If the Australian press are to be believed, the Wallabies have no hope of emulating the feats of the 1984 Wallaby Grand Slam team after yet another defeat to the All Blacks.
The Australians suffered their seventh straight loss to New Zealand in Tokyo on Saturday ahead of this month's internationals against England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The Wallabies are bidding to repeat the achievement of the 1984 side that conquered all four nations to complete a rugby "Grand Slam."
But the 32-19 loss to the All Blacks, coming on the back of a miserable Tri-Nations this year, merely reinforced the belief that the Australians will struggle to gain the respect of this month's opponents, newspapers said.
"Although the Wallabies improved dramatically from their Wellington debacle (against the All Blacks) with an often pugnacious performance on Saturday, the ever-despairing Australian players concede they will struggle to gain the respect of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales," said The Sydney Morning Herald.
The paper reported that Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom had said their next opponent, England, on Saturday, will treat Australia as the easiest of the southern hemisphere teams to beat.
"While that was embarrassing for the Wallabies, it was also understandable, after such a lamentable season in which they experienced just one Tri Nations victory in six matches, and then on Saturday, for the fourth time in the last five Bledisloe Cup fixtures, failed to take advantage of a half-time lead," the paper said.
Elsom said it was time for the Wallabies to regain the respect of all of their opponents.
"I couldn't fault the guys for their effort and their intensity, but it wasn't good enough. And that's a big problem," said Elsom.
Australia's World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer said the Wallabies should send out an SOS for second-rower Dan Vickerman to bolster their squad for the grand slam tour.
Dwyer, who coached the 1991 World Cup champions, called for the 30-year-old former Test forward, who is studying at Cambridge, after deficiencies in the Wallabies pack were exposed again by the All Blacks in Toyko.
"Imagine getting dished up by the New Zealand line-out - and we got dished up well and truly," Dwyer told the Daily Telegraph.
Dwyer said Vickerman was a world-class second-rower at a time when Australia did not have any.
"One of the things it does show is the foolishness of letting Daniel Vickerman go overseas," said Dwyer.
The Herald said not long ago, the Wallabies' line-out was one of the best in the international game, "but at the moment, it has gone right off."
Comments
rugbychris says...
anyone kno a way to watch the game online?
Posted 09:25 02nd November 2009