Africa. There will be little to no experimenting for those games, especially as the other Springboks’ URC newcomers who got their shot in Perth showed that they were a considerable downgrade on the top-liners.
5 Lachie’s blue steel look
Incoming Waratahs defence coach Lachie McCaffrey was like a proud dad in the halftime interview during the Otago-Auckland NPC match on Friday.
McCaffrey had observed his Otago players launch themselves into the big Auckland pack - stacked with Super Rugby-winning Blues - and they proceeded to do the same in the second half as Otago toppled the big-city boys.
Some of the starch was no doubt a response to Otago’s limp loss in the opening round, but it was also fascinating to see their tactical approach.
They flooded the breakdown, scrapping like wild dogs, and although they conceded a few penalties and left some space out wide, it worked. If McCaffrey can instil that attitude and approach in NSW next year, Waratahs fans will be more than happy.
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