Wallabies currently too slow to make opposition pay

The Wallabies’ fight back in Bledisloe I was a valiant and exhilarating effort, but it was another case of too little too late.

Leaking 21 points to the All Blacks in 16 minutes, is a sure way to play yourself out of the contest.

Nevertheless, the Wallabies never gave up, growing into the game which buoyed the 68,061 fans in attendance, for it made for a contest.

In a game of two halves, there was lots to critique in the Wallaby performance: defence, kicking, ball-handling, even parts of the game which had been strong, like the lineout, struggled in Sydney’s afternoon sun.

Conversely, the Wallabies attack, which has been regularly criticised, began to find some rhythm in the second half.

Coach Joe Schmidt did not appear thrilled at the ‘gutsy’ performance, rather he was lamenting his team’s inability to consistently improve.

"I do think that we're building a little, but I think I said on Thursday, no progress is linear, even in that game it undulated," Schmidt said in the post-match press-conference.

"And we've got to get as linear as we can in the improvements we make, because what we can't do is lapse somewhere else if we're looking to improve in one particular area.”

Neither side at the weekend was flawless, the lack of polish on the All Blacks’ performance was one of the reasons the Wallabies managed to make it such a tight affair.

The Wallabies made line breaks and gainline metres throughout but there were times when a genuine speedster would’ve punished the All Blacks.

While the men closer to the ruck steer the attack, the men out wide must finish, and the Wallaby back-three are not playing as they should.

Tom Wright despite being the only back-three player at the weekend with genuine gas, is still prone to poor defensive stints and decision making.

Andrew Kellaway ran good lines while just not involving himself enough, and he is not the man to give you speed on the ball.

Then there’s Marika Koroibete, Schmidt’s sole overseas pick, who is yet to have a statement performance, and it must be said, is someone who is breaking even on positive and negative involvements after four Tests.

Koroibete adds brute strength to the Wallabies backline, but he has lost a metre or two of speed and it has drastically changed his impact on the game.

The first warning signs Koroibete had lost his x-factor speed was against Los Pumas in Santa Fe.

After making a break from the scrum, Koroibete is chased down and tackled out by flyhalf Tomas Albornoz.

A fend may have allowed him to score but the Argentinian five-eighth ran him down and hustled him into touch.

At the weekend, there were more signs.

Wright break

Wright makes the break from the 22m and at the point of breaking the line, Wright is only a couple of metres ahead of Koroibete.

However, the second Wright accelerates he leaves Koroibete behind, it’s telling because Koroibete even points to space for Wright to take, meaning he knew what was about to happen.

Once through the line Wright slows his foot speed, looking for support on the outside where Koroibete should’ve been, but he was too far behind to be an option.

On so many occasions, Koroibete has surged onto a ball like that and added impetus but this time he was unable to do so.

Another moment which raised alarm bells was Koroibete’s attempt to run around All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor in the 7th minute.

Taylor is no slouch, but an international winger should have him for pace.

Koroibete v Taylor

The angle was not ideal for Koroibete and he only had about five metres to work with but he believed he could get around Taylor, until he didn’t.

The belief coupled with the sudden realisation was a stark statement about where he is at, it indicated an inability to execute what he wanted to.

The questions around his speed were not helped by his kick-chase.

Contestable kicking was clearly a tactic for the Wallabies early on, but the kick-chase for a fifth Test in a row was lack-lustre from the entire team.

Koroibete v Taylor 2

Koroibete is again in a foot race with Taylor, only seconds after their encounter above and again he is beaten for pace.

If chasers can’t get to your contestable kicks, then you can’t put them up, full stop.

Nic White was criticised for putting a couple box-kicks too shallow by the Stan Sports commentary team, but they were the ones where the Wallabies actually made it contestable.

The questions surrounding Koroibete stem from the fact the Australian rugby landscape is full of good and nippy wingers.

Dylan Pietsch had a promising cameo off the bench in Sydney, Max Jorgensen has looked dangerous with a few of his touches and speedster Corey Toole is one of the few players to not get capped.

Inside camp there is conjecture as to whether Toole or Jorgensen hold the crown for fastest on ground, but the evidence from Super Rugby Pacific suggests Toole has it locked down.

Schmidt is likely to welcome back the Koroibete-esque Filipo Daugunu from injury in time for the Spring Tour.

Daugunu was causing havoc for opposition before his leg injury and is the most like-for-like replacement for Koroibete.

He adds pace, power, and workrate to an undersized Wallaby backline.

Despite their small stature, the Wallaby backs are building cohesion, and adding a genuine speedster out wide would give their attack another dimension.

Schmidt may be reluctant to drop in a featherweight player like Toole, who has struggled defensively at times in SRP and Jorgo is still young, but their pace would help the Wallabies in three distinct ways.

Firstly, the Wallabies’ narrow shape in defence is being exposed, oppositions are finding weak seams inside and outside of the Wallabies’ No.13 channel due to a lack of trust between the centres.

The space between the winger and the No.13 is widened for a fear of being beaten on the outside and the No.12 is not hunting hard enough so the No.13 has been caught in no man’s land.

Having a faster winger, would allow the No.13 to stick closer to his No.12, closing the seam, it would also give the inside backs the confidence to get higher in defence.

Because no one is running around Corey Toole.

Secondly, the narrow shape of the Wallabies attack would be made more dangerous by a more fleet-footed winger.

Koroibete narrow

Koroibete starts on the touchline, which is great, as it stretches the defensive shape, forcing them to cover more space.

As the play unfolds, he tracks in-field, and by the time Kellaway has the ball he has come-in a whole seven metres.

When Wright receives the ball, he and Koroibete as well as All Black winger Sevu Reece are all crowded in the 5m-channel.

Koroibete is also two paces behind where he needs to be and at this point, he is not adding speed to the equation, Reece has him covered.

Having any of the wingers mentioned above in this situation would have added impetus to the play, dropping the ball was a shame, but not the only problem in this clip.

If Koroibete stays wide and high, it gives Kellaway, Wright, and Lolesio more options.

The third and final way more speed would help the Wallabies is it would make their kicking game more dangerous.

Having someone competing for every high ball, being able to put a chip or grubber through and know you will have someone in the contest puts the defence in two minds.

For an attack which has struggled two break the line, defensive uncertainty is key to allow the Wallabies’ direct play to gain ascendency, they need opposition defence to be passive.

This is another reason why it struggled against the Springboks and the Pumas to an extent.

A bonus to picking Jorgo or Toole is out-and-out pace, a bonus for picking a Daugunu or a Pietsch is physicality along with a pilfer-threat in the wider channels, in the past, picking Koroibete meant you got all three.

Koroibete is not the presence he was even 18-months ago, it could be form related, but it appears that age has just started to tug at his top-end speed.

He is not a bad player by any means, however; Schmidt must recognise he’s been far from his best and there are players with genuine game-breaking abilities who have been part of the squad for some time without ample opportunities.

While the Wallabies continue their rickety bid to improve their game, it must also be recognised they are not playing to their full potential, having pace out wide could see them flourish.