Opinion: Where on earth do you start with that one? Last night's 24-22 win by the Wallabies over the All Blacks, their first in three years, threw up so many talking points it's almost impossible to fit them into just one column - but we'll give it a go, Jamie Wall writes.
Photo: PhotoSport
Firstly, it's important to recognise that the Wallabies definitely deserved to win this game, red cards or not. Dave Rennie could have gone into his shell and waited for next season but instead devised a decent game plan and instilled the confidence in his team to carry it out. He bit the bullet on his failed experiment with Noah Lolesio at 10 in last weekend's Sydney travesty, replacing him with the more experienced Reece Hodge, who turned in a blinder to score 14 points off the tee. They scored within the first two minutes and were looking good to go on with the job before the madness happened.
Now, there will be an awful lot of talk around the practice of red cards in rugby, just like there always is whenever one gets produced in a high level match. But it's safe to say no blame should be put on the actual guy who reached into his pocket, referee Nic Berry.
Wallaby players celebrate their win. Photo: PhotoSport
The Australian whistleblower had rules he had to follow and he did exactly what they stated when he gave Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Lachie Swinton an early shower. Save the 'common sense' talk for World Rugby's lawmakers.
But this was a tale of two reds. Tu'ungafasi was extremely unlucky as Tom Wright was slipping down to eventually eat the big prop's shoulder, however it was still in direct contact with the head. Swinton's, on the other hand, was a deliberate act of foul play that targeted Samuel Whitelock.
You've almost got to admire Swinton's brazenness in trying to smash the 119-test All Black out of the game, that he was on debut making the violent act all the more remarkable. Physicality is something that the Wallabies severely lacked last weekend and at Eden Park, so at least Swinton went out doing what he was supposed to - albeit in a far more enthusiastic way than he probably should have.
Red card for Swinton..#AUSvNZL pic.twitter.com/uV9oRdGsNb
— Steve Lenthall (@steve_l15) November 7, 2020
Then there was the performance of Marika Koroibete, who was electric with ball in hand and devastating on defence, saving a sure try in the corner with a perfect cover tackle on Sevu Reece. But even he found it within himself to confound everyone watching by getting needlessly sent to the sin bin for a professional foul.
However, that turned into a chance for the former league star to simply cool his heels as the Wallabies actually did quite well out of the 10 minute period, even retaking the lead with a Hodge penalty.
Scott Barrett, meanwhile, did his reputation no favours at all with an extremely ill-thought out bit of attempted cheating in the second half. When he went to the bin and reduced the All Blacks to 13 on the home of Queensland rugby league, that effectively sealed his team's fate. From there the game was in the Wallabies' grasp and they never relinquished.
Richie Mo'unga in possession. Photo: PhotoSport
Brisbane now stands as a tough venue for the All Blacks, which makes little sense given the amount of support they get from the amount of New Zealanders who now reside there can make it seem like an extra home test. That won't worry the Wallabies though, who may well be putting in a request to their bosses to schedule more tests at Suncorp Stadium.
Then of course there was Taniela Tupou chewing gum during the haka, what was shaping as an epic test debut for Akira Ioane that was cut short by Tu'ungafasi's red, three more test debuts that produced nothing of note other than Will Jordan getting knocked out, the obvious gulf between Aaron Smith and everyone else trying to be the All Blacks halfback, Rieko Ioane still scoring tries the 'cool' way because why the hell not, and Ian Foster now having to spend his first week being a losing All Black head coach.
What a finish from Rieko!
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) November 7, 2020
: @skysportnz #AUSvNZL pic.twitter.com/5rKDXK2tnp
So yes, plenty to talk about. Maybe I should be writing more than one of these a week...
