The Wallabies won the consolation prize in Brisbane on Saturday night with a 23 – 18 win over the All Blacks in the already decided Bledisloe Cup series.
AB wing Rieko Ionae dislocated his finger and will miss a couple of weeks. That must be some dislocation. Did he leave it at Brisbane Airport, or did Virgin Australia misplace it?
Ionae will be absent from a match against the Barbarians in London of the fifth of November. Coach Steve Hansen says it will be two weeks in the casualty ward.
Ionae’s absence will provide chances for Seta Tamanivalu or Julian Savea to get some playing time.
The Wallabies may gain some encouragement from the win, and who’s to argue that they do not need some, but even some former All Blacks; Graham Henry at least, seems to feel that the recent and persistent trend of the All Blacks simply dominating the international competition is having a negative impact on the game.
The ABs might have been having a hard time handling the wet ball on Saturday night and Suncorp Stadium might have temporarily have been renamed Raincorp Stadium, but for those, including Henry, who think the ABs dominance is boring, there might be some interest lurking when the ABs take to the northern hemisphere for a five-match tour.
Along with the Barbarians, the squad will also play France, Scotland and Wales, with a mid-week XV against the French thrown in for good measure.
As for the Brisbane game, it could hardly be said that the All Blacks did not try, at least according to Captain Kieran Read. “The Wallabies probably got it over us, physically, in the first half with their carries,” All Blacks captain Kieran Read said. “Probably the disappointing thing for us, when we did make a physical shot, and there were a few of them, we couldn’t quite back it up with a turnover or anything like that.”