Wallaby coach John Connolly said on Monday he is seriously concerned about the poor start to the Super 14 season by the four Australian teams in World Cup year.
Australian teams — Western Force, ACT Brumbies, NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds — are languishing near the bottom of the Super 14 ladder, sitting in seventh, eighth, 11th and 13th positions.
The best Australian rugby can point to is the seventh-placed newcomers, the Force.
Both the Force and the Brumbies lost in the final minute of their matches on the weekend. It was the second time this season the Brumbies have lost on the final siren.
Australian teams have won only three of the 10 matches in which they have been involved — and one of those victories (6-3) was to the Brumbies in the excruciating round-three derby against the Reds.
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.
”You can’t hide from the fact that it’s a worry for us,” Connolly told the Australian newspaper on Monday.
”You can see a lot of improvement still in the Force, the Brumbies are there or thereabouts, the Reds are struggling to get into a pattern and the NSW Waratahs have a very important month coming up for them now that they’ve finally got some home games.”
”It is a concern that we didn’t have any winners this round, and only a few in the previous rounds,” Connolly told the Sydney Morning Herald.
”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 [Wallaby flyhalf] Stephen Larkham injured.
Connolly said it was important for Australian teams to make the Super 14 semifinals.
”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 [in September].
”That’s what we are spending the bulk of our time talking about.
We’ve seen how New Zealand have approached it [by resting star players], but ours is unfortunately different to that.”
Connolly said he 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 line-out, and we continue to pay a penalty for that,” Connolly said.
”Our line-outs across all teams [have not] been particularly great, while the scrum is slowly picking up. So far, the NSW front row has probably been the most solid.”
Key Wallabies Chris Latham, Phil Waugh, Stephen Larkham and Dan Vickerman have been sidelined from the Super 14 by injury. — Sapa-AFP