Chris Rattue: Barrel-chested resources at rock bottom

COMMENT

It took 33 minutes for the hoax that is Australia's test tight five to come crashing down in Wellington.

When it did, the action was like that of a tightly sprung pedal rubbish bin. As the front rows smashed head-first into the deck, referee Alain Rolland's hand catapulted skyward into the driving rain - like the connection between pedal and bin lid - to signify an All Black penalty.

It takes some evidence for a test referee to find such fault with a scrum and thus deliver a handy penalty shot in a low-scoring test. Referees often act as lawyers for the defence in these situations. In this case, the evidence in favour of the attacking team was overwhelming.

Rolland, with a decisive signal, had finally conceded that the Australian pack was being shoved into a watery grave at Westpac Stadium.

Dan Carter kicked the penalty, and the All Blacks were on their way.

No amount of league recruiting will fix this problem for Australia. Since the departure of tight forwards who papered over the chasms in their game, the Wallabies have survived on the twisted charms of the wild-haired Bill Young in the front-row battles.

By hook or by crook, Young has got them through - and the All Blacks of recent times have not struck as hard as they might have at this soft spot.

To be fair, the Australians have not been helped by the forced retirement of Ben Darwin and Fletcher Dyson. Yet whereas the All Blacks could call up all sorts of re-reinforcements, such as test reserve Greg Somerville, Carl Hoeft, Deacon Manu etc, the Australians are scraping the bottom of their barrel-chested resources. With their scrum in tatters, the 75th-minute arrival of the balloon-like Matt Dunning - a runner rather than a scrummager - summed the situation up.

And, remember, they turned up at Eden Park last year with prop Glenn Panoho looking like he had been training in an ice-cream parlour.

Some in Australian rugby, notably Queensland coach Jeff Miller, have claimed "new-age" props are ready to mount a rescue act. We'll have to wait on that score.

In a test where the conditions turned back the clock and demanded that the forwards fight in the trenches, a 16-7 scoreline was a bath.

The pressure told in all sorts of ways. Stephen Larkham, without the wiles of George Gregan to help compensate, was reduced to conducting a kicking game in which he often bent it like Beckham does from the penalty spot these days.

There was no bounce in the sodden pitch, the reason the All Blacks rejected the idea of taking match-sealing drop kicks late in the game, which contributed to a befuddled Larkham scuffing one kickoff so badly that spectators laughed. It took something special to find the funny bone in that weather.

As the ball lay in no-man's land, between the halfway and 10m lines, the bemused forwards huddled around it briefly like policemen inspecting a crime scene. Maybe they suspected that a villainous ball had reduced one of the greatest players in history to a park plodder.

Somewhere in the hard drive, the All Black forwards found just that. By the second half, they were the mudlarks of yesteryear. The Australians, from sunny Queensland and drought-hit New South Wales and a country that can afford stadium roofs, could not cope.

Their development system, or lack of it - which has been consistently if quietly slated by many people in the know - has failed to produce a line of quality tight forwards and in Wellington the problem burst through the surface.

Australian rugby has money in the bank but it has not always invested wisely. The riches delivered to Wendell Sailor - whose 56th-minute introduction for Clyde Rathbone was confusing in conditions unsuited to the brittle former league star - may grab headlines but they don't hold up test scrums.

The All Blacks won the lineout contest, their driving, which has leapt ahead through the inclusion of Kees Meeuws and Carl Hayman, crushed Australia, and their scrum ruled.

Rolland had been faintly apologetic in awarding Australia an early scrum penalty, finding a technical fault with the All Blacks rather than punishing the Wallabies' clever surrender.

It was like a police officer coming upon a horror crash and dishing out a ticket to the wronged party for a broken tail light. With the All Blacks cajoling the referee, Rolland finally came to see their point of view, leading to Carter's first goal.

After Larkham scuffed the kickoff following Doug Howlett's 62nd-minute try, the Australian scrum crashed again and Al Baxter was again deemed at fault. On these matters, test matches are won. The All Blacks kicked themselves back into enemy territory and set up another camp.

Graham Henry looked, and sounded, most contented. As he might. It was, apart from backline handling lapses and not always convincing work from Carlos Spencer behind a dominant pack, a magnificent performance.

The worry lines clearly marked Wallaby coach Eddie Jones' face. Jones is caught in a grey area, twitching to have a go at referees while trying to bite his tongue. With his shiny-headed captain Nathan Sharpe staring blankly ahead, Jones basically conceded his pack had been smashed, while still managing a sly dig at the All Black cleanout tactics.

Jones also offered a get-out clause, of course, suggesting that there was much promise in store given that the scoreline had been close despite his folding pack. Watch out for Sydney, he warned.

It may be the Wallabies who should watch out, however. The wet weather encouraged a retro-style All Black pack into a traditional approach and one they can continue with, even on a clear night in Sydney.