Teaching the Cat to Sit by Michelle Theall

She has appeared on NBC Today, MSNBC, The Travel Channel, and the Fox Sports Network, and was recently featured in O, The Oprah Magazine. Over the next 28 years, she garnered success as editor-in-chief of three different national titles, founder of one, and the author of three non-fiction books. It's difficult to find opportunities against the All Blacks, but there was a rumour of one there.Alaska magazine editor since 2013, Michelle Theall, started her career in publishing in 1994 at Women's Sports and Fitness magazine. The Wallabies do not have an openside/No.8 combination as strong as the French (Thierry Dusautoir and Louis Picamoles were giants), but the timing of the All Blacks to clean out the jackal was a little off.

Throughout the 3-0 series win in June, the sight of a Frenchman immovably positioned over attacking All Blacks ball became familiar. Remarkably, the All Blacks have lost the breakdown in at least three of their four previous Tests, going back to the loss at Twickenham late last year. Go back through the team lists around the turn of the century and it is not the expressive talents of the Wallabies back line that catch the eye – it's John Eales/Justin Harrison/David Giffin against Norm Maxwell/Troy Flavell/Chris Jack/Todd Blackadder in the second row. It's a strategy that harks back to happier days, although the current All Blacks present a much narrower target than when the Wallabies were in the ascendancy. In addition, Matt Toomua is a No.10 who sets good targets for his tight five. He has signalled that intention by picking a second-rower at No.6 and sacrificing some physicality to put Rob Simmons in beside James Horwill. McKenzie will go after the All Blacks aerially. The All Blacks are quite happy to turn teams around and back their lineout, although Carter's missing left boot is a relief to Jesse Mogg and Israel Folau – any space the All Blacks find between between the fullback and the right winger has the potential to cause problems: on his right side, Mogg's kicking game is on par with Liam Gill's. Ma'a Nonu produced one grubber with his left foot that bordered on the dainty. It is not just the usual suspects at No.9, No.10 (Aaron Cruden played the first and second Tests) and No.15 who have been prominent in this area. The week before, in Auckland, perhaps operating in Super Rugby rather than Test match mode, a greater devotion to ball-in-hand play yielded their skinniest return (23 points) of the three Tests. In fact, the game in which the All Blacks scored the most points – the 30-0 second Test win against the French in Christchurch – was the game in which they kicked the most. The last point is a suitable place to begin as it is the single trend that is probably the most pronounced. Not just the usual suspects: Ma’a Nonu of the All Blacks during the Test against France in June.

Teaching the Cat to Sit by Michelle Theall