Rugby World Cup final: Little things make a big difference for Wallabies

WHEN good things happen for the Wallabies, they rarely happen by accident — Rob Simmons’ freakish intercept try in the quarter-final is proof of that.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 25: Rob Simmons of Australia scores the opening try during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Semi Final match between Argentina and Australia at Twickenham Stadium on October 25, 2015 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

WALLABY lock Rob Simmons’ freakish intercept try one minute eight seconds into the World Cup quarter-final against Argentina proved two things: firstly, Michael Cheika’s team does its homework, and secondly, the Australians learn from their mistakes.

When good things happen for the Wallabies, they rarely happen by accident. Simmons’ try might have looked like a lucky break, but in fact it was the result of meticulous research and astute planning.

And of a player not wanting to make the same error twice.

When Argentina’s fly-half Nicolas Sanchez threw a no-look inside pass Simmons wasn’t exactly “lurking with intent” but he was very much alert to the fact that the ball might just be coming his way.

“It’s something we’d been made aware of during the week, that they like to throw those inside balls,” he said. “They’d been doing it a few games beforehand and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

“I don’t think second rowers are ever thinking intercept. It was just a reaction, I stuck my hand out and it stuck. The next reaction is to bolt towards the line.”

Given that he had upwards of 30 metres to get to the in-goal and score the fastest try of the tournament, Simmons still had some work to do, but he was confident he had the legs.

“I’ll back myself (in a situation like that),” he said. “I knew they had to stop and turn around because they had the ball originally. It’s pretty hard to stop, turn and get going again.”

Simmons can’t remember the last time — if ever — that he has run that far for a try, but he can remember a much shorter one that he didn’t score.

It was even earlier into the match against France in Paris last year but instead of getting the Wallabies off to a dream start 45 seconds into a match they ended up losing 26-29, he spilt a charged down clearing kick that he had only to pick up and place over the line to score.

“It was a similar one I think,” he recalled. “A ball came out that I wasn’t expecting, I didn’t have my hands up. It was all technical. I just dropped it plain and simple.”

In some teams, the reaction to such a missed opportunity might be a shrug of the shoulders and an ‘oh well, sometimes they stick, sometimes they don’t’.

Rob Simmons (L) celebrates with Bernard Foley after scoring the opening try during the 2015 Rugby World Cup semi-final match against Argentina.

Not in this Wallabies outfit. Simmons says the faux pas in Paris had a direct effect on the try at Twickenham.

“We try and train good habits every single day here,” he said. “Things like hands up and those kinds of areas are where we are making our improvements. Those small areas, the little one per-centers that we’ve all been working on to try and make this team a better team.”

Given that, Simmons says there are a number of areas that the Wallabies will be working on to improve in the lead up to Sunday morning’s World Cup final against New Zealand

There are the obvious ones, like the scrum, but Simmons believes it will be a tight match in which goal kicking will play a big part. With the All Blacks boasting one of the best sharpshooters of all time in Dan Carter, not giving away penalties at the breakdown will be crucial.

“You saw how Argentina stayed in touch on the scoreboard just through penalties,” he said. “We didn’t let a try in but they were still in touch by kicking it over. It’s something we’re going to have to be very disciplined on.

“We’re always trying to do everything in the legal way at the breakdown. Sometimes you get taken off your feet and you’re stuck in a ruck. We’ve just got to be smart with it and play the game with a hard physical edge and hopefully get the dominance there.

“It’s going to be a big game. We’ll do our review (of the Argentina match) and the coaches will get us on our technical points where we can improve, and that’s what we’ll work on during the week.”

And keeping his hands up.

Originally published as Rugby World Cup final: Little things make a big difference for Wallabies