What you thought - Wallabies against the Springboks in Perth

The Men of Gold mailbox was overflowing this week with praise for the Wallabies in the heroic victory against the Springboks.

The much maligned Wallabies scrum received considerable well-deserved praise with overall the forwards given most of the credit for the Wallabies gritty victory. The defence was also lauded for keeping the Boks tryless.

There were some who would have preferred a more free-running spectacle but with so much at stake in such a big Test match it was always going to be a war of attrition. And of course as usual we received the chirps from across the Tasman that as good as the Wallabies were – there was no way they would beat the All Blacks this Saturday in Sydney. Men of Gold begs to differ !

Letter of the week goes to Graeme Romans for his comprehensive dissection of the Wallabies’ first Tri-Nations Test of the year.

Graeme wrote:

“The most encouraging aspect of this game was the growing confidence that is evident in the team as a unit, which leads me to predict a victory against the All-Blacks next week. Our defence has always been there, causing immense frustration to opponents. But Robbie Deans has identified a lack of confidence in attack as our great weakness and he's already changing that. Our attack at the breakdown has improved immensely a la Crusaders, and Luke Burgess ferrets for the ball to accelerate the go forward so that the phase play is continuous. This takes a strength of our play and ramps up the potency geometrically. Difficult to defend against.

Sure there were 'headless chooks' moments but it was fantastic how quickly we recovered form. This is more of the Deans philosophy of 'shape' bringing easy change to a group of talented players eager to play "old-fashioned" Rugby. The passing has improved across the field.

Luke Burgess' passing fell short (eh,eh) this week but it seemed at least in part due to poor communication. (Matt) Giteau seems to want to play deep but it doesn't look like it fits and I blame him (Gits') because Barnes seems to have similar problems with his positional play and playing closer to the gain line gives faster go forward. Despite these hiccups they (Burgess and Gits) are both incumbents so they'll fix it.

But it's all good, and the crowds will start to return, beginning with next weeks Bledisloe. A win there and a new era in Aussie rugby will be off and running.

Don't you worry about that !”

Another to grab the attention of Men of Gold this week was Brian Kolia with his exciting recap of the Test. Brian writes:

“In the first few minutes of the game, the pendulum seemed to swing back and forth, but as the Boks posted first points, there was a subtle hint of deja vu as I was beginning to think the Wallabies were in for a long night!

The Wallabies were matching the Boks' physicality, but it seemed as if they lacked cohesion, especially in their backline combinations. That was unusual, because normally I would feel this way about the forward play. Well, the forwards aimed up, but it seemed our backs were a bit lacklustre....until Tuqiri's try! A wonderful run by Peter Hynes off a clever lineout saw the ball go from one end to the other, with a series of great touches by Nathan Sharpe and Matt Giteau, and Tuqiri, while he still had some work to do, was over for the try. It was evidence of Robbie Deans' "play what's in front of you" style, and also, his emphasis on moving the ball across the field. It was really great to see, given that it's been a long time I've seen a try of this nature. The last time I saw a try like this, David Campese was wearing Tuqiri's jersey!

But while that try was a highlight, the two most important things to come out of the game for me, was the Wallabies defence (moreso, their ability to scramble) and the set pieces, particularly the scrum! I was very impressed, and I can't wait when Ben Robinson is around the 26-27 age mark, because by that stage, he will be world class!

The Wallabies will need to work more on the 9-10-12 combination, and while our scrum was superb against the Boks, the All Blacks have the best scrum in the world, and will need to be on their absolute best concentration.

In all, I give the performance by the Wallabies a 7.5 out of 10, but we need an 8 or more to beat the All Blacks!”

Gary Mark from Brisbane was another impressed by the Wallabies:

“I thought the South Africans played very well, therefore, this was not just a lucky win because the other team threw it away. Australia played sensible, confident rugby and were well prepared for this match. The game could have gone either way and we did enough to come up trumps on this occasion. Bring on the All Blacks in Sydney, our team is moving steadily in the right direction and lets not forget the hard work of those who came before Deans, they should be proud of the players they brought on through the system for Robbie to use in his grand plan.”

Norm Noack  was impressed by “a number of aspects of the game which I believe are directly attributable to Robbie Deans” especially the scrums, while regular writer Prajeet Sharma  would like to “salute all the Men of Gold” and credited the win to “ROBBIE MAGIC”.

Alex Chang  writing from Holland was very happy to see another “step in the Wallabies progression under coach Robbie Deans” as was Wejen Reddy  noting the “venomous attack and superb defence”.

Doug Macintosh  commented it was a “gutsy effort” from the Wallabies while  Kim Moscarda from Edgewater in WA thought “the Wallabies were absolutely fantastic in front of a very proud and loud West Australian crowd.”

Kim would also like to see a Bledisloe Cup game heading to Perth. “All in all it was a great game to watch and hopefully a sign to the ARU that a Bledisloe Cup game in WA would be a certain winner !”

Even tough-nut  Merv from Mandrurah found some reasons to praise the Wallabies. “In Test rugby starved WA all followers of the game played in heaven get excited when Test Rugby comes to town even ex-pat Kiwis” he wrote. “Congratulations to the Wallabies on a couple of occasions they managed to hold on to the ball and score tries which is something the Boks failed to do.”

But he’s still very much behind the All Blacks this weekend: “Next week in Sydney is the real thing. I expect the All Blacks to record a good win.” Men of Gold are just as confident you’ll be disappointed Merv.

Debbie Reddell  would’ve liked to see a more open game but was pleased with the result : “Well done fellas. Now can we do the same or improved on the win against the Kiwis. Keep up the drive”, while James and Jacqui think “its time they stop rewarding the kickers!”

The cryptically signed  “Village” was far from impressed as was  Warren Adamson who said “the atmosphere was flat and boring” while Chris and Kylie said " ‘The Running game’ faithful have not been disappointed!”

Rob Walton is full of hope saying this Wallabies side “could be great” while  Anil Thapa thought it was the “Best performance of the year and everyone performed well in their area.”

The final word goes to  Dennis Reidlinger for his astute comment: “On a positive note, play at the breakdown was unbelievable. I haven't seen the Wallabies play like that for 5-6 years when Phil Waugh and George Smith first made the Wallabies side.  Also the defence was outstanding, but I believe the Wallabies defence has been outstanding for years.”

Till next week.

Yours in Rugby,

 Men of Gold