Will Robbie Dean's Bubble Burst As First Real Test Looms?

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

If another international test coach had done this, home or away, eyebrows would be raised.

So France will try, being close to full strength, and pull off an unlikely test triumph against the Wallabies.  They are at the end of a long season, have been on the road for over a month, and have just toured statistically the most difficult rugby country to play in.

Les Bleus clearly hold the Australians in high regard, and if you believe French assistant Emile Ntamack, claim that the Wallabies are a better team that the All Blacks.

But any French rugby aficionado will tell you that there is no team they would rather beat than the men in black, so the questions going into the Sydney test is simple.

Will the French repeat their documented history, and arrive on the turf on ANZ stadium with no mental edge after performing in a big match?  Have they already exceeded their expectations on this tour?  Will the sight of Gold jerseys opposite them inspire them as does the grim pallor of black?

For all and sundry, we hope that the same France that tore into New Zealand executes the same ferocity on the Wallabies.  It will benefit all parties if this is the case.

Les Bleus will, if they win, return home with an Australasian slam, something very few if any Northern teams could ever hope to achieve.  It will also be the turning of the proverbial corner for Marc Lievremont, who has still to convince as a saviour of French running rugby.

The Wallabies though, whatever the result, will be able to be far more thoroughly assessed by all concerned.  They have been untested in three matches so far, plain and simple. 

Even the All Blacks, who have had vulnerability revealed in the last month, may destroy any debate about their mixed form if their under strength team defeats Italy more handsomely than the Wallabies did.

Yet for no apparent reason, many are claiming that this Australian team is on the verge of greatness.  Perhaps they are, but results are the final caveat on such a statement.

The question of depth is disputable but for now irrelevant, because the Wallabies first XV appears to be the match of any team in world rugby.

In the backs, they are served by their twin foils of Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock.  Both men are on current form the best in the world, with perhaps only an Irish captain laying argument to the latter.

When Rocky Elsom returns from injury, they will have the former Leinster hard man and George Smith—easily two of the top five flankers in world rugby.

And of course, they have Deans, no doubt the most decorated domestic coach in world rugby, but still, both in his time as All Blacks assistant and as Wallabies head coach, still cannot lay claim to be a messiah at international level.

In 2009, surely as things stand, at least two out of the Tri Nations, Bledisloe or Grand Slam must be won.  Or otherwise the bubble may well and truly burst.

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