It took less than two minutes for Australia to show their continued progress under Joe Schmidt. Having secured the ball they set about their work with Nic White zipping short passes to narrow runners who charged straight and hard into contact. And again. And again. And again. In no time they’d worked their way to a 13th phase before a spill of the ball handed Wales a scrum on their own 22. The move didn’t yield any points but it offered a glimpse of what is possible under this new regime.
Last week Australia snatched a remarkable victory at Twickenham with true blue Aussie gumption. Lightning hands, down the line, into the corner via tap-ons and sidesteps. It was a remarkable display of razzle-dazzle pulled off by naturally gifted ballers with licence to strut their stuff when the chance is on. But that’s always been there and, as long as 15 blokes show an interest in taking the field for some union footy, they’ll be there whether or not the code recedes from the mainstream. What this group needed was some steel and discipline, a dose of patience to go with their panache. That’s what wins Test matches.
“We’re backing our boring,” Schmidt said after the heist in London. Here in Cardiff, his team paid evidence to their coach’s words. They bossed the point of contact with Rob Valetini and Seru Uru rampaging in the loose. The heft of Will Skelton secured the maul both on defence and attack. Samu Kerevi – before he was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle – punched holes in midfield. Pulling the strings was White who, at 34, might lack the spark of Tate McDermott, but as a scrum-half who can keep phases ticking with the efficiency of a metronome, he’s the most accomplished man available.
Often it was simple and pragmatic, two words that Schmidt has used to describe himself and his philosophy. The one-eyed romantics might not like it, but there’s nothing fans find more entertaining than following a winning team. Thanks to a shift in identity, the Wallabies’ grand slam ambitions remain intact after a 52-20 triumph.
That is not to say that they’re the finished product just yet. Far from it. Having raced to a 19-0 lead, with Tom Wright scoring his first of three stunners, Matt Faessler driving over his first of three from rolling mauls, and Nick Frost hauling his huge frame across a third of the pitch to dot down under the poles, they inexplicably lost their shape. Wales scored 13 unanswered points and some of that recurring brittleness appeared in the golden ranks. Ball carriers found themselves isolated. Tacklers slipped off their men. And the worst Welsh side for 22 years made the Wallabies look ordinary.
Maybe some harsh words were spoken in the shed at half-time. Not likely. Schmidt doesn’t seem the sort to bring out the hairdryer. A stern lecture from the 59-year-old Kiwi probably involves a power point presentation. Whatever the cause, they went back to basics. Strong, straight carries. Short passes to narrow runners. Even when Kerevi was shown a yellow card that turned into red, they kept it simple. Two quick tries courtesy of grunting mauls provided the torque for Faessler to complete his hat-trick – the first Australian hooker to do so – before the hour mark.
These are not the swashbucklers of 1984 that included Mark Ella, David Campese and Nick Farr-Jones. They’re not the world beaters of 1999 that were blessed to have Stephen Larkham, George Gregan and John Eales. Honesty and humility have been in short supply at Rugby Australia. Neutral observers have known for some time what the Wallabies had become. Schmidt knows it and his sensible approach has given them an identity that allows them to be competitive.
Does this mean they’ll have the beating of better teams? They lost twice to the All Blacks and twice to the Springboks. And after pinching a victory in the rain in La Plata, Argentina then stuffed them by a score of 67-27 a week later.
However, fluctuations in form feel better than being consistently abject, and who could argue against the recent evidence? In just two weeks they’ve broken their record points tallies in London and Cardiff. They’ve scored 13 tries and welcomed back long-lost fans from the cold with some breathtaking moves.
But they’ve done so on a bedrock of principles that don’t make the highlights reels. Between the counterattacks and offloads, they cleared rucks at pace, held firm in the set piece and challenged at the breakdown. Schmidt is instilling a sense of belief that the dark days are well and truly in the rearview. This still feels like the start of a journey, but it’s going well so far.
