Georgie Boy's Off His Head.

 Last week I read a story about how the Wallabies have all but closed the gap between themselves and the All Backs.  The main piece of evidence that George Gregan was using to back up his theory was the fact that the Wallabies won their first Tri-nations for 11 years and in doing so beat the All Blacks in Brisbane last year.  They also reached the semi finals of the World Cup, although Georgie neglects to mention the fact that in that game the Wallabies were comprehensively beaten in every facet of the game, including on the scoreboard where the result was 20-6 and not to the men in gold.  He also spoke of how the struggling Australian Conference in this years Super Rugby competition was of little concern to the Wallaby camp and should be seen as positive.

The man everyone loved to hate.  I think this photo explains why.

What’s George been smoking?  The Wallabies are no closer than they ever have been.  Winning the Tri-Nations again (finally) didn’t amount to anything.  With an 11 year hiatus of having done so you could quite rightly claim that they were well overdue in doing so.  And as for the fact that the Australian Conference is a sadder state of affairs than Jesse Ryder’s personal life, simply cannot and should not be seen as a positive.  How can having one competitive team in the form of the Brumbies and having the semi resurgent Reds be a good thing for Australian Rugby?  The Force have always been crap and unsurprisingly they are again, the Rebels are full of journeymen at best with a few superstars thrown in the mix to falsely give people hope and the Waratahs have again let down the only real stronghold of Australian Rugby, Sydney!  Sorry George, where are those positives again?

None of the Australian stars are in any real kind of form that would have anyone shaking in their boots, in fact if I was part of the Scotland setup preparing to play Australia tomorrow night Aussie time I’d be looking at this match with real anticipation of being able to knock them over for a second time in a row.  The state of affairs is so bad in some cases,  that Nathan Sharpe who is retiring at years end is now the most prominent lock and can quite rightly claim to being the most in form Aussie of the lot.

But I’m sure Aussie has plenty of depth I can hear you saying.  WRONG!  They’re a disgrace.  Five New Zealander’s along with another handful of Pacific Island players help make up their latest squad for their June International window.  Where is the development of local players?  Serious questions need to be asked about the pathway to the Wallabies for promising young talent, because clearly, at the moment, they are not getting anywhere near the top level.  Perhaps after the highs of winning the World Cup twice in the 90’s and being one of the most dominant sides in the first years of the 2000’s no one bothered to ask any questions as things seemed to be trucking along swimmingly in the early years of professionalism.  Sadly now for Australia, the burying of one’s head in the sand technique has worked out exactly like it has for anyone else in history who has attempted such a manoeuvre.  Pull it together John O’Neill, you are supposed to be a messiah at getting things done, one can’t help but think you have left it far too late!

Having a quick glance at the June Internationals for the major Southern Hemisphere sides, things look like they will go as follows:

Australia to lose to Wales 2-1, after they have narrowly avoided losing to a valiant effort from a courageous if uncreative Scotland.  South Africa will beat England 2-1 in their series in the Republic.  England will push the Saffa’s for most of the way in all games but one can see a blowout for the English in one game before claiming the last Test as the Springboks ring in the changes with some experimentation for the last and dead rubber Test.  The All Blacks should cruise to a 3- nil victory over the Irish.  The Irish will be brave in defeat and even go close in a couple of games after the All Blacks have thumped them once and start to introduce some of the new boys.  Argentina will welcome France for two tests for their warm up for the newly formed Four Nations or stupidly named Rugby Championship.  It’s a tricky one to call this, as it is whenever France play, but the fact Argentina are at home means they will grow an extra leg.  I’ll sit on the fence and call it one all.

That’s it for this edition written in the air above Europe, wish me luck in trying to find a pub in Turkey to watch the Tests this weekend.

Keep your eye on the ball team.