After an improvement by Australian Super Rugby sides, Dave Rennie’s squad convenes fitter, faster and more experiencedDave Rennie’s 35-man squad for the showdown against England in July is short on surprises, long on experience and big on second chances – both given and dangled. Boasting size, speed and versatility, it’s a squad with a triple purpose: beat Eddie Jones’s men in the three-Test series starting on 2 July, hone the starting XV while winning the 11 Tests to follow against tier-one nations, and send a warning shot to the world saying the Wallabies are settled, poised and potent enough to win the Webb Ellis trophy a third time.With a 40% win record from his 20 Tests, Rennie knows the time...
Eddie Jones’s side are coming and Australian rugby is crying out for a national team with heart, brains and mongrelThere is something in the air at Rugby HQ and for once it isn’t panic. It smells, dangerously, like hope. The Australia-England three-Test series is less than a month away and Eddie Jones’s side are coming off another dud Six Nations tournament (two wins, three defeats). The coach is facing widespread calls to be sacked and his squad is missing powerhouse centres Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade to injury.That’s quite a bit of blood in the water. But will Dave Rennie’s team have the teeth to rip in and win? Although the Wallabies won five straight last season against South Africa,...
New recruit looked comfortable in his third international and may turn out to be the perfect foil for Owen FarrellFor a few precious seconds before the start it felt as if Marcus Smith had Twickenham all to himself. Alone on the halfway line, with England lined up behind him, Australia spread out in front, he bounced the ball up and down while the referee paced around and counted down the last few seconds before kick-off.Smith looked pretty sure of himself down there under the bright lights, the hardest 80 minutes he has ever played stretching out ahead of him. If he had noticed the 82,000 fans gathered around, hanging on his next step, one would never have guessed it from...
The coach has named a strong, pacy side to take on his native country but can he get Owen Farrell and Marcus Smith to gel?If there is one nation Eddie Jones hugely enjoys pitting his wits against it is his native Australia. There are good reasons why England have beaten the Wallabies seven times in succession since 2016 and high on the list is Jones’s instinctive grasp, both psychologically and selectorially, of which specific buttons to push.Not only does he understand exactly how the Aussies feel when they catch a glimpse of a white shirt but he also knows what they hate most about playing the Poms. Hence the announcement of an England side with Marcus Smith at No 10,...
Clinging to the concept of survival of the fittest could bring the game to its knees, even in areas once thought to be strongestFuture historians will pinpoint the past few days as the moment global rugby union came face to face with stark reality. Like an iceberg few imagined would ever melt, huge cracks and fissures are threatening to widen and cause a ripple effect even in places where the sport is theoretically supposed to be strongest.It is not so much the inevitable postponement of all this July’s Tests, with the severe financial pain that entails, that is the giveaway. Nor is it the sight of players still jogging around in small groups, uncertain when the government will permit a...