Connolly: Australian teams are predictable
As New Zealand continues to set the pace with their imaginative and devastatingly accurate brand of rugby, the code in Australia is in a state of crisis after the worst ever weekend of Super Rugby results.
For the first time since 2005, no Australian team featured on the winners list.
The Brumbies, Reds, Rebels and Waratahs all suffered defeats against their rivals, while the Force lost to the Stormers.
The disappointing results follow Australia's horror series against England, as the Wallabies lost their first three Tests in a calendar year since 1971.
Connolly, who guided the Wallabies in 2006-07 and was one of Queensland's most successful coaches, believes Australia is suffocating itself with a predictable style of play.
"We're obsessed with ball-in-hand in Australia, but kicking is an important part of the game," Connolly told Fox Sports.
"New Zealand sides, and Canterbury [Crusaders] and Otago [Highlanders] particularly, kick more than any other side. They kick to attack as well, so they've got a complete game.
"We all want to see running rugby, but I think we need to mix it up."
The pre-Michael Cheika Waratahs — with Berrick Barnes at playmaker — were often booed for continually kicking away possession.
Cheika's arrival at Moore Park changed that.
And Connolly believes the reluctance to kick has made Australian rugby easy to read at both Super Rugby and Test level.
"If you know what the opposition is going to do all the time it becomes very predictable," Connolly said.
"The Force beat Michael Cheika's side three times when he coached New South Wales [NSW], so they knew what he was doing.
"Eddie Jones didn't do anything last month.
"All they did was tackle strongly in the midfield, knew where the opposition were coming, kicked their penalties and kicked for good field position.
The numbers show New Zealand's Super Rugby sides have scored 19 tries directly from kicks this season while Australia has registered only eight.
And New Zealand peppered Wales with twice as many bombs and chips compared with Australia, and three times as many grubber kicks.
"There's no doubt it starts with grassroots rugby," Connolly said.
"It starts in the school, moves through to the Under-20s program.
"Our U20s team has finished fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth [in the world] over the past four or five years.
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