"THEY'RE devoid of ideas," Gordon Bray shouted in his Channel 7 commentary during the Australia's 40 -10 victory over in Brisbane as the visitors went through yet another series of witless, skill-less phases of play.
I think I know why the running genius is going out of French rugby. The fiercely competed club championship has a promotion and relegation system. This encourages foul play, especially in home matches, with referees terrified to rule against the local side. We saw this thuggish aspect of the French play in James Horwill's pulped-up eye.
Outside stars, too, are recruited to win matches for the club. Locals are relegated to playing supporting roles. Toulon, for instance, which has just gained top club status through Anton Oliver, Victor Matfield, Andrew Mehrtens and George Gregan, have replaced Gregan, who is going to Japan, with Matt Henjak.
Where do local halfbacks get experience in this sort of set-up? So it's hardly unexpected the French halves at Brisbane were "devoid of ideas", to put the matter kindly. I was told, too, during the last year's World Cup there was hardly a local in the top club competition playing tight-head prop.
In Brisbane, the Wallabies scrum won tight-heads, a phenomenon that had the commentators searching their memories for a similar occurrence and coming up with the scrum against Wales in the 1984 Grand Slam. But then France put on a couple of huge shoves to splinter the Wallabies to raise doubts on how competitive the Wallabies might be against the Springboks (OK, I would think) and the All Blacks (in trouble, judging from the NZ effort at Wellington on Saturday night).
It was not only the scrums in the NZ-South Africa opening Test of the Tri Nations series that were on a different, tougher and higher skill level (despite the bitter cold and rain) than the Brisbane Test. Played under the experimental law variations (ELVs), the Test was notably faster. The ball was in play for longer periods than in Brisbane. The Springboks were required to make 164 tackles, missing 20. The All Blacks made 126 tackles, missing 15. Each side effected 29 turnovers.
Writing for The Sunday Times of London, Nick Cain, an ELVs sceptic, bemoaned the fact the game was becoming more like rugby league in the absence of rolling mauls. This is nonsense. There was some mauling. You could hear cries of "sack it, sack it" from Springbok defenders as the All Blacks rumbled forward. The defining principle of rugby is the notion of a continual contest for possession. The ability to pull down, or sack the maul, fits this principle. Moreover, the 68 turnovers achieved by the Springboks and the All Blacks is as strong an indication as any that the ELVs are enhancing the rugby aspect of rugby union.
It is clear, too, that the ELVs put a huge requirement on the fitness of the entire team. Often the ball is in play for several minutes. The leaner All Blacks were full of running in the second half of the Wellington Test, while the giant Springboks started to struggle with all the galloping around the field they had to do. The All Blacks scored 10 points to none in the second half, and should have had another try which was disallowed on a dubious offside call. This fitness of the All Blacks should be the main worry for the Wallabies when they meet up in Sydney on July 26. The Wallabies have improved as a team in the three Tests played this year. But their play in Brisbane again fell away in the second half. After piling up 26 unanswered points in the first 40 minutes, they had to settle for a scoreline of 14-10 in the second half.
But first things first. The Springboks will be coming off two exhausting Tests and ready, hopefully, to be run of their feet at Perth on July 19.
