The Australian conference's struggles in Super rugby have alarm bells ringing Down Under, where media pundits have condemned the country's lack of playing depth in a World Cup year. Halfway through the season, four of Australia's teams - including reigning champion the New South Wales Waratahs - are mired in the bottom six of the 15-team competition.The fifth, Canberra-based ACT Brumbies, are second, but battling to hold ground against New Zealand and South African rivals amid a mounting injury toll.The conference's solid performance last season, when the Waratahs broke through for their maiden title and the Brumbies reached the semifinals, was hailed as a sign of the increasing depth of Australian rugby.Those achievements have been quickly forgotten, with the Melbourne Rebels, Queensland Reds and Western Force conjuring a total of five wins between them from the opening nine rounds."The Australian teams are fielding too many players who are well short of the required standard, which has led to a drop in match quality and crowd interest," rugby writer Greg Growden says in a column for ESPN."[Australian Rugby Union] officials will remain bunkered down though, desperately praying the second half of the competition is better than the first."The 10th-placed Waratahs' title defence rests on a knife edge after their 32-18 trouncing by the Stormers at home.Last year, the Perth-based Western Force toasted their best season since joining the competition in 2006 but have been rudderless without captain Matt Hodgson.The 2011 champions Queensland Reds were tipped to be the big improvers in Australia, but lost marquee signing Karmichael Hunt to a six-week ban for a cocaine drug charge at the start of the season and have reaped little mileage out of their other high-profile recruit, James O'Connor.The Australian teams' travails bode poorly for the Wallabies' World Cup campaign in England, where they face a tough ask just to advance to the knockout rounds from a pool including the hosts and Wales.The competition will be further expanded to 18 teams next year with the addition of Argentine and Japanese franchises and another South African side.This will coincide with a massive talent drain, as established national players take up far more lucrative contracts in Europe and Japan after the World Cup...