What the Wallabies must fix or risk getting mauled in The Rugby Championship

The Wallabies have claimed their first piece of silverware under Joe Schmidt, hoisting the James Bevan trophy after a series win against Wales, all things are going according to plan on paper.

Getting down into the detail however paints a different picture, the Wallabies have been good without being great and have had success in areas where they have recently struggled.

While discipline, the breakdown, and defence have seen improvements, the two wins paint over the cracks which have appeared at maul time.

But rest assured, Schmidt and his staff are acutely aware of the shortcomings, knowing they must get more out of this group.

“I’m relieved, I’ll definitely say that I’m relieved… but boy are we going to have to be better than that,” Schmidt said in post-match commentary with Stan.

The forwards can be credited with a lot of the success in the first two Tests of the year, but it is also the area where the issues start for the Wallabies.

The defensive maul is partially responsible for the close margin on the weekend and could have been a deciding factor the week before had the Welsh not infringed.

At halftime on Saturday night, scrum coach Mike Cron didn’t hold back on what needed to happen at maul time, as the Wallabies struggled to contain the Welsh, conceding two maul tries within 10 minutes.

“Wee bit technical and a bit more bloody attitude so we will see what happens,” Cron said.

Maul defence is equal parts technique and strategy, as it is raw muscle, this unfortunately means as the squad works on the former, changes must be rung to ensure the latter.

It may seem like a harsh assessment, but the maul defence crumbled against a Welsh pack which is not nearly as strong as that of the Springboks, whom the Wallabies will face in less than a months’ time.

Maul defence is a fluid exercise, it requires zeal, skill, and fluidity in shape to be able to staunch and then steal momentum.

There are three distinct stages to a maul defence, first the initial movement of the opposition’s maul must be stopped, most teams use the horseshoe set-up to contain and stop teams.

The set-up creates a cohesive unit, which can bind together and get lower than the opposition to stop the maul dead in its tracks.

The second part is counterintuitive; once momentum has been staunched the unit most transform into a group of individuals.

A select one or two players must swim through the centre of the maul, find the weak seams in the opponent’s set-up and get onto the ball carrier.

Thirdly, there must be a result, either sacking the maul or forcing early distribution, either neutralises the threat of the maul.

This is how a maul defence should operate, however Wales made life difficult for the Wallabies and the Aussies also made life difficult for themselves.

Wales maul try 1

The first thing to note is not a single Wallaby is standing tall and trying to reach over to grab the ball carrier.

By not doing this there is no one to sack the maul from the start, so whether by design or mistake, the Wallabies have just given up the initial opportunity to stop the maul to put all efforts into driving the Welsh back.

But brute force is not everything in a maul defence.

The second key thing to note is how low the Wallabies get; they get too low.

Initially the Wallaby forwards are almost propping-up the Welsh maul, preventing it from falling over itself.

The Welsh No 5, Dafydd Jenkins, comes down hard from the top of the lineout and appears as though he would’ve over balanced had a Wallaby grabbed him.

The Wallabies get an initial half a metre shunt on the Welsh, but that’s as good as it got for the Aussies.

Taniela Tupou, Australia’s strongest player is seen sprawled on the floor having latched onto the side instead of working back and taking point in the defence, that’s 140kg and a helluva lot of muscle missing from the now five-man maul.

It goes from bad to worse as Jeremy Williams and James Slipper skid-off the same right-hand side of the maul and the Welsh charge on.

The horseshoe has now been split in half and the Welsh roll to the right where Tupou, Slipper and Williams have all detached from, leaving Lukhan Salakai-Loto, Matt Faessler, and Charlie Cale flailing to get a grip on the charging Welsh.

The Aussies make a last gasp effort as Rob Valetini joins the fray along with the rejoining of Slipper, Faessler, Williams and Cale but it only halts momentum for a split-second before the Welsh roll over for a try.

The issue here is the horseshoe was never solid, it flexed and broke under the sustained pressure of the Welsh and after Tupou went skidding off the side on the right, the players on the left were too low to see what was going on, no one was calling the shots.

An incomplete, inaccurate and ineffective set-up lingered in the Wallabies maul throughout the game, the horseshoe was rarely sustained as the first line of defence and the Welsh often found a weak edge.

Maul penalty Wales G2

This clip exemplifies why getting too low in a defensive maul can be a problem.

Like a scrum, the players who lose their feet first are often the ones penalised, in this instance, Tupou is clearly the first to hit the deck.

Despite Tupou’s ill positioning and ineffective bracing, the set-up is better from the Wallabies, Salakai-Loto is standing tall and making a good effort to try to reach the ball carrier.

Nevertheless, Tupou gets penalised for collapsing and the Welsh get another lineout 20m out from the Wallaby’s line, which eventual leads to another try only a few minutes later.

Maul try two Wales G2

You would be excused for thinking it was the same clip as the first one, the set-up is identical, the Wallabies get very low without having a player standing ready to sack.

The horseshoe once again is incomplete as the Welsh begin to bustle forward and Fraser McReight stands off just a second too long.

The split second gives the Welsh the little piece of momentum they need to push-on for try number two.

The first man on the deck is once again Tupou, Williams and Slipper soon follow and then Cale comes spinning around, by now it’s all over.

This is a 14-point swing to the Welsh after the Wallabies had a 17-point lead, and all it took was three lineouts.

The identical pictures presented here show the defensive maul set-up is not working as it should, nor are the players executing as they should.

It also begs the question, having selected Cale who got the most lineout steals in Super Rugby Pacific 2024, why not throw him up to compete if your maul defence is on roller skates?

The lineout receiver is Jenkins for both tries, and he is only five centimetres taller than Cale, a gap Cale has closed in Brumbies’ colours this year.

Admittedly, the Wallabies competed and got pay out of it in the later stages of the game with Langi Gleeson, Williams and Cale all getting steals, but having Liam Wright back in the fold will help with lineout calling on both sides of the ball.

Aside from the strategy, it’s evident the Wallabies are missing some of their defensive maul specialists because not once did a player manage to get onto the Welsh ball carrier at the back.

Much of the pack are inexperienced in the dark arts of the maul and without Taniela Tupou providing his bulk to the shunt, the Wallabies pack was too light to hold back the Welsh wave.

No forward selected in the past two Tests is a known maul wrecker with the biggest exponents of the skill in Australia not yet selected.

Tom Hooper, Jed Holloway, and Darcy Swain domestically, with Will Skelton and Richie Arnold internationally are those who you would call if you needed a maul blown-up.

Hooper is the only player selected in Schmidt’s current squad and the international cavalry won’t arrive until the Rugby Championships, if at all.

Skelton is the ultimate maul demolisher, his inclusion in the squad in August could be defining for the Wallabies’ fortunes.

The locks currently selected in the squad are hard workers but are either sub-2m or inexperienced, maul defence at the highest level is a difficult skill to master.

Swain is the most logical choice to draft in, he has experience at swimming through and blowing-up oppositions’ mauls at Test-level.

Hooper and Williams are good prospects but appear better suited to the backrow at Test level.

Salakai-Loto and Frost could be a bulkier pair which should get a run at the weekend while the jury’s still out on Blyth.

August is a long time away for a Wallabies side which must overcome a tough Georgian side, who are coming off their first ever win against Japan.

Physicality will be the word when the Wallabies clash with the men who look like they’re made of granite and the Georgian’s maul and scrum will certainly test this young Wallabies pack.

The Wallabies are far from perfect and must work hard to quickly rectify the shortcomings of their maul, because otherwise The Rugby Championship could turn into a bloodbath.

Schmidt and his assistance have an opportunity against Georgia on Saturday to show they can change this group of players quickly, and the players will want to show Schmidt that they can make quick improvements.