Rugby Championship Review - Australia 29 - 47 New Zealand

It’s not the easiest time to be an Aussie sports fan.  After the ignominy of being beaten by the likes of Hungary in the 2012 Olympic Medals Table, they’ve now suffered a series defeat to the British and Irish Lions and are getting spanked all over the ground in the Ashes series.  You could almost feel sorry for them – but then you can recall the memories of a smug John Eales and a gloating Glenn McGrath, two of the finest performers in their respective sport for so long, and it’s easy to dispel any feelings of sympathy.  Especially when you consider all that they have dominated ahead of the Brits over the years – Ashes, Wimbledon titles, and now, worst of all, Liz Hurley.  Thanks Shane Warne.

But I have to admit I love the Aussies.  They’re brilliantly competitive in everything they do, and that inevitably means that they will always pick themselves up and end up on top again.  It’s not a question of if – it’s a question of when.  ‘When’ can’t come soon enough though for the beleaguered men in gold; with the public pressure finally forcing Robbie Deans out of the supremo spot, Ewan Mackenzie, former Reds Super XV winning coach, has taken on the reigns.  How desperate he would have been to get that first win – a shaken up squad, with big names dropped and the majority of players in the form of their lives from this season’s 2 most successful Aussie franchises, the Reds and Brumbies – if he could get that first victory, Mackenzie would be the toast of the southern hemisphere.  Slight problem though – up against him stood a tediously impressive All Blacks side.

Since that blip against England when the New Zealanders looked briefly human – thanks in part to their worst enemy, the mysterious stomach bug, the kiwis have looked ominously good.  They ruthlessly ripped France apart and, whilst merely beating the French isn’t the hardest achievement at the moment, they dominated them as totally as John Goodman dominates a buffet.  In Aaron Cruden, Ben Smith and Steven Luatua, they have blokes who aren’t necessarily first choice when everyone is fit and yet they looked utterly world class in their showings against Les Bleus – it is an unbelievable strength in depth, and one which has them as odds on favourites once again to win the Rugby Championship this year.  Surely a Bledisloe game against a relatively unfamiliar Wallaby side would be a cakewalk?

From the moment we had finished watching the painfully-politely observed haka, there was only one team in it.  Jesse Mogg set the tone for his night by kicking aimlessly to Israel Dagg, Stephen Moore knocked on under pressure and all of a sudden the All Blacks were hammering away at the Wallaby line.  From that range, there is simply no better side in world rugby at finishing opportunities – and they didn’t disappoint here, with a sumptuous flick pass from Aaron Cruden drawing James O’Connor, doing his best headless chicken impression, off his wing to give Ben Smith an easy run in for his 5^th Test try.  Cruden added the extras, and it was 7-0 to the All Blacks.

Luckily, for the home crowd, the Aussies didn’t crumble immediately from the shock of the opening onslaught, and the men in gold forced a couple of errors for the kiwis to earn themselves two pots at goal – the second of which was slotted by Christian Lealiifano after Mogg had missed his attempt from long range.

This seemed to spur the hosts on, rekindling the spirit they showed in the second Test match against the Lions and, to an extent, the Third, where they fought back to within a score after a shocking start.  Michael Hooper was having a ding-dong battle with Richie McCaw, and the younger man’s turnover gave O’Connor the chance to dance his way up field and force another penalty from the Kiwi Captain, which Lealiifano duly knocked over.  Centre Adam Ashley Cooper then had the Sydney crowd on its feet with a superb break in the midfield, but Will Genia was uncharacteristically indecisive and, well, crap, and dropped an aimless chip kick straight into the hands of Dagg.  Despite the miss, there was Lealiifano nudged over 2 more penalties, sandwiching an effort from Cruden, to give the Wallabies a 2 point lead and it was game on.

Unfortunately, the hard work was undone as Genia, hindered by the conveniently-strewn Steven Luatua, threw a slow pass to Lealiifano, who performed a slow motion kick that was easily charged down by onrushing Cruden, who had the simple task on diving on the looseball as it crossed the line.  Three minutes later, they were getting over the whitewash again as slick handling from Conrad Smith gave McCaw, who was growing in influence every minute, the chance to dive over in the right hand corner.  Although Cruden missed the extras, it looked for all the world like the All Blacks would take a 10 point lead into half time.

Not if Genia had anything to do with it.  Despite a couple of mistakes, the star scrum half had looked threatening and when Hooper fed him the ball in space after snaffling a lineout 80 metres out, he didn’t look back.  Showing searing speed, he outstripped Cruden before scooting past Aaron Smith and Dagg to claim an outstanding score, and bring the Aussies right back into it – despite another Kiwi penalty on the half time whistle.

The game stayed on a knife edge for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but there was always the feeling that the Wallabies weren’t quite at the races.  Matt Toomua, the Brumbies fly half, was solid but offered as much of a threat as a gang of butterflies in attack, whilst the dangerous wing-duo of James O’Connor and Israel Folau were kept virtually anonymous throughout.  You sensed a breakthrough for the visitors was coming, and sure enough it came when the electric Aaron Smith sniped well the send his namesake, Conrad, through with just Mogg to beat.  Despite the full back bravely doing a flapping star jump in the face of the onrushing centre, Smith senior had no problem in snaking his way over the line for another score for the All Blacks.  Things then got even better for the Kiwis as Luatua snaffled a loose ball off a scrum, and smart handling from Dagg and Cruden allowed Ben Smith to touch down in the corner.

Things were now so bad that Mackenzie had no choice but to haul the ineffectual Toomua off and give Cooper a dance at fly half for the last 20 minutes, but by now the damage had been done.  The Wallabies did look far more threatening with the Queensland 10 at fly half, with O’Connor and Mowen both making good yards off sharp inside balls, but when sub Tevita Kuridrani coughed up the ball in a counter attack to allow Ben Smith to gather and skate over for his hat-trick, it showed just how rusty this Aussie outfit is with one another.  Thankfully, they were at least able to finish on a high with O’Connor spotting a mismatch to scoot over from 10 metres out, but the optimism from before the game seemed a long time ago.

Wierdly though, there are plenty of upshots to this game for the Wallabies.  The team felt far more balanced on the whole than it did during the whole Lions series, and it was, on the whole, just rustiness and individual mistakes that led to the tries.  In particular, with Cooper on the field, the men in gold looked far more threatening – but this was by and away the All Black’s night.  The old guard, in the shape of Reed and McCaw, continued to dominate, whilst the new crop looked pretty handy as well.

Which means it looks likes it is going to be hard time to be any rugby fan, let alone an Aussie one, for a little while longer yet.