Neil Back

Backy: Aussies will come good

Thu Sep 03 12:48PM

Despite their promising start to the season, things have not gone well for Robbie Deans and Australia in the Tri-Nations this year.

Four games and four defeats (that makes it six on the bounce after last year) makes for poor reading and the pressure is on Deans to turn things around in their last two games.

It reminds me a little of the pressure England were under when Martin Johnson took over for the November internationals last year. England faced a difficult series of games and despite the talent in their ranks they did not get the results they were after.

Losing creates pressure and it becomes vital to get a result to build confidence and show the players that the game-plan is the right one.

It's going to be tough again for the Wallabies on Saturday as they face a very good South Africa side full of confidence. The Boks have talent right across the field - they are great athletes with plenty of experience and leadership in their ranks.

What's more, they have shown that they can perform for a full 80 minutes. They play a simple game and are very, very efficient at it, mostly making the right decisions at the right time.

They seem to have even more belief under Peter de Villiers than they had under World Cup winning coach Jake White, which says a lot for their senior players and the fact the squad has been together for a long time.

It's never easy turning around a losing streak but the Wallabies should remember that they have been competitive in most of their Tri-Nations games this year, despite going down, and have created plenty of scoring opportunities.

The Wallabies coaches will have sat down with the players and shown them video footage of this. They were second best in a brutish contest last weekend but even then they managed to score two tries and create a few other chances.

Deans would be more concerned if they were not creating these chances, and his task now is to convince the players that their game-plan is the right one, and if they continue with it the results will come.

There is always a period of transition with new teams. The Wallabies will be better for their experiences this season and while they may not win on Saturday - or against the All Blacks in Wellington two weeks later - I suspect they are not far off from where they want to be.

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I'm not taking anything away from the Boks' win on Saturday, but I did spot at least two occasions when they got away with illegal play at the lineout.

Both times they called short line-outs and Victor Matfield, who was in the scrum-half position, was involved when he should not have been.

The laws state that the scrum-half has to be two metres from the line-out and not move forward until the ball has been thrown in by the hooker.

That was not the case when Matfield first made a dummy move to the front, only for the Boks to throw long, and on the second occasion he entered the back of the lineout.

I'm not having a go at the Boks because I appreciate that sides will try and get away with what they can.

But Leeds experienced similar tactics in our pre-season games in France and at Ospreys last week. I showed examples of it to the referees' body and they confirmed that free-kicks should have been awarded.

Refs need to be more vigilant on this and we need absolute clarification. If some teams are getting away with it then it won't be long before everyone is trying the same thing.

Comments1 - 7 of 7

Got to agree with Backy on this one. The Aussies will be back, you can count on it!
From dfstephan on Thu Sep 03 01:33PM
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Backy as a ex rugby player you should know that the Aussies only scored when the Springboks cleared their bench. This, as you should know, had a impact on the game. If only 1 or 2 players were replaced the chances of the Aussies scoring would have been zero. You cannot replace half your team at the same time without losing concentration and focus. You should know that.
From casperpelser on Thu Sep 03 02:16PM
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Are you suggesting the boks have no depth casper?
From poolioinglesias on Thu Sep 03 02:35PM
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No. I am suggesting that you cannot expect players to come onto the field in the heat of the game and perform the same as your first string. We are talking about 5 new players in a matter of minutes. Like I said, if 1 or 2 replacements were brought on or all of them in a period stretching 30-40 minutes it will be different. Also the fact that when you replace your game breakers it will have an effect on your game. In the match most of the game breakers were replaced.
From casperpelser on Thu Sep 03 03:06PM
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Dammit! Just when we learn a new way to circumvent the rules, you poms have to go tell the ref.
From tlabuscagne on Thu Sep 03 05:25PM
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The springboks take lineouts very seriously, and tend to win a lot of opposing teams' lineouts. You see it is the small things that count that can make a mile in a game between two mighty giants of a sport. This is what the boks have done so far with the other two giants the All Blacks and the Wallabies...I have a lot of respect for them because these three teams are in their own league in world rugby. How do you decide who's better on the day? the small things: the lineouts, handling errors, poor scrummage, indiscipline resulting in a team of 13 or 14 and the killer of all, penalties. The wallabies have a very tactical game, an impressive game and they loss they suffered against the All Blacks coming into the Boks game was unlucky because they were the better team for the most part in all areas. However, their tactical game is being overshadowed by these errors...but it is as clear as ever in comparison to the All Blacks, at least to me. The Springboks right now are threatening to establish themselves as unstoppable and it is resonating in their two rivals esteem, and deservedly so, because at the moment, every facet of their game is at peak level.
From y_9a on Thu Sep 03 05:58PM
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Mr. Back, 15 penalties and half a dozen fre kicks did not help the Wallabies to win, think 2 more would've made any difference? Wanna mention any of the illegal play the Wallabies got away with?
No sir, at the moment it looks like the Boks are on a roll and will (probably) perform a white-wash in this series. I also agree that the Wallabies will be back, but not with the bad selection I've seen int this 3N.
From charldutoit on Thu Sep 03 06:41PM
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