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Ex-Mungo Paul Kent was a mainly concerned with RL & boxing in his time at the Daily Telegraph. Nowdays he's News Ltd's London based sports journo. Chief Rugby Scribes at certain rival organisations could learn a bit from him about positive reporting leading into RWC.
Eddie earns 30 pieces of silver
Comment by Paul Kent
September 03, 2007 12:00am
EDDIE Jones has the memory of a goldfish. Always considered a thinker in the 15-man game, the South African sun seems to have sizzled Eddie Van Der Jones' memory as he picks up his pieces of silver to consult to the Springboks through this World Cup.
Yet Jones' kicking of the Wallaby pack yesterday seemed to have left out one important fact: It was under his watch that the Wallaby scrum deteriorated to the nadir it eventually reached.
"It's still an area that probably hasn't stood the test of 80 minutes against top opposition," he said of the scrum yesterday.
"It's definitely improved since 2005 but it remains the question mark over the side."
Hardly content with that, Jones then went into details, questioning Wycliff Palu's consistency at Test level and Rocky Elsom's workrate.
He went through a checklist of Wallaby weaknesses.
Why a former Wallaby coach would head down this path is unknown, unless his antagonism towards current coach John Connolly has reached the point where Jones doesn't care who he tramples over to score a point.
But his former players deserved better, from him more than anyone.
It was Jones who shifted the forwards' emphasis from technique to workload.
How many breakdowns a player got to became far more important than how he gripped in the scrum.
It culminated in the famous House Of Cards Test against England at Twickenham, when the Wallaby scrum collapsed at the slightest hint of pressure.
So maybe Jones was responsible for the light barbecuing his former players took on Saturday, when worthy men such as Phil Waugh, Nathan Sharpe and George Smith faced down questions that must make the hair on the back of their neck bristle.
They had their toughness questioned.
In reality, the belief that the Wallabies lack toughness is misguided. The capitulation at Twickenham and the pack's scrappy form since had less to do with toughness than technique.
Against such a technically proficient pack as England, the Wallabies simply didn't have the tools, which had long disappeared from their game. It was evident to forwards coach Michael Foley when he came into the job two years ago, as he spoke about only last week.
"One of the things for us is being focused on the reality of the situation and not letting the perception of two years ago cloud our thoughts," he said.
The price is that the Wallabies have faced down questions about their toughness since, with remarkable patience.
"You definitely don't like hearing things about the team but we know we can continually improve - but that we have faltered in games," Smith said. "But the belief in the squad and within the forward pack is that we can be a dominant force in this World Cup."
That's what all the talk is about.
Foley promised them that it was now a matter of when, not if, they would become the world's most dominant forward pack and has driven the emphasis back to technique to make it so.
"We feel we're improving each week, heading in that direction and we're not far off it," Waugh said.
Sharpe agreed, saying: "In terms of winning the World Cup, it's been proven that dominant forward packs have a massive influence on the result. We need to be the dominant pack to achieve that result."
They are talking themselves out of excuses.
"We know this is the stage we have to do it on," Waugh said. "If you're a rugby player you want to be playing in the World Cup. If you're an Aussie rugby player you want to be lifting the World Cup."
There is seven weeks left, but they believe the timing is right.
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Good read.
Jeez these blokes set themselves up.
