The fact that France matched it with three tries of their own in that first half was not surprising, but the news remained good.
We were seeing signs of the team that came within an ace of beating the British and Irish Lions, beating South Africa.
But with it also came the frustrations.
France’s Gael Fickou runs with the ball.Credit: AP
Time and again, the Wallaby lineout malfunctioned just when we needed it most. Once was for not throwing the ball in straight, a seriously unforgivable error. (How does that happen at this level?)
Then, right on half time, with the French down a man for the sin bin, and the Wallabies with ball in hand, our fly-half Tane Edmed successfully kicked for the line. What? WHY?
The whistle blew and the teams went into the sheds at 19-19.
Despite errors like that, the match was there for the taking!
Could we do it?
We were certainly capable of it.
But in the second half?
This time it was the penalties that ripped a hole in the side of the Wallaby battleship. Ten of them!
Every time we were threatening the line, every time French lungs were screaming, their legs wobbling under Wallaby assaults, we gave away a penalty that released the pressure on them, and put the pressure right back on us.
France took advantage early in the second half to score a try and a penalty to go to a 27-19 lead only for Australia to again demonstrate what they are capable, just what lethal weapons we actually have in our armoury.
After a great steal by replacement hooker Josh Nasser, fullback Max Jorgensen charged down the left touch-line, expertly dribbled it just as the defence closed, to regather and go over in the corner.
Try! Try! TRY! A try for your life, I’ll tell a man it is.
Edmed slotted it over to close to 27-26 down.
Australia’s Dylan Pietsch, left, and France’s Oscar Jegou contest possession.Credit: AP
Alas, alas, alas, just when it seemed that a great an historic win might be on the cards – and just when our blokes had demonstrated what they are capable of – those cards fell the other way. Again the lineout malfunctioned when we needed it most, this time to an overthrow and the penalties took their toll.
Two French tries took them to 41-26 ahead, with seven minutes to go.
What did we need?
We needed, as a mate pointed out, Travis Head! Or at least we needed his like, to swagger on to the field with twitching handlebar moustache, some swaggering braggadocio, to single-handedly take the match in hand, with such derring-do it would kill a brown dog.
We didn’t quite have him, though back-rower Fraser McReight’s bristling bearded and mustachioed form remained a feature throughout the closing phases as he had been through the whole match.
When Josh Nasser went over with four minutes to go to make it 41-33, a miracle did not seem out of the question. Our blokes bloody-well deserved one, for the effort they had put in.
Alas, yet more penalties ensued against the Wallabies and the French capitalised to score again and win the whole match 48-33.
Oh what might have been!
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Nevertheless, sneer if you must, but I repeat it: yes, the stats for the year are horrible. Yes, there remain consistent flaws in the Wallaby game whose very persistence – they know what these flaws are, but don’t fix them – but it changes nowt the salient fact.
2025 will be remembered as the year this Wallaby generation showed exactly what they were capable of, when they got it right.
If they can fix the flaws – the penalties, the lineouts, the taking of the high-ball, and the needless errors just when the Promised Land lies before them – and build towards the 2027 World Cup, they can still run and stun and really do something in that Cup.
Watch this space. And believe!
Back them home. I honestly believe the best is yet to come.
