Gregor Paul: Please, anyone but the Wallabies

The Wallabies' lack of humility makes them hard to like. Photo / Dean Purcell

Let's be honest - it would just about be vomit-inducing seeing James Horwill lift the World Cup.

No offence to Horwill who seems a decent enough sort of bloke, but he's captain of a team that must be about the hardest to like since Will Carling's England of the early 1990s.

This is a Wallaby team with inordinate talent; a team that can play rugby for sure. They trust their skills, see space all over the field and they are brave and accurate.

Yet they miss that vital ingredient - humility. It just doesn't appear to be there and any team without it can never capture the hearts and minds of a rugby public which has always been drawn to the quiet, dignified types.

How could anyone feel good about the way Quade Cooper has openly chased Richie McCaw from Hong Kong to Auckland to Brisbane - desperate to land his cheap shots and make whatever point he is trying to make?

Cooper has been happy to play the pantomime villain while he's been here. He's accepted he is going to be cast in that role and almost embraced it.

He gives the impression that if he laps it up, refuses to bite, it will lose its appeal soon enough.

No chance. No one is going to forget that sly knee to McCaw's head - the nastiness and needlessness of it and while the judiciary may have seen it as accidental about four million others could see the intent.

No one will forget, either, the over-the-top victory celebrations in Hong Kong. Strangely the Wallabies had been gracious in their previous 10 consecutive defeats yet were the most abominable winners - worse than the US Ryder Cup team of 1999.

Their relief and elation was understandable to finally break such a long losing streak - but leave the all-out man-love to soccer players. Rugby's ways are different - the losers should never be humiliated; have victory flaunted in their faces like that.

The All Blacks had always observed protocol after their victories and even though they had every reason to shove it down Australia's throats, they never did. Nor did they ever take the next game for granted - they were always mindful of Australia's threat, knew that the battle would be fierce.

After Hong Kong the Wallabies talked like they had found the secret to eternal life. In the build-up to the first Bledisloe Cup clash of 2011 they barely mentioned the All Blacks - all we heard was that they felt they could beat anyone.

Maybe in time this Wallaby team will mature and lose some of that abrasive arrogant edge they carry. But that's not going to happen ahead of this weekend. They have committed the two cardinal sins of failing to show any humility or respect and so if it can't be McCaw lifting the Webb Ellis Cup, please let it be Sam Warburton or Thierry Dusautoir.

The Welsh are young and talented like Australia - but don't have that same brash, over-confidence. They are a team that is easy to like and admire.

So are the French - throughout their long and colourful rivalry with the All Blacks, les Blues have never had anything other than the deepest respect for their opponent and the game.

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