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Sam Bruce, Deputy Editor, espn.com.au
Here we are again, then. Welcome back to another Bledisloe Cup week.
In all likelihood, the Wallabies will not regain trans-Tasman supremacy — twenty-one straight years of Australian misery is evidence of that.
The drought has gone on so long now that the disappointment no longer really registers. And it’s not as if Australia have even come close to laying a hand on the enormous trophy; the last time there was a live third game was way back in 2008.
Unfortunately the feeling these days — at least for the wider Australian public — is apathy.
And that sense of disinterest was only further amplified by the Wallabies’ 67-37 hammering at the hands of Argentina, the most points Australia had ever conceded in their Test match history.
Dig deeper and you’ll discover in the last four Tests the Wallabies and All Blacks have contested at Accor Stadium — the scene of this weekend’s opening game — that not only does the ledger stand at 4-0 in New Zealand’s favour, but the collective margin reads 177-60.
Beyond that, the All Blacks are also riding a seven-game winning streak over the Wallabies.
So it’s doom and gloom when it comes to the trans-Tasman rivalry for Australia — and more doom again.
And while things aren’t exactly all aces in All Blacks camp, and coach Scott Robertson hasn’t set the Test rugby world on fire like so many thought he would, their Bledisloe dominance and comfortability in Sydney in particular will surely help ease any tension that is building back at home.
Considering all of that, it’s a wonder that any Australian rugby fan would make the journey to the Olympic precinct, yet Rugby Australia officials are bullish about a crowd somewhere in the vicinity of 60,000.
It’s the small shreds of hope that keep people coming back for more punishment and while they would seemingly be non-existent after the Santa Fe result eight days ago, there was just enough happening elsewhere last week to inspire belief that brighter days might one day be on the horizon.
The Wallabies might have had the week to lick their wounds, but off the field there were a handful of key developments that suggested Australian rugby might finally be getting its house in order.
One of those was the confirmation of Dylan Pietsch’s switch from the Waratahs to the Western Force. With NSW’s outside back department suddenly more swollen than the local swimming pool on the first day of the summer school holidays, Pietsch decided that the best place for him to continue his Super Rugby career was not in Sydney.
It’s not that he couldn’t have held off Darby Lancaster for a spot on the wing, or added impact and cover off the bench for the likes of Max Jorgensen, Andrew Kellaway and Joseph Suaali’i, but in a bid to secure a starting position and add to his one Wallabies Test, a switch to the Force was a far better outcome.
It helps Pietsch, it helps the Force and, therefore, it helps Australian rugby. That is, essentially, how centralisation is supposed to work.
The demise of the Melbourne Rebels was always going to generate player movement, but the consolidation of resources across four franchises rather than five should, in theory, result in an uptick across the board.
More competition in Super Rugby squads should mean players are having to work harder for their opportunities – that level of competitiveness raises the level of play, which in turn should raise the level of talent Joe Schmidt has to pick from.
One player who could earn that honour later in the year is Tane Edmed, who is one of several Australian players contesting New Zealand’s National Provincial Competition this season.
Edmed is earning rave reviews across the ditch and on Sunday scored an incredible 33 points as his North Harbour thrashed Manawatu.
If Australia is to be without an established third tier for the foreseeable future, and with club rugby effectively done for the year by the end of August, then Edmed’s example is one other Wallabies hopefuls — and any player who hopes to raise their game for that matter — must follow.
Edmed is potentially one Wallabies playmaker injury away from selection on this year’s spring tour, while his performances across the ditch could yet demand inclusion depending on the size of Schmidt’s travelling squad.
And then finally, it was pleasing to see homeless former Rebels prop Pone Fa’aumasili find a home across the ditch with Moana Pasifika. Not only does the move give Fa’aumasili the chance to represent his ancestry, but it also keeps him close enough that he is not completely lost to Australian rugby.
Remember this was a player who made such a huge impression on his Wallabies debut in last year’s Dunedin Bledisloe and then later went on to make Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad. While the question of his Test eligibility is almost as complicated as rugby’s lawbook, the fact he will be in New Zealand rather than France or Japan should be regarded as a win.
So while the world is lining up to take shots at Australian rugby and Ben Youngs is preparing to come out of retirement to repeat his 2013 British & Irish Lions glory — despite the scrum-half missing the third Test victory altogether — the little things Australia needs to do to climb its way up from an embarrassing No. 9 Test ranking are starting to fall into place.
It won’t help the Wallabies win on Saturday, nor seven days later should they, by some miracle, overturn a dreadful recent run at Accor Stadium and force a winner-take-all clash at the Cake Tin.
To borrow a line from Pantene; it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.
The Australian rugby public hopes, at least.