Rupert Guinness | August 15, 2009


Former World Cup-winning Wallabies captain John Eales believes the current side is close to mastering the control needed to win tight games despite last week's 29-17 loss to South Africa.

Coach Robbie Deans pinpointed poor discipline and lineout as the two key areas that hampered Australia's efforts in Cape Town last Saturday.

However, Eales - who lifted the Webb Ellis trophy in 1999 and forged a reputation as a skipper with the ability to lead sides to come-from-behind and narrow wins - said talk of a fatal flaw in the Wallabies side was wide of the mark.

Asked if the ill discipline that led to three Wallabies players being sin-binned last week was something opposing sides could exploit or is instead a sign of self-doubt, Eales said: ''It could be either. But really there is no hard and fast rules on this. I think the better teams are the ones that are better at the real basics of the game. It is part of a growth phase.

''The Springboks … everyone acknowledges they are the best team in the world at the moment. So you expect, if you are not totally on your game - if you don't get those little disciplines right, if you are not holding on to possession, if you are not getting your throws right, your timing is not right in the scrums and all those things - that you will be exposed. That's the challenge we have got. We have to be consistent in that area.

''But I think we are not that far off that in many respects. Even when they are playing against the best team in the world - and they are playing well, as I think the Springboks did - it's no disgrace to lose those games. It just shows you how you can be better, how you can work to be better and better.''

With the Wallabies captaincy for next Saturday's Test yet to be announced - incumbent Stirling Mortlock is out due to injury and openside flanker George Smith is thought to be in line to take the armband - Eales said that whoever led the side against the All Blacks should tell the players to have faith in their ability.

''It is about having confidence in themselves. That is the biggest thing. Don't lose faith,'' Eales said. ''The games we have lost the last few years, most of them - 90 per cent - have been very narrow losses. The team has been going really well, but is not quite there. We will start to win those close ones.''

Meanwhile, Eales has lauded the International Olympic Committee executive board's recommendation that rugby, in the Sevens format, be included along with golf in the 2016 Olympic program.

''It is one of the greatest boosts the code has got in decades - to get [rugby] in the Olympic Games. Sevens is the right forum for the Olympics,'' Eales said of the recommendation that will now go to a vote by the IOC members at their next assembly in Copenhagen on October 9.

The commitment to Sevens in Australia has long been lacklustre, but its inclusion in the Olympics would help develop the sport here and globally.

''If it can get through, it's going to be the greatest thing for the growth of the game. It will be as good for the game as the World Cup,'' Eales said.

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