ANALYSIS

Forget any nonsense about the Wallabies regaining lost credibility in Wellington on Saturday against the All Blacks.

A loss by 29-9 – four tries to none – is exactly how it reads, a comprehensive beating, their sixth consecutive loss stretching back to last year’s Rugby World Cup final.

It also consigns the Bledisloe Cup to New Zealand hands for an incredible 14th year in a row.

From the outset it was obvious that the Wallabies’ tactic was to play disruptively; to get in the faces of the All Blacks, and slow the game down.

Call it damage limitation if you like, and if reining the All Blacks back from six tries last week to a mere four this week counts as a win, then you could make a case for it being successful.

But since when did respectable 20-point losses become an acceptable part of Australian rugby’s psyche?

Coach Michael Cheika talked post-match about this performance being the first, necessary step on the path to rebuilding his side. Which beggars the question why, if a rebuild is underway, Cheika’s squad is stacked with players who are well beyond their best – no matter what fine service players like Stephen Moore, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Will Genia, Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell have provided in the past?

And if it is a true rebuild, it surely needs to be based on foundations more solid than a bit of red-mist niggle.

Michael Cheika can coach, but his selections are under question. Photo: AAP

Cheika can clearly coach. His Super Rugby champion Waratahs side of 2014 was motivated, well conditioned and cohesive. They also played a fine brand of rugby.

What’s at question is Cheika’s ability as a selector. Now 21 matches into his Wallabies tenure, (for 11 wins and 10 losses), he is no closer to knowing what his best team is.

Take the middle row for example; an area where New Zealand dominate through Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock, and where Australia was comprehensively slam dunked in the June series loss to England.

This year’s five tests have seen the Wallabies try five different combinations, using eight different players. That’s simply too many.

It’s a similar story in the backline, with players swapping in and out of positions, seemingly without sufficient opportunity to develop the type of combinations required to succeed at test level.

As it happened, the recalled Quade Cooper acquitted himself well, suffering only a little of the senseless booing he’s been subjected to previously. Who knows, by the time his children are playing, or the All Blacks next lose – whichever comes first – the New Zealand crowds might have grown up.

The recalled Quade Cooper acquitted himself well. Photo: AAP

Ironically, one area where Cheika has shown consistency, the experiment of playing loose forwards David Pocock and Michael Hooper together, must come under review.

Whatever the Wallabies gain in foraging, it is more than offset by the absence of a hard-running, ball-playing number 8.

If this really is a rebuild then Cheika needs to genuinely move things forward. Emerging players like Adam Coleman and Samu Kerevi, if he is to continue selecting them, need to play week on week, not just rotated in when someone else fails or is injured.

Continuing to tinker at the edges might be enough to snare a win over a second tier nation, but it won’t trouble New Zealand. Too many of Cheika’s players have lost too many times now, to have any idea how to beat the All Blacks.

Cheika is contracted through to the 2019 World Cup. Without fear of having his contract terminated early – the ARU can’t afford to pay him out early, even if it wanted to – he doesn’t need to think and act short term just to keep his job.

The All Blacks retained the Bledisloe Cup for the 14th straight time. Photo: AAP

The fledging National Rugby Championship kicked off this weekend, and should provide long-term assistance, but Cheika will be disappointed to learn that some players touted for promotion to the Wallabies, like Melbourne fly-half Jack Debreczini, and Queensland hooker Andrew Ready, did nothing to suggest they are remotely ready for test rugby.

Cheika is right in one respect, it was important that the Wallabies show far more spirit and combativeness than their jelly-like effort in Sydney.

But there are no prizes handed out in test rugby for trying harder.

For fans, that kind of physical intent is a given. They simply want their side to run, pass, kick and tackle better; and to win their own lineouts.

It is better execution of rugby’s basics that will get them back to winning test matches.