2011年9月6日星期二

Be warned, recent success may blind Wallabies to dangers

It is scant reward for such a heady performance, but the Wallabies must disown the satisfaction they gained from the Tri Nations decider in Brisbane, in deed and not just in word if they want to win the World Cup. There is only false comfort in basking in its glow.If any food China Porcelain tile condition is poorer than those standards, No silverware is unwelcome after a fallow period, but when the story of 2011 is being written,the Bedding pain and pain radiating from the arms or legs. any success that is not accompanied by the lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy on October 23 will be revealed to have been illusory.a oil painting reproduction on the rear floor. Much better to be going into this tournament preoccupied by your own weaknesses, rather than enamoured by your own strengths.

In truth, the Wallabies and All Blacks have overplayed each other in recent times,When the stone sits in the polished tiles, partly in pursuit of the dollar. Familiarity has allowed the losers to quickly close the gap and make the necessary adjustments for next time round. It is not easy to identify where exactly they stand in the world order.

The birthplace of their current and wonderful renaissance was in Christchurch last year, where the Wallabies secured a mountain of possession but lacked a cutting edge and lost 20-10 - Quade Cooper was serving a suspension, somewhat ironically for a tackle that had gone wrong. In their next game,Traditional kidney stone claim to clean all the air in a room. in Sydney, the All Blacks got out of jail, sneaking home 23-22 on the backs of Kieran Read and Richie McCaw. Then came Hong Kong. Subsequently, an irreverent website set up a clock that gleefully and wittily recorded the months of Wallabies 'domination' over the All Blacks until their next meeting. In the meantime the Reds were writing their own remarkable story in Super Rugby. The combination of results raised hopes that the balance of power had shifted.

It is scant reward for such a heady performance, but the Wallabies must disown the satisfaction they gained from the Tri Nations decider in Brisbane, in deed and not just in word if they want to win the World Cup. There is only false comfort in basking in its glow. No silverware is unwelcome after a fallow period, but when the story of 2011 is being written, any success that is not accompanied by the lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy on October 23 will be revealed to have been illusory. Much better to be going into this tournament preoccupied by your own weaknesses, rather than enamoured by your own strengths.

In truth, the Wallabies and All Blacks have overplayed each other in recent times, partly in pursuit of the dollar. Familiarity has allowed the losers to quickly close the gap and make the necessary adjustments for next time round. It is not easy to identify where exactly they stand in the world order.

The birthplace of their current and wonderful renaissance was in Christchurch last year, where the Wallabies secured a mountain of possession but lacked a cutting edge and lost 20-10 - Quade Cooper was serving a suspension, somewhat ironically for a tackle that had gone wrong. In their next game, in Sydney, the All Blacks got out of jail, sneaking home 23-22 on the backs of Kieran Read and Richie McCaw. Then came Hong Kong. Subsequently, an irreverent website set up a clock that gleefully and wittily recorded the months of Wallabies 'domination' over the All Blacks until their next meeting. In the meantime the Reds were writing their own remarkable story in Super Rugby. The combination of results raised hopes that the balance of power had shifted.
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Instead, all the praise and exuberance merely incubated a flaw in these Wallabies that will be fatal if it cannot be eradicated, wasting all that huge promise. This young side, with the second most youthful captain in the tournament (only the Welsh are led by a younger man, the 22-year-old Sam Warburton being four years James Horwill's junior), has a tendency to get ahead of itself, monstered 30-14 by the angry All Blacks in Auckland in early August and similarly dismantled 35-18 by the English at Twickenham last year two weeks after Hong Kong. How Robbie Deans must wish he could bottle the anger and resentment of narrow defeat that so often proceeds his side's best performances. The All Blacks turned up in Brisbane sated by Bledisloe I, and were blown away in the first half. The 'psychological advantage' argument might exist, but not in the way previously imagined. The beaten team has been the one stirred to greater heights.

But the Wallabies are well served by having Deans at the helm. There has been certain cruel voyeurism in watching him and his All Blacks counterpart Graham Henry in the coaches' box over the past four years - we are invited to look on at precisely when they are at their most vulnerable, shifting in their seats as the moments that will decide their very legacies are played out in front of them. But it has also been enlightening. The pair - more commonly known for being parsimonious with their feelings - are at their most expressive with each missed opportunity, playing each dropped pass, wincing at an incorrect option, or wondering how the referee had just missed such an apparently blatant illegality. These are the reactions of men who know that points left uncollected will come back to haunt them, all too aware of their own side's vulnerabilities and weak points. The Wallabies' pre-World scrum camps were no accident.

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