Last Saturday saw the start of the Wallabies 2010 international season; the season I wait all year for!

I was a little scared when sitting down to watch the match because we were fielding a relatively young and inexperienced team with only one player over 30 years of age. Who knew how they would perform and if we could beat Fiji – the first test of the season. More importantly would the team answer its critics, me being one of their biggest over the past several seasons.

From kick off and for much of the first half this young team took a while to settle and gel together with early unforced errors abounding. In saying that, our line outs are looking crisper and cleaner than they have been in past seasons, while still needing some polish.

There was a lot of dew on the ground which led to most of the aforementioned ball handling errors, however you can only use this excuse so many times before you have to start looking at the professionals playing the match. After all this is their 'day job'.

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will know that I was not particularly pleased with Giteau last season, he is meant to be one of the more experienced and level headed players in the team, setting an example for the younger 'newer' players. This is something that he certainly did not do last season, at least on the field anyway.

It will remain to be seen if he rises any higher in my books this season. On the field during Saturday's physical encounter with the Fijians he took some bone crunching tackles on board late in the first half and then again in the second half – maybe this is his penance for playing like crap last international season. Alas I digress.

This match was a relatively low scoring game that had the potential to turn into a try fest if either side really turned on, the 'on' switch. While the end score reflected a trouncing to the Wallabies at 49 to 3, I think this reflects the mammoth Fijian side needing a breather rather than the Wallabies finesse on the field.

Australians have always played a quick ball game and do not seem to be able to adapt their set plays to suit matches where their opposition slows the ball down. Some definite improvement is needed in this area if we are to pose any threat to future opponents.

The second half did see a lot more phases of play being put together by both teams however, while a man down on the field (one of three seperate occasions and 2 post match citations) the Fijian team were the only ones able to put together 16 phases of quality rugby. The wallabies took so long to materialise points on the board while the Fijians has a man in the sin bin, they left supporters (I refrain from using the word fan's at this stage of the season) wondering if they ever would score.

Considering that possession was pretty much 50/50 it is surprising that Fiji did not have more points on the board, however it remains to be seen if we can we still show this level of energy and try-scoring ability against the high calibre teams that we have coming up.

That will be the real test.

One last note.

True to form we had to contend with the irkesome trivial comments about the players private lives and not their on field ability from Gordon Brown. Unfortunately this annoying trait seems to also be rubbing off on Dan Crowley, who also commentates.

Therefore in honour of the type of commentating that seems to becoming the norm, let me waltz down that particular garden path as well:

One the most talked up players prior to the match was Waratah's flyhalf - Kurtley Beale. No doubt he had the potential to play a blinder however I think that his 'mo' distracted him, his teammates and the opposition.

Farewell until Wallabies V Ireland: 12 June 2010

(Australian Barbarians V England: 8 June 2010 – not on free to air TV)