Let’s see.
If this is in the early bloom of Spring and there is a restless stirring among Australians with cauliflower ears, it must be about time for your humble correspondent to fearlessly predict that this year – this year! – the Wallabies will finally put paid to the perfidious All Blacks, yes?
Bernard Foley is back in the Wallabies No.10 jersey.Credit:Getty
I think I have done more or less that for most of the last 20 years, always sincerely, and always with assembled pieces of evidence, that maybe this time our blokes will arise and win the Bledisloe Cup.
This year?
This year, let’s try a different formula.
Let’s begin by conceding the obvious.
Let’s start with the fact that the last two decades have been a tad on the disappointing side of things. Time and again our hopes have been dashed as the Wallabies crashed, our dreams torn asunder as the Goodies mourn blunder after blunder.
Yes, every now and then, our blokes have managed to take a single Test off the brutes, alas, usually when the series itself was gone. But, and we must face it, in the last 20 years putting together back-to-back wins, or winning two out of three, has been completely beyond them.
Any reason to think differently this year?
No!
Unless . . .
Unless . . . well, there is just one patch of light.
It was the way the men in green and gold played in the first 30 minutes of the Test against the Springboks in Adelaide, the one they went on to win. The Springboks weren’t bad that night, it was just that our blokes were great, and in the first 30 minutes they were nothing less than sensational. Those key building blocks, the scrum and the line-out, worked perfectly; our backs were given great, clean ball, and worked wonders with it until it got out to – oh Gawd, here he comes again! – Marika Koroibete on the wing, who played the game of his life.
But it wasn’t just the technical skill the Wallabies showed in that first 30, it was the spirit with which they played. Time and again they backed themselves instead of keeping to some anodyne calculated formula; they played in thrilling fashion and were rewarded in kind.
They reminded me of my favourite quote about the game: “Ceux qui ne connaissent pas la joie de la victoire en attaquant, ont toujours la droit de sourire devant l’existence”: those who do not know the joy of victory while playing attacking rugby, nevertheless have the right to smile in the face of existence.
Even if the final 50 minutes of that match were not the equal of the first 30, they were able to know the joy of victory, and had the right to smile in the face of existence. Who knew they could play like that, these days? I, for one, did not.
Marika Koroibete starred in Australia’s win over the Springboks.Credit:Getty
And yes, the next Test against the Springboks in Sydney was singularly dispiriting because they were nowhere near as good, or as daring, and lost. But the central point remains: that 30 minutes showed what they are capable of when they get it right, and it really is world-class.
The All Blacks meanwhile?
The way they played against Argentina in their own first Test was a wonder to behold, a dream come true: lackadaisical in attack, round-heeled in defence, no cohesion, little spirit, and all up registering a big and historic loss, their first loss to Argentina on home-soil, since forever! It was wonderful for international rugby, reminiscent of the time the Japanese beat the Springboks at the 2015 World Cup.
Sadly, the All Blacks then lifted to trounce the Argentines in the next Test, but I am sure you take my point.
The All Blacks haven’t been at their best recently, but it may not matter.Credit:Getty
Who knew the All Blacks could play like that, these days? I, for one, did not. I mean, yes, in recent times they have not been the all-conquering All Blacks of old. But all-conquered-and-conked-out like they were in that First Test? I could scarcely credit they were capable of playing that badly.
Hence, friends, the point.
Our Wallabies probably won’t win on Thursday night – unless they can work out how to play like they did in that first 30 minutes against the Boks, and keep at it.
The All Blacks probably won’t lose – unless they can reproduce that same form they did against Argentina in the First Test.
In sum:
We need the Wallabies to be on an up night.
We need the All Blacks to be on a down night.
And we probably also need a howling wind that blows behind the Wallabies in the first half, to suddenly turn and get behind them in the second.
And for the ball to bounce our way.
And for the ref to secretly know the words of Waltzing Matilda, and enjoying humming it in the bath, because on the QT he really just loves Australia so much.
But it could happen.
That, I am afraid, is all I’ve got.
Go well, you Wallabies. Run like the wind, with the wind, and make the ball whistle while you work. And get the ball to Koroibete!
Watch every match of The Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Returns for the Wallabies v All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup this Thursday from 7pm AEST. All matches streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport.
