By CHRIS LAIDLAW
It's hate Australia time again.
Twice a year, with clockwork regularity, we work ourselves into a lather of anxiety about the possibility of being beaten by the Wallabies. Defeat serves only to enlarge the anxiety - and the resentment.
It is not a very healthy syndrome and the only antidote is the avoidance of defeat.
Logic, history and our innate insecurity as a society suggest that New Zealand need to beat Australia at rugby a great deal more than they need to beat us.
We suffer from World Cup deprivation syndrome. They not only have the Cup but a roomful of other international sporting trophies, not to mention an impending avalanche of gold medals at Sydney - something that will make all Australians impossible to live with for years afterwards.
They don't need this.
It stands to reason, therefore, that we will beat them in Wellington today. Or does reason have much to do with it any more?
Professionalism has proved to be a great leveller, as the All Blacks and the Springboks have discovered to their intense discomfort lately.
Australian rugby has been able to buy itself out from under the shadow of other football codes to the point where rugby union is now the premier puller of really big crowds, and that great surge of energy has begun to bring dividends in the overall quality of the game there.
Interestingly, rugby's catchment area still remains relatively limited compared with league or Aussie Rules.
Union remains a largely upper-middle-class game in Australia and this helps to explain why the Wallabies are particularly intelligent.
That intelligence has been put to good use by Rod Macqueen, who must go down as one of the truly outstanding coaches of our times, as his Wallabies have continuously refined the game, borrowing techniques from league in order to construct an almost impregnable system.
That system has evolved this year into the biggest challenge for any team taking on Australia. It is constructed around a phenomenally high ability to win and, more importantly, to retain possession.
The Wallabies have raised the technique of ball retention almost to an art form through a variety of means, some of them of questionable legality, and because they think their way up the field and don't take stupid risks, they are more than capable of denying the other team much more than an occasional glimpse of the ball.
It is the ultimate expression of percentage football. While it is not that pretty to watch, one can only admire the level of precision that has been achieved. It is cool, calculated stuff and if you can't somehow disrupt their rhythm, you lose.
In Sydney, the All Blacks would certainly have been beaten had it not been for those first few freak minutes. That luxury won't be available this time and there will have to be some truly inspirational efforts - and the natural brilliance of one of a dozen or so gamebreakers in the team.
Just as it was in Sydney, this is a contest between the method and the madcap.
The method may be fine, but the madcap is what makes rugby great.
Me, I'm backing the latter.
Rugby: Fear and loathing in face of Wallaby machine
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.