Adam Freier

Defence was pants, but we’ll pull socks up

IT’S late and I am frantic. I’ve just tipped my undies draw on its head looking for my mouthguard as I pack for our journey north to play the defending champion Queensland Reds.

But what’s more concerning than keeping my mouthguard in with my underpants, is the way we defended against the Waratahs last Friday.

This year, more than most, Super Rugby has developed into a game of efficiency. In the first half, we missed way too many tackles. That’s blatantly obvious, but it was the numbers to our defensive breakdown that proved the real issue.

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Wallabies must drop obsession with peaking once every four years

‘Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!” That’s what you all heard from Eden Park last Sunday, and even on Friday night. But what I heard was thousands of TVs across Australia turning off, for another four more years.

Now every nation bar the victor tonight will look to make wholesale changes, give youth a run, and try, test and pass new combinations. Heads will roll. Welcome to the matrix of rugby – the life in between the World Cups. My issue with losing at the tournament is the notion that we now have four more years to work towards winning the next one. That needs to change.

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The Riddler puts faith in future for greatest show on earth

‘Hey, dwarf man!” It was the final thing I heard leaving the field when I played the 2008 Springboks. Nothing short of crippling for a man who is challenged in the vertical sense.

I took the criticism on the chins, both of them. The Boks were the world champs. But this match is a little different.

They’re still world champs, but today we can take that away from them. We’ve got a completely different side than the one that went out in the 2007 World Cup quarters – it’s probably better but there is a school of thought they could do with some help in the hooking department.

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