Rugby Australia (RA) has made some dubious claims of improvement, especially when high-performance director Peter Horne told this masthead at the start of July: “I’ve described last year as a good year, but a bad month.”
Using that metric, the Wallabies have just had a stellar July – apart from the two weeks against Ireland and France.
That just doesn’t wash, and the Wallabies needed two wins out of three to plausibly claim they improved during July.
There is no doubt that Joe Schmidt improved the Wallabies when he arrived, albeit off a historically low base following the Rugby World Cup shambles.
He is a quality coach, and he inherited a squad in disrepair. But that doesn’t give RA free rein to sympathetically mark its own homework when the punters know the Wallabies needed to beat an Ireland side at the end of their long season (see final item).
The question mark over the Italy Test
The Italians have been poor during the July series. They started with a 27-10 loss to Japan, fired up for a half against the All Blacks but ultimately faded, and then made multiple changes to their top side for the Wallabies Test.
Their discipline has also been poor – two red cards and a ban for their coach Gonzalo Quesada in the past two weeks.
The Wallabies’ thumping 57-10 win therefore reflects a highly professional and at times powerful Australian performance, especially up front, but it will quickly move into the rearview mirror as the Wallabies start life under Les Kiss.
The two selections the Wallabies have nailed
There has been a lot of debate around some of the Wallabies’ selections, but Kiss will inherit a squad with a couple of real winners from the July Tests.
Halfback Ryan Lonergan and second-rower Josh Canham might seem like obvious selections at the end of July, but they weren’t at the start of the Test campaign. Lonergan is arguably the Wallabies’ most important player at the moment, given the control he brings to the ruck and his goalkicking ability. He’s a coach in the making.
Canham has long been an athlete of serious quality. Jeremy Williams has done a great job of being the “senior” partner in the second row, allowing Canham to play his natural game.
Exodus to NZ raises Super Rugby AU questions
The number of Australian players heading to New Zealand for the NPC continues to grow. Most of the Kiwi teams have revealed their squads over the past week, and it looks like more than 10 players have crossed the Tasman for the competition, which starts in two weeks.
For example, Waratahs Clem Halaholo and Jack Barrett have joined Southland, Dan Botha is en route to Northland, the Brumbies’ Rory Scott has joined Tasman and Force prop Marley Pearce has landed at Otago.
It is easy to see why the Australian Super Rugby clubs sanction these moves, but it arguably undermines the Super Rugby AU competition.
Wallabies scars helping Rennie
The All Blacks coach appeared pretty relaxed during a 14-minute press conference before the Ireland Test, and he now has most of the fickle New Zealand public onside after their 40-21 win at Eden Park on Saturday.
Rennie might not necessarily enjoy the spotlight, but his communication has been good so far, and punters can connect what he is saying in the media to what they are seeing on the field. You cannot underestimate how important this is – previous coach Scott Robertson lost his way here.
Rennie is a more rounded coach now than he was in Australia, But, there is a caveat to that big win against Ireland: the Irish have been messy in July, guilty of far too many unforced errors against the Wallabies, Japan and the All Blacks. They look well below their best.
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Paul Cully is a rugby columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.