To be brutally honest, the Wallabies aren't brutally honest By Wayne Smith
To be brutally honest, the Wallabies aren't brutally honest.
Not with themselves, they're not.
At every turn, when things have not gone quite right or, as more regularly happens, when they go spectacularly wrong, the Wallabies and their coach Robbie Deans have been quick to ignore the blatantly obvious shortcomings and have latched instead on to obscure positives.
The Wallabies are trounced five tries to one by the Springboks at Pretoria and the message of the day is how brilliantly Kurtley Beale played at five-eighth.
The All Blacks blitz them 22-0 in Auckland but how well did Sitaleki Timani play! The Wallabies' scrum breaks even against New Zealand in Brisbane and cathedral bells peal throughout the land. At last, Australia's set-piece bogey has been laid to rest. Never mind the fact that the All Blacks have a dozen other ways of skinning a wallaby. The scrum is only one of them.
Clued up on what is the official line, the apologists and sycophants have gone to work to spread the comforting message that all is well with and within the Wallabies.
If there is a problem, they contend, it is with unpatriotic unbelievers like me who keep finding fault.
And speaking of fault, every fault line in Australia's game finally gave way in Paris. Hairline cracks became yawning gaps under the enormous pressure brought to bear by a French side that last played in June and had less than two weeks' preparation to bring half a dozen new or newish players up to speed.
Australia, by the by, played seven Tests while France was in recess, although it's a fair bet that this massive advantage will now be portrayed as a negative . . . weary Wallabies v fresh French, that type of thing.
The self-deception has to end. Deans may have become in this match the most-capped Wallabies coach but at the same time he also became -- again -- the least successful Wallabies coach of the professional era, his winning percentage dipping to 57.4 per cent, below that of Eddie Jones. What he has the Wallabies doing, or rather not doing, manifestly isn't working.
He has them playing with no pattern. He has them playing with no deception, no second wave of attack, no variation, no flair and no evident skill.
Arguably the most damning match statistic of all was that Australia's ruck-and-maul count was almost double that of France's, 121 to 69. Where Les Bleus creatively sought to use the ball to create two-on-ones, the Wallabies ponderously kept punching it up into the thick of the French defence, the pick-and-drive virtually their only attacking ploy.
At least the Wallabies were keeping the ball in hand, or rather they were until Berrick Barnes was pitched into the fray and mindlessly booted it away a couple of times. It took the French scrum only a dozen minutes to deliver a dividend.
Spurning the easy three points on offer when his side was awarded a penalty close to the Australian line, French skipper Pascal Pape elected to take a scrum instead and had his boldness rewarded with a stroll-in-the-park blindside try by number eight Louis Picamoles.
Yes, Australia flanker Dave Dennis illegally was held back but if he doesn't know better than to keep out of reach of the grappling hooks in that position, he shouldn't be wearing a 6 on his back.
Interestingly, Australia eight minutes later received a penalty in the corresponding position at the other end of the field and never considered backing their scrum the way the French had.
Nathan Sharpe was content to take the three points on offer. So much for Australia's faith in its dramatically improved set piece.
But it would have been the penalty try France earned through its superior set piece in the 64th minute that would really have had the English forwards smacking their lips in anticipation of this weekend's Cook Cup scrum-a-thon at Twickenham.
What was especially scary was how France destroyed its opponents with its second-string front row.
When tighthead Nicolas Mas was withdrawn from the contest on the hour, having made life a misery for Benn Robinson and James Slipper, French coach Philippe Saint-Andre placed his trust in the entire Clermont front row and it did not disappoint him.
Under pressure on their own line, the Wallabies attempted to collapse the scrum but astonishingly the French front-rowers lifted them up so that they could continue to drive forward.
Inevitably, the Wallabies' pack splintered, allowing flanker Yannick Nyanga to pick up and dive over but of course by that stage referee Nigel Owens was already standing between the posts signalling a penalty try.
For the second Test in succession, the Wallabies did not score a try.
The closest they came was in an ugly scrabble right on the French line when Adam Ashley-Cooper advanced the ball 10cm but could not get it down in the tackle of rival halfback Morgan Parra.
The art of scoring tries has all but been lost on these Wallabies. That was the fourth time in 12 Tests this year they have gone tryless and overall they are averaging precisely one try per Test in 2012.
Arguably the return of Digby Ioane, David Pocock, Ben Alexander and Timani against England will provide some stiffening.
But no one was lamenting their absence before the Paris Test and all four of them have been involved in some forgettable Wallabies performances this season. It would be wise to maintain a sense of perspective.
Seemingly, there is a diminishing appetite for entrusting the Wallabies to Ewen McKenzie. The Reds coach has made the appalling mistake of being on the scene so long he has lost his novelty appeal. Yes, he coached Queensland to the 2011 Super Rugby title but what has he done lately?
Besides, he unwisely used Will Genia as a stop-gap five-eighth at one point this year when Queensland was down to its fifth-choice playmaker, so clearly he is a hopeless selector as well.
Well, that's the level of senseless drivel being peddled in some quarters. And no doubt further fault will be uncovered to support the argument that Deans should remain in place for another year, to give Michael Cheika the chance to bring himself up to speed before taking over as Australia coach.
It is time for the ARU to look long and hard at the present Wallabies structure.
The sycophants can delude themselves if they choose but the British and Irish Lions are heading this way in just seven months and it is time for the ARU to ask the only question that is relevant.
Are the Wallabies working under Deans?
Be brutally honest, now.
For a change I have to agree with Wayne Smith.
