Wallabies coach John Connolly last night admitted he was seriously concerned about the dreadful start the four Australian teams have had to this year's Super 14 tournament.
In a World Cup year, and with the New Zealand teams resting their best players, Connolly said it was difficult to be uplifted by the Australian sides repeatedly getting beaten - usually in tight circumstances.
In easily the worst opening month to any Super rugby season, the Australian teams are languishing near the bottom of the Super 14 ladder, sitting in seventh, eighth, 11th and 13th position. Usually each season, at least one Australian province starts well, but this year the best the locals can boast after round four are the seventh-placed newcomers Western Force.
The agony intensified over the weekend when the Force, Brumbies and Reds lost in agonising circumstances. The Waratahs at least earned a reprieve as they had the bye.
On Friday night the Brumbies lost in the last minute to the Hurricanes in Wellington. On Saturday night the Reds were completely outclassed by the Blues in Auckland, before the Western Force again showed their inability to win the close matches when they also fell away in the final minutes to lose by a point to the usually hapless Lions at Subiaco Oval.
Adding to the Force's exasperation was that it was the Lions' first win away from Johannesburg in 23 matches, while the Perth-based team remain without a victory at their home ground.
Connolly said that, although there was a "long way to go" in the tournament, the inability of the local teams to secure tight wins was not encouraging.
"It is a concern that we didn't have any winners this round, and only a few in the previous rounds," Connolly said. "Winning is crucial because it is what sport is all about. And it becomes contagious. I do feel sorry for the Brumbies, as two of their losses have been by a few points, so it has to be gut-wrenching, especially when they now have Stephen Larkham injured.
"NSW are hard to gauge. They would have probably liked another win out of Africa, so the next month will be important for them.
"The Force have definitely made improvements. It has taken some time for them to gel, but you still have to be happy with the way they are playing because they are trying to do something. They also have to learn how to win. And Queensland ... they have a long way to go."
But Connolly argued it was not all doom and gloom. Asked whether he was worried about the standard of play of the Australian teams, Connolly replied: "There are some good signs."
"With the Force, you can see their game is evolving, while Laurie (Fisher) with the Brumbies and Ewen (McKenzie) with the Waratahs are trying to do some interesting things."
Connolly said there had been some "pleasing individual performances". He said he had been enthused that the two league imports - Ryan Cross and Clinton Schifcofske - had shown improvement. He was also happy with the form of several forwards, including the NSW trio of Benn Robinson, Wycliff Palu and Rocky Elsom, while George Smith had been a standout with the Brumbies.
"Still, making the Super 14 semifinals is important," Connolly said. "If they don't, that is a concern for us. It means that they are not winning, and mentally that's not good. It also might mean we have a lot of injuries, which would be discouraging as well. Overall the major challenge for us is how to make sure the players are mentally and physically in the best shape for the World Cup. That's what we are spending the bulk of our time talking about. We've seen how New Zealand have approached it (by resting players), but ours is unfortunately different to that."
Connolly is envious the All Blacks have been allowed to rest their key test players for the opening half of the Super 14.
"And our biggest problem has been that for about four or five years Australian rugby neglected the scrum and lineout, and we continue to pay a penalty for that," Connolly said. "Our lineouts across all teams hasn't been particularly great, while the scrum is slowly picking up. So far, the NSW front row has probably been the most solid."
NSW coach Ewen McKenzie, meanwhile, argued that the prime problem was that "all the Australian teams are creating opportunities but they're not finishing them off. That's probably the difference between us and teams like the Blues, who are finishing their opportunities off, as are the Crusaders when they get them."
