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Why Dave Rennie has cause to be optimistic despite Australia's uninspiring start to Super Rugby

(Photo by Hanna Lassen/Getty Images)

Dave Rennie has cause to be optimistic about how his future Wallabies side may take shape later in the season based on how the Australian Super Rugby sides performed in the opening round of the 2020 season.

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Despite only one of the four franchises being victorious, collectively the Australian performances indicate the Wallabies could field a side that is strong at the set-piece, competitive at the breakdown, has pace on the flank and an ability to work through the middle of the park.

Worryingly, however, the Australian sides are overall lacking in defensive skill, counter-attack, mental application and overall game management.

Continue reading below…

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On the bright side, the Brumbies vs Reds encounter was a high-quality match considering it was only round one and was played in 35 degree-plus conditions.

Pleasingly, this encounter was not a ‘snore-fest’ that could aptly describe Australian local derbies of recent times. Instead, both sides bought attacking intent and starch into the contact area.

As expected, Wallabies scrumhalf Joe Powell orchestrated much of the Brumbies attack, yet they have a talented Super Rugby debutant Noah Lolesio, who performed admirably in the flyhalf role and did not look out of his depth at this level.

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While the Brumbies were pressured by the Reds, they were able to maintain their attacking shape at crucial moments during the match.

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Lolesio featured in Tom Wright’s try by chiming into a second receiver role and throwing a well-timed cut out pass to Tevita Kuridrani, putting the Brumbies into space that eventuated with the five-pointer.

Lolesio was not the only debutant who excelled. Reds No. 8 Harry Wilson was a handful for the Brumbies all match, carrying the ball 14 times, offloading, beating defenders and scoring a late try.

Wilson is the most exciting back row talent this country has seen since the great flanker George Smith debuted 20-odd years ago.

If the Gunnedah-born Wilson continues on this trajectory and realises his full potential, he can join Mark Loane, Tim Gavin and Toutai Kefu as a great Australian No. 8s.

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How the Reds would replace the power of Samu Kerevi to create attacking opportunities has been answered by their ability use other powerful ball runners such as Wilson and tighthead prop Taniela Tupou, coupled with a willingness to offload pre and post-contact and also move the ball into space.

The try by former Brumbies wing Henry Speight is evidence of such. Winning a lineout deep into Brumbies territory, the Reds of yesteryear would often use that to set up a driving maul and look to power over the line.

However, replacement hooker Alex Mafi swept around and connected with fly-half Isaac Lucas, who opened up a gap for Speight to charge into scoring a wonderfully executed move.

The Reds have already illustrated they will bring a greater variance to their attack in 2020.

Both sides looked to play directly and were not lured by the width early. It’s a shame the Waratahs did not adopt the same attacking principle more often as their decision-making while in possession was, at times, appalling.

They were often too spaced in the attack, isolating themselves to become easy targets for the Crusaders’ defence. Sadly, the remedy was often to look to pass to another isolated attacker.

This was not lost on veteran New Zealand broadcaster Grant Nisbett, who on more than one occasion commented on how the Waratahs were guilty of passing to a player in a worse position than the passer himself.

Debutant flyhalf Will Harrison had a courageous debut, but his job was not made easy by such tactics, and as his six tackles from 11 attempts indicates, he does have defensive frailties.

When the Waratahs did look to play closer and flatter through the midfield, they did trouble the Crusaders, with tries to winger Alex Newsome and 19-year-old sensation Mark Nawaqanitawase originating from such efforts.

If Rob Penney’s side are to realise the full potential of Nawaqanitawase, they should look to allow him to attack both sides of his opposing winger, not just the outside with a sideline to contend with.

With that much space, they should attack the middle channel with greater intent drawing defenders away from him.

The Waratahs’ game management, however, was dreadful.

They kicked from the midfield when they should have passed, and insisted on doing so late in the game when they had a bench that was providing energy in the collision, yet they surprisingly appeared determined to give the Crusaders possession.

Not a wise decision as the Crusaders are the most adept side in counter-attack and one would have thought Penney would have been more tactically attuned.

It is no easy task to travel to New Zealand and take on the Crusaders in round one but the scoreline of 43-25 flattered the Waratahs who were disjointed and woeful in defence at times.

Consider that in the Brumbies vs Reds encounter, collectively both sides missed 43 tackles. The Waratahs missed 36 all by themselves and that is telling if the defence is an attitude barometer.

There were some very good individual performances, though. Michael Hooper, in particular, was tireless as ever and eased the pressure of his side, securing no less than four turnovers at the breakdown.

However, individual efforts were not enough and the Waratahs should look be more cohesive next round and play with a greater focus and directness with efforts around the fringes as opposed to all-out width too often.

The Rebels were deservedly defeated by a determined Sunwolves in Fukuoka. Although a late surge by Dave Wessels’ men put them within striking distance of an unlikely victory, the greatest concern is that the Rebels lacked mental application from the start, conceding two early tires.

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The last Australian side to play in Japan were the Wallabies themselves in last year’s World Cup where a concerning facet of their play was their lethargic starts, and this is an area that must be addressed by the Rebels if they are to have any chance of defeating better sides than the Sunwolves.

If they don’t, they can expect a similar fate to the 2019 Wallabies.

If the early form is an indicator, and given Rennie’s indication Super Rugby form will determine national selection, it would appear the Brumbies and Reds will make up the majority of the 2020 Wallabies.

In other news:

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H
Hellhound 9 minutes ago
Springboks' No.1 status in world rankings coming under increased threat

I disagree. A fair system would include points for EVERY MATCH you play, top guns or dregs. The WC should not influence the points table. No tournament should. It should be simple. This much for a home or away win. The problem with that is that Top Tier nations can point stay by arranging a lot of games against those nations to bring up their points tally, which wouldn't work. At least not on the points table. It would however give Tier 2 nations more game time against the Top Tier nations, which in itself is a good thing. However, that being said, it would dilute the quality of teams as they don't face tough enough opposition to handle the real tough teams, so come WC time, they would suffer for those consequences. There is no points system that currently can be used that would be fair to all, so the best is to try and be as fair as possible. We may not like the current system, but it's the best we have. Some suggested the Soccer system, but it won't work in rugby. No one has come up with a better points system and if they did, WR isn't sharing that. They would rather keep an eye on Dr Rassie with pen in hand ready to declare everything he does as illegal and against the spirit of the game. The SA men are too big, we can't stop them. Maybe we should ban the big men from SA as illegal but keep the big men of other countries? Oh wait, now the SA backs are too fast and slippery. That isn't good for WR so let's declare fast SA backs as illegal too. Yeah, that's how it works in WR isn't it? WR and all other countries hate the Boks. Never give them the respect they deserve, then are shocked completely finding out that no South African care what the world of rugby or its fans or other nations think about us. We don't care about the points system. It's as rotten as World Rugby and it's socialistic communistic rule of laws. The Boks will keep leading the brand of rugby. Keep innovating. Keep pushing boundaries. Keep the game interesting. We respect the AB's because they respect us. They may not like us, but the respect has always been crystal clear. Over 100 years of the biggest rivalry in rugby’s history can't be thrown away just like that. No points system can do that. Between WC's, we care about the AB's, the rest is just preparation for the next WC.

90 Go to comments
J
Jfp123 12 minutes ago
New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

It would be interesting to see how the financial deal and viewing figures for these last 3 matches compare with those for previous tours by leading NH nations. I imagine that broadcasting rights are negotiated a fair way in advance, so did the broadcasters realise France would send a B team when they signed on the dotted line? And to what extent were viewing figures affected? I’d have thought die hard fans would tune in anyway, and more casual fans wouldn’t know much about French players, except perhaps Dupont, and wouldn’t care who played on the French side - wouldn’t it be which ABs played that would matter to them? Although the big ‘disrespect’ furore might have had an effect, but whether to increase or decrease viewing figures I couldn’t say.

It’s not only the French national team that sends out B teams, many of their clubs do too, both in away matches in the Top14 and in Champions Cup. But these B teams often play in front of sell out crowds, and the value of the broadcasting rights for the Top 14 have gone up and up.

Of course, home advantage is real, and matches against the Saffas and ABs where they play best is I guess at the current time the hardest test of all. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll actually see France A in NZ or SA for the foreseeable future - the Top14 really is a fabulous competition, almost year round brilliant rugby, with big stars from around the world, madly enthusiastic fans, and a big money earner, I can’t see the French making major alterations (I’m not French, but I’m a big fan too and the only alteration I’d make is a limit on individual playing time for player welfare).

Considering their home record against NZ and away against Ireland, I think that’s enough to acknowledge that the top French players have a very high degree of skill, but if SH fans don’t see things that way, that’s up to them. My point was, if NZ fans don’t think much of them, why are they so bothered they’re not there. Anyway come 2027, France A will travel to the SH, if not NZ or SA, and we’ll see what happens!

100 Go to comments
S
Soliloquin 32 minutes ago
All Blacks squeeze past France to sweep July series in Hamilton

Big question!

I think they would get outsmarted by the A team, outpacked forward and depending on the form of the A team, the score would be more or less 15-20 points a higher or lower victory.

The only issue is that France has a lot of 13s, and they were all in NZ.

This weekend’s team was gassed out, so it’s also very much linked to fitness level.

Just like the ABs were tired at the end of November, while the French were rusty after just one game against Japan.

I fear they will get smashed in Paris without Dupont (confirmed to be still out) by the Springboks as it will be their first game of the international season (a nonsense to me - the biggest game will be the first)


The squad for this France A would be:

Gros-Mauvaka-Tatafu

Flament-Meafou

Cros-Ollivon-Alldritt

Dupont-Ntamack

Moefana-?(all 13s were in NZ) Costes ?

Bielle-Biarrey-Penaud

Ramos


(But if you can take players from the NZ, then Guillard and Barassi or Fickou could be in)


Against the C team:

Erdocio-Bourgarit-Slimani

Auradou-Halagahu

Fischer-Guillard-Brennan

Le Garrec-Hastoy

Fickou-Depoortere

Attissogbe-Villière

Barré


And a B team would be:

Baille-Marchand-Atonio

Cazeaux-Vergé

Jegou-Jelonch-Gazzotti

Lucu-Jalibert

Danty-Frisch

Lebel-Dréan

Buros


———

France A-France C at full fitness: 38-12

France A-France B: 28-17

France B-France C: 32-20


It seems a bit like Toulouse is kind of France A at full power last year, UBB is France B at full power last year and Racing92 is France C at full power this year.

111 Go to comments
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