While we all can find some flaws in the Australian game at this time, there is enough strength; both in talent and with their structures, to reverse an ugly trend of losing more than they win. Or even more to the point, claiming victory when it is there for the taking.
The loss to Scotland was immensely damaging to Australian rugby not for the result itself, but for the hammer blow it would have struck to the psyche of the men involved with the Wallaby setup.
It would have been a damning chorus ringing in the heads of the coaches and players, and surely such a result would have been the catalyst for many recurring nightmares in the last week.
Sometimes self-analysis can be a terrible thing.
Did we really lose that match? We should have won, we did almost everything right, didn’t we? We beat the World Champions, and had moments of superiority against elite sides such as the All Blacks and the Six Nations champions Ireland – how could we not take down Scotland?
One cannot take anything away from the Thistles, but we are psycho-analysing the Wallabies here.
Throughout the season and especially in the last week, there has been much examination on where the Wallabies are going wrong. Some have twisted the knife in deep. Others, such as prominent ex-coaches, have come out and explored every opportunity of why the team is failing.
Everything from the fact that the Wallabies are being coached as All Black wannabes, right through to the fact that Australia’s lack of world class second rowers is hurting the side.
In some respects, the “mechanical” problems of the game and coaching of Robbie Deans is almost a moot point. For Australia, their biggest issue at this time is their lack of belief. The concept of skills operating without belief and confidence is something that should be assessed first.
My personal experience with the concept of believing is that without personal self confidence, you will never achieve the result irrespective of whether or not you have the skill set to execute the desired goal. The perfection of skills can lead to confidence, and this is a lesson many elite sportsman know too well.
The champions of any sport clearly have that self belief, but it can be borne of these two key factors. Either they know they have honed their art to the point where they are better than the opposition, or their sheer confidence is at such a level that losing is quite simply not an option.
For the Wallabies, to say it is lack of skill is perhaps not the correct analysis.
These are the elite players in Australian rugby.
We know that as a rugby breeding ground the Wallaby system lacks behind other countries that live and breathe for the sport, do not have the saturation of competition, or have a developed domestic rugby structure.
While by and large, while New Zealand or South Africa – currently based on the IRB rankings the two strongest rugby nations in the world – may have depth behind their test XV, the one truism that has always been accurate is that the Wallabies can field an international side that is good enough to compete with any other rugby side.
In training, can anyone in or outside the Wallabies inner sanctum say that they are not putting the work in off the field?
Are they really lacking in the fundamental skills?
Robbie Deans, quite possibly the most intuitive rugby coach in world rugby, would be leaving no stone unturned.
So if the skills or players are not the fault line, it then brings us back to the Wallaby faith.
The conviction and determination that has seen Australia, at least in the two decades, cement themselves as a genuine world power. Two Rugby World Cups and another finals appearance confirm that argument.
The chest thumping and rump slapping has not been seen in the Wallaby ranks of late.
I think of Phil Kearns mouthing off at every opportunity to Sean Fitzpatrick and the all powerful All Black packs of the nineties. You could argue that Kearnsy and the Australian pack were inferior in class, but they never told themselves that.
George Gregan was the same. Following in the great tradition of Australian sledgers, whether or not Australia were fundamentally better wasn’t the point, they always believed that they were.
One of the most endearing images I have seen was when the 2003 Wallabies upset the All Blacks at the World Cup. Every tackle, every metre gained, every play in Australia’s favour was celebrated with ostentatious exaggeration.
There was a belief, a passion and the absolute assuredness that they could compete.
This is a good Wallaby side, far better than this year’s ledger indicates. Until they consistently remind themselves of this, they will struggle to again compete with the powers of the rugby stage.
The loss to Scotland was immensely damaging to Australian rugby not for the result itself, but for the hammer blow it would have struck to the psyche of the men involved with the Wallaby setup.
It would have been a damning chorus ringing in the heads of the coaches and players, and surely such a result would have been the catalyst for many recurring nightmares in the last week.
Sometimes self-analysis can be a terrible thing.
Did we really lose that match? We should have won, we did almost everything right, didn’t we? We beat the World Champions, and had moments of superiority against elite sides such as the All Blacks and the Six Nations champions Ireland – how could we not take down Scotland?
One cannot take anything away from the Thistles, but we are psycho-analysing the Wallabies here.
Throughout the season and especially in the last week, there has been much examination on where the Wallabies are going wrong. Some have twisted the knife in deep. Others, such as prominent ex-coaches, have come out and explored every opportunity of why the team is failing.
Everything from the fact that the Wallabies are being coached as All Black wannabes, right through to the fact that Australia’s lack of world class second rowers is hurting the side.
In some respects, the “mechanical” problems of the game and coaching of Robbie Deans is almost a moot point. For Australia, their biggest issue at this time is their lack of belief. The concept of skills operating without belief and confidence is something that should be assessed first.
My personal experience with the concept of believing is that without personal self confidence, you will never achieve the result irrespective of whether or not you have the skill set to execute the desired goal. The perfection of skills can lead to confidence, and this is a lesson many elite sportsman know too well.
The champions of any sport clearly have that self belief, but it can be borne of these two key factors. Either they know they have honed their art to the point where they are better than the opposition, or their sheer confidence is at such a level that losing is quite simply not an option.
For the Wallabies, to say it is lack of skill is perhaps not the correct analysis.
These are the elite players in Australian rugby.
We know that as a rugby breeding ground the Wallaby system lacks behind other countries that live and breathe for the sport, do not have the saturation of competition, or have a developed domestic rugby structure.
While by and large, while New Zealand or South Africa – currently based on the IRB rankings the two strongest rugby nations in the world – may have depth behind their test XV, the one truism that has always been accurate is that the Wallabies can field an international side that is good enough to compete with any other rugby side.
In training, can anyone in or outside the Wallabies inner sanctum say that they are not putting the work in off the field?
Are they really lacking in the fundamental skills?
Robbie Deans, quite possibly the most intuitive rugby coach in world rugby, would be leaving no stone unturned.
So if the skills or players are not the fault line, it then brings us back to the Wallaby faith.
The conviction and determination that has seen Australia, at least in the two decades, cement themselves as a genuine world power. Two Rugby World Cups and another finals appearance confirm that argument.
The chest thumping and rump slapping has not been seen in the Wallaby ranks of late.
I think of Phil Kearns mouthing off at every opportunity to Sean Fitzpatrick and the all powerful All Black packs of the nineties. You could argue that Kearnsy and the Australian pack were inferior in class, but they never told themselves that.
George Gregan was the same. Following in the great tradition of Australian sledgers, whether or not Australia were fundamentally better wasn’t the point, they always believed that they were.
One of the most endearing images I have seen was when the 2003 Wallabies upset the All Blacks at the World Cup. Every tackle, every metre gained, every play in Australia’s favour was celebrated with ostentatious exaggeration.
There was a belief, a passion and the absolute assuredness that they could compete.
This is a good Wallaby side, far better than this year’s ledger indicates. Until they consistently remind themselves of this, they will struggle to again compete with the powers of the rugby stage.
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