Australia 18, France 13

In regards to my Giteau: the best 12 in the world piece, this game did little to change my mind. He still doubled down too often, drifted across field on too many set plays, took too many of those hop catches from Burgess, and failed to establish a structured attack. I repeat, he is not a ten.

If anything, his play fueled the argument that he is a great twelve. He tagged the play well, fed off of second phase play, created havoc in the seams during broken play, and helped shut down a deceptively potent French offense with a flawless display of defensive decision making.

Nothing perpetuates this point more than the play he engineered down the blind side to set up Peter Hynes for the try that sealed the win. Giteau, working off the back of quick ball, played the numbers perfectly, exploiting a reeling French defense by sweeping to the weak side and creating the overlap. It reminded me of Ella.

From everything I’ve read, watched, and heard, Ella was part Jedi. I’m convinced of this. His success came from his ability to see where the break was going to happen two or three phases ahead of time. When you watch the tape, you notice he scours the field constantly, seemingly moving slower than everyone else when he doesn’t have the ball. He then quickly attacks one side of the field several times in succession with a flurry of switches and short balls, before fleetly darting to the—now—weak side to exploit the break he saw coming 4 phases ago. He could have been a Podracer.

His greatest asset was his ability to create hesitation in the defense, a skill he possessed because of his incredible acceleration and awareness. Think Chris Paul on a rugby field. Andrew Johns was the only person I ever saw change the speed of a game like Ella. Everything Ella did seemed so calculated, but improvised at the same time. He was ahead of his time. A great rugby mind that will never be seen again.

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More important though than Giteau or the final score, was the new look mantra and confidence that has been lost from Wallabies teams since the departure of Rod McQueen. The brilliance of Deans is finally showing in both how the team plays and presents itself. In Paris the whole team carried itself with a certain swagger. They looked like the Crusaders.

This new found swagger was most evident in the way they handled losing the lead.

On the back of a period of physical dominating rugby from the French—Australia took their best shot for a good fifteen minutes, and only surrendered a lucky field goal—the Australian pack struck right back, manning up and driving through the teeth of the French pack via a succession of efficient pick-and-drives. It was at this point Giteau engineered Hynes’ score. The aggressive style in which Australia responded probably crushed the French mentally more than anything. It was an intense, identity defining period for the Wallabies. A identity that has been forged by Dean’s highly successful coaching system.

From what I can gather, Deans’ system is built around the instilment of a collective arrogant confidence, with an ultimate goal of creating a team culture where the players always believe they will win. It’s brilliant because once the team buys in, it’s wholly self-sustaining—like a green energy system. Expensive to set up (wins and experience are lost in the beginning), the system turns a profit in the long run. You could argue that beating France was the proverbial ‘breaking even’.

There are three key steps in the Deans manifesto:

1st) A number of young talented players are nurtured into the squad—the young players vibrancy and naïve approach to the game creates a relaxed and confident atmosphere among the team.

2nd) The team—operating in a relaxed environment—begins plays a smarter, more controlled, confident brand of rugby that is built around Deans’ fast break, counter-attack style of game management.

3rd) This style of play leads to more wins, which breeds confidence, and subsequently fuels step two.

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The true test will come in Cardiff this weekend. The wallabies have the mental edge after their success there during the world cup, but Wales is a savvy team. I expect them to cause mechanical trouble for the younger players, especially around the breakdown. With that said, if the team can carry themselves like they did in Paris, and soak in the Deans’ mantra this week, they should win comfortably. Let’s see that swagger.