Wallabies' annus horribilis not without glimmer of hope

Blessedly, the Wallabies’ international season is over. The unkind will reflect on the European tour losses to France, Ireland and England and promptly declare the team a rabble with little chance of surviving next year’s Rugby World Cup so-called group of death (Pool A) in which one of either England, Wales, or Australia won’t progress to the quarter-finals (assuming Fiji doesn’t surprise of course).

That sense of pessimism is understandable; Australian rugby has had a tumultuous year, on and off the field. The Ewen McKenzie/Di Patston/Kurtley Beale fracas unquestionably defined 2014 for the Wallabies. And the Australian Rugby Union’s ham-fisted handling of the matter only aggravated what was already a messy business.

The moderate view, however, would point to one significant silver lining from 2014 – the appointment of Michael Cheika as coach, the only man to win top tier professional rugby championships in both hemispheres – the Heineken Cup with Leinster in 2009, and the Super 15 with the Waratahs earlier this year.

His elevation to the top job came in a way nobody could have predicted. But his winning credentials are beyond question. And, more importantly, he has the players back in the tent with him after McKenzie found himself on the outside looking in. As good as Cheika is, and there are many respected voices who swear by him, he’s no miracle worker. The farcical circumstances of taking on the Wallabies job two days before the team boarded its flight for Europe was never going to end well in terms of results. The moment McKenzie quit the team, the spring tour became an extended selection trial for Cheika’s World Cup preparations, and not a full dress rehearsal with wins against pool A opponents England and Wales included as originally intended in the previous regime’s supposedly meticulous planning. (McKenzie always had an overly corporate-bent to his rugby management; but while his strategy, planning and preparation were high quality, his man-management was poor. He lost his workforce in the end).

Of course, three losses on the bounce have provided fertile ground for critics. On balance, though, the Wallabies performances this year haven’t been too far off the mark. The Eden Park “Screaming of the Wallabies” debacle aside, the Wallabies have been in positions to win all of their matches. That they lacked the killing flourishes to do so is a team development issue compounded with key players – none more so than Stephen Moore – sat injured on the sidelines.

The Wallabies are still very much a team finding its way after years of indifference, off-field behavioural-related distractions and slipshod administration; 2014 was the pointy end of a post-Robbie Deans fractured development process, the pain exacerbated by the fallout from Beale texting saga. Despite the woes, this is still a team that managed a draw with the All Blacks in Sydney and came within seconds of winning in Brisbane. On such fine margins, Bledisloe Cup glory rests. And southern hemisphere heavyweights winning in Europe is no sure thing these days. Indeed, the 2015 World Cup could be the most evenly contested to date.

The Wallabies did surprisingly well to knock over Wales on the spring tour (an assessment magnified in hindsight given Wales’ performances since). Indeed, Australian supporters should have made more of that win against a very good Welsh outfit instead of expecting victory as a given. It’s clear things have changed in the northern hemisphere. Even the All Blacks know that now. England and Ireland, it has to be conceded, are quite simply better than Australia at the moment, with Wales not too far behind (probably in front too, to be fair).

The burning question, though, is how much improvement do the home nations have in them compared with the Wallabies? That the Wallabies had opportunities to win in all of their three tour losses is telling – they ought never have been in the fight in the first place such is the woeful inadequacy of their scrum for international rugby.

Perversely, Cheika would actually be pleased with the tour results. His job is clear: fix up the forwards’ running game and the scrum, and his team can beat the best of them. Stephen Moore’s return as hooker, front row leader and team captain is vital to the recovery plan.

The positives

1. Nick Phipps. Australian rugby’s most improved player has made the most of his time as starting half-back. He’s far from the finished item – and there are times when Will Genia will be preferred – but he brings pace, enthusiasm, and dynamism to the role in the same way Aaron Smith does for the All Blacks. He’s the number nine best-suited to Cheika’s high-tempo game, notwithstanding performance inconsistencies; they’ll level out the more Tests he plays.

2. Tevita Kuridrani. This column always rated Adam Ashley-Cooper ahead of the big Fijian for the centre position. No longer. TK has arrived. And he’s here to stay.

3. Bernard Foley. Like his halves partner Phipps, there are inconsistencies. But, also like Phipps, the overall development trajectory is heading up. He got schooled by the French when failing to adapt to putting in short kicks in behind a rushing defensive line, but otherwise acquitted himself as well as can be expected behind a limited forward pack.

4. Quade Cooper. He showed enough off the bench – especially in dire circumstances against England – to suggest he’s good to go. Having two contrasting, high-quality halves pairings in Foley/Phipps and Cooper/Genia gives Cheika considerable flexibility in selection and live in-the-running game management. It’s an excellent situation for the Wallabies.

5. Michael Cheika’s appointment as coach.

The negatives

1. The Beale texting saga. What can one say that hasn’t already been said? It was a disgrace.

2. Michael Hooper. The stand-in skipper led the players admirably during the darkest days of the Beale fiasco, but his spring tour showings lacked impact. The team desperately needed a fetcher/spoiler at the breakdown such as the injured and hugely underrated Scott Fardy. Hooper ran hard as usual but never tweaked his game to cover for Fardy’s absence. He needs to watch Richie McCaw and Sam Warburton to remind himself of what’s required. Granted, the ruck clean-outs at Test level are incredibly accurate these days. But opportunities to poach a game-changing turnover are still there. Indeed, anticipation remains the calling card of any genuine world class openside flanker. And Hooper doesn’t have that at the moment.

3. Israel Folau. He gobbles up metres every game and deservedly won the John Eales medal. But his work under the high ball in Europe was poor by his standards. As good as Folau is, he can still be coached for improvement. The jury is still out on whether he knows how to link with his teammates following a line-break, or is it that his teammates don’t know how to run support lines off him? Probably a bit of both. His immediate challenge is to resist the evil of complacency otherwise he’ll never reach his full potential as a rugby player. He doesn’t want to remembered as the gifted athlete who played at the highest level in three football codes, but was never truly great in an enduring way in any of them.

4. The scrum. It has to be sorted out if the Wallabies want to be taken seriously at the World Cup. Stephen Moore’s return will help. But it has been woeful for years, suggesting the problem is more deep-rooted than just the playing group. The ARU is penny-pinching but it can’t skimp on investigating and then remedying the long-standing blight of poor scrummaging. The Wallabies’ winning is critical to the ARU. And the scrum, as the spring tour emphatically demonstrated, is often the difference between the Wallabies and the rest.

We’ll be back for the Super 15 early next year … unless there’s another texting scandal.

All the best to readers over the Christmas break.