Mark Ella: Wallabies reminded me of when I was coaching in Italy

Watching the Wallabies vainly attempt to breach the England defensive line reminded me of my own coaching days in Italy.

Watching the Wallabies vainly ­attempt to breach the England ­defensive line in Melbourne last Saturday night reminded me of my own coaching days in Italy.

Milan, who I coached, were playing red-hot favourites Treviso for the Italian championship title. They were coached by former All Blacks five-eighth Wayne Smith and steered around the park by former Wallabies five-eighth ­Michael Lynagh.

Ten minutes into the match it was obvious that Treviso did not want to compete at the breakdown, instead spreading their ­defensive line across the field and shutting down our attack.

A quick message from the coach’s box to our captain soon changed our approach. Rather than transferring the football across the line and getting hit by over-enthusiastic Treviso forwards, we attacked through the middle with our bigger, more ­robust players doing the pick and drive which was simple, but ­effective.

After four of five phases, Milan did enough to draw most of ­Treviso’s forward pack back into the contest before spreading the football to a certain David Campese, who destroyed them out wide.

While watching the Wallabies continually run into an English brick wall, I waited for a message from coach Michael Cheika to change tactics. It did not come.

The Wallabies showed just how one-dimensional they are and, while the coach will always accept the ultimate responsibility when they lose, it is also up to the players to amend the game plan when things are not working.

I’m not too sure if many of the Wallabies know what the term, “playing what is in front of you” ­actually means because their lack of any tactical variation made ­England’s job so much easier.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the Wallabies should disobey Cheika, but they should be able to read the game on the run and play accordingly. Trust your instincts, boys.

It is up to captain Stephen Moore and tactical decision-­makers such as five-eighth Bernard Foley and halfback Nick Phipps to know when to tweak the game plan. How the Wallabies lost the second Test match is beyond me, because they completely dominated possession and territory.

I saw a stat that said the Wallabies had 68 per cent of possession and did not make a single line break. That is mind-boggling. In my day, if I had that much ball we would have won the match by 50 points and I don’t care who we would have been playing against.

Bringing Matt Toomua back into the team as the second ballplayer will take the pressure off of Foley, but he will need to lead from the front by taking the football to the England defensive line and testing their structure under duress. No easy options.

Phipps is another player who needs to lift his game by being more precise with his passing. He will be targeted again because England feels that he is the weak link within the Wallabies game.

Cheika obviously feels that his forwards let him down in Melbourne by bringing back second-rowers Rob Simmons and Will Skelton, who must forget about any fancy footwork and just drive it up through the middle whenever he gets hold of the ball.

It must have been tempting for Cheika not to start with Wycliff Palu ahead of Sean McMahon at No 8 for this match.

McMahon is going to be a great flanker for the Wallabies in the ­future, but I feel that Palu with his experience and size might have been a better option to start the match before setting the more ­mobile McMahon loose.

England’s backrow has given us a bath. The English do not like playing against Palu, but at this stage of his career I’m not sure if he is an impact player off the bench.

I would have used Palu to soften up the English forwards, even if he only played for the first 30 minutes. This is Bodyline, isn’t it?

England coach Eddie Jones is determined to win the series 3-0, but surely the Wallabies can win one game. If not, Australia’s ­confidence will be low going into the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup.

The third Test may be a dead rubber, but the remainder of the Wallabies’ season could hinge on the result.