Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has spent the past few weeks trying to rid his side of its soft centre as he continues to transform the look of his team.
By Greg Growden
The Wallabies’ inability to finish off matches, defeats in so-called ”un-losable” Tests, and the All Blacks’ recent trans-Tasman dominance have given rise to concern Australia are developing an inferiority complex. Deans is convinced the problem will not be fixed just by improvements in skill level, execution and tactics, but by getting the players’ heads right, so they start believing they’re winners.
He wants to harden them up for their northern hemisphere tour, starting with a showdown against New Zealand in Hong Kong on October 30 before they set off for four Tests in Europe. The Wallabies struggle to kill off opponents, as they showed when they lost by one point to England in Sydney, and then last month at the same venue let the All Blacks run over them in the dying minutes to lose 21-20, making it 10 wins out of 10 for the New Zealanders against Australia.
Little wonder there has been no talk over the past two weeks, while the Wallabies have been in camp in Sydney, of a possible unbeaten tour. Rather, the players and team management have focused their efforts on trying to make the team more ruthless, especially in the final quarter of matches.
As Deans put it when announcing the Wallabies training squad: ”We’ve been focusing on our finish. A big part of that is making important decisions that serve the team well. The other element is the bloody mindedness, if you like … to get it done.”
Berrick Barnes, who is expected to play at five-eighth and inside-centre on the tour, confirmed that many of the team talks had revolved around what was required to be winners.
”We’ve done a lot of work the past few weeks in working on how to close games out. We’ve been losing games in the late stages, and haven’t been able to get over the line,” Barnes said. ”We want to take on the things that we have been doing well. We have a style of game which suits us, and we’re now pretty clear about it. I don’t know whether we have been in the past, because we’ve been a bit all over the shop. We did start to hit our straps in the last few games of the Tri Nations. It revolves around us tightening up with our defence, because we’re scoring points, and that is what is going to win us games.
”As we know with the All Blacks, they don’t relent for the entire 80 minutes. We have to get that mentality as well. We’ve prepared for it. We now have to do it.”
Their win against South Africa in Bloemfontein last month confirmed to the Wallabies they have the ability, like the great Australian teams of the 1980s and ’90s, to win the tight ones. But winning has to become a habit. Nor does it come quickly, and Deans has discovered that this is one of the downsides of his campaign to change the texture of the Australian team. As the All Blacks have shown, experience is vital. Their Test line-up and squad contingent have recently remained fairly constant.
In contrast, the Wallabies have been constantly changing. Injuries have played a major part, but Deans has also been adventurous, introducing 26 new Test players in the past three seasons. Only 16 of his 32-man squad that toured Europe in 2008 remain, while from his first Test as Australian coach, only five regular starting XV players are still there. That provides vibrancy and unpredictability, but also lack of nous when under pressure.
This tour will show if the Wallabies are quick learners, or remain clueless about how to eradicate their bad habits.
The squad:
Ben Alexander, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Berrick Barnes, Kurtley Beale, Richard Brown, Luke Burgess, Mark Chisholm, Quade Cooper, Rod Davies, Ben Daley, Huia Edmonds, Rocky Elsom (c), Anthony Faingaa, Saia Faingaa, Will Genia, Matt Giteau, Scott Higginbotham, Matt Hodgson, Peter Hynes, Van Humphries, Salesi Ma’afu, Pat McCabe, Ben McCalman, Pat McCutcheon, Drew Mitchell, Stephen Moore, Luke Morahan, Dean Mumm, James O’Connor, Nick Phipps, David Pocock, Benn Robinson, Nathan Sharpe, Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Lachie Turner
The schedule:
October
30 October v New Zealand Hong Kong Stadium, 4.30pm
November
6 November v Wales Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 11.30pm
13 November v England Twickenham, 11.30pm
20 November v Italy Stad Artemio Franchi, Florence, 11pm
28 November v France Stade de France, Paris, 4.45am