By Paul Cully
1. Where does Joseph Suaalii fit into the improving Wallabies?
If the Wallabies hadn’t blown three first-half chances against the All Blacks in Wellington – Jake Gordon’s knock-on and poor passes by Hunter Paisami and Tom Wright – they would have built some real scoreboard pressure.
But the fact they are creating opportunities is a tick, given the question marks around the attack after the opening two rounds. The attacking shapes had the All Blacks chasing shadows at times, and there was an impressive display by Dylan Pietsch in the No.11 jersey, with one hard running line in the opening 40 minutes catching the eye.
The ongoing debate about Joseph Suaalii’s best position in rugby should make everyone nervous, given how difficult the transition is, and after the second Bledisloe Test it is not immediately apparent where he will even fit in.
2. Wallabies finish last – but this is the world’s hardest comp
Three of the four Rugby World Cup semi-finalists, led by a historically good South Africa team. With due respect to the Six Nations, the Rugby Championship is the toughest tournament in the world.
I love the Six Nations, but with Wales in a trough and Italy losing to Samoa in July, it can’t legitimately claim to be at the same high-performance level as the southern hemisphere showpiece at present. The Wallabies’ northern tour will be daunting, but winning two of the Tests does not feel out of the question.
3. Where it went wrong for the Wallabies
In a nutshell, too many passive defensive sets in the third quarter. Perhaps the All Blacks’ late try in the first half knocked the stuffing out of them, but the Wallabies conceded too many easy metres – by Test standards – at the start of the second spell.
Matt Faessler tries to get an attack going for the Wallabies.Credit: Getty Images
The issue was compounded by a couple of kicking errors from Wright and Pietsch that immediately put the Wallabies under pressure, even though they had already done the hard work by exploiting the space on the All Blacks’ edge. They’ll be frustrated by that because they invited the All Blacks into their territory rather than being blown away by the quality of the New Zealanders’ play.
4. Super Rugby’s future to be known by February
This masthead spoke to new Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley this week, and the strategy work on the competition’s future is high on his agenda. The outcome of that work will be known relatively soon.
“My intention is to be able to – ahead of the 2025 season – give people clarity on that strategy, so people know what we’re focused on over the next three years, and what we’re not.”
Expansion would seem the most likely option, given that an 11-team competition is niggly for the draw, which will be released in full next week. Japan, Argentina and South Africa all appear to be on the table.
5. Wizard Kolbe leads brilliant Boks
Is Cheslin Kolbe the world’s best player? It’s a legitimate question after the winger was outstanding again in South Africa’s 48-7 demolition of Argentina to seal the Rugby Championship.
The tone was set by South Africa’s scrum, which demolished Los Pumas in the opening 15 minutes, but difference-makers for the Springboks this week were Kolbe, Damian de Allende and Pieter-Steph du Toit.
A double Rugby World Cup winner, the 30-year-old Kolbe shows no sign of slowing down and wins every collision – despite weighing just 75kg.
Team of the Week
- Ox Nche (South Africa)
- Codie Taylor (New Zealand)
- Frans Malherbe (South Africa)
- Scott Barrett (New Zealand)
- Ruan Nortje (South Africa)
- Wallace Sititi (New Zealand)
- Fraser McReight (Australia)
- Jasper Wiese (South Africa)
- Jaden Hendrikse (South Africa)
- Manie Libbok (South Africa)
- Caleb Clarke (New Zealand)
- Anton Lienert-Brown (New Zealand)
- Jesse Kriel (South Africa)
- Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa)
- Aphelele Fassi (South Africa)
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