Four straight losses just a month out from the Rugby World Cup are not ideal but some of the coach’s selections are coming up rosesSix years ago they had the All Blacks 17-0 down before being overrun and beaten 35-29. Last year in Melbourne they needed only to kick on time before a bizarre refereeing call and a New Zealand try on the siren denied them. On Saturday a fresh tale of misery: wasting a 14-0 lead inside eight minutes and 17-3 at half-time, to choke on bitter Bledisloe defeat again.The Wallabies truly are the heartbreak kids of Australian sport. Continue reading...
With a new captain at the helm for Saturday’s second Bledisloe Cup clash Australia’s coach says his team have an opportunity to continue their growth Rugby old-timers call it the hospital pass – “a pass made under pressure without considering the situation of the receiver, who is stationary and an easy target”. In the opening minutes of Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup opener, with New Zealand perched on Australia’s line, Tate McDermott was thrown a dangerously floating ball from the lineout that necessitated he raise his arms, expose his ribs, and catch the ball eye-high before readjusting to swivel it off his hips and get it to someone with half a hope of not being obliterated.One measly extra second was required but...
Australia’s coach can draw hope from a hot half hour at the MCG when they led the Bledisloe Cup Test but time is running out with the World Cup loomingPainful as Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup defeat was for the Wallabies, and frustrating as the Eddie Jones’s team were, they cannot afford to drop their heads. They must fly into Dunedin on Sunday and prepare for an All Blacks rematch on Saturday. Jones says they will “train on the plane” if they must. “Transforming a team from where they are now to a team that’s capable of beating New Zealand takes a lot of hard work. The clock’s ticking.”Ever louder for Jones himself. His grand reboot of Australian rugby is still in...
The coach likened his team to a Datsun 1200 after the loss to Argentina but there is still grounds for optimism before they face the All BlacksMichael Hooper arrived just in time to see the sticker-licker pin the parking ticket under his wiper. It was the captain’s run on the eve of the Test against Argentina but Australia’s co-captain hadn’t run at all. Days before, in the Wallabies’ 43-12 walloping by South Africa in Pretoria, the 125-Test legend had tweaked a calf. It meant on the final lap of his storied career, Hooper would miss a home game farewell. With a rueful smile at the ticket, he copped it sweet – again. When your luck is out, your luck is...
Smashed in the Rugby Championship opener, the Wallabies have hit early trouble in their 2023 World Cup quest. Yet their coach says it won’t take much to get his side ‘back in the money’Eddie Jones said he wanted a “robust performance” from his new-look Wallabies. He got an insipid debacle. He told media he had coached his men to play like “mongrel dogs”. He delivered a mob of mewling pussycats. He promised fans this week was the first step toward a “smash and grab” on rugby’s greatest prize. Instead, 62-days out from the World Cup, a season that promised so much has kicked off with disaster.After all the hoopla about Jones returning as the saviour of Australian rugby, his Wallabies...