Opinion
Jones’ young and underdone Wallabies now have a World Cup target on them
Paul Cully
Rugby columnistRugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh threw the Wallabies under the bus this week.
In a radio interview with SEN, Waugh said that a failure to get past Argentina or England in a World Cup quarter-final would be “disappointing”.
He just gave Michael Cheika or Steve Borthwick their team talk if that quarterfinal match-up eventuates. You can bet that either coach will dig up that quote and tell their players, “these blokes think you’re just a speed bump”.
Do not underestimate the effectiveness — or frequency — of such team talks. Coaches and players scan the media for perceived signs of disrespect, and milk them for all they’re worth.
It’s not clear if Waugh was privy to Eddie Jones’ Rugby World Cup squad when he made his remarks, but the semi-finals as a pass mark now looks like a high bar.
Jones had teased a “new era” for Australian rugby in Dunedin last week, but no one thought he was going to go as far as he did in Darwin on Thursday.
Wallabies captain Will Skelton has plenty to catch up on when it comes to captaining a national side.Credit: Getty
It’s a very young squad, with a new captain in Will Skelton who is going to have to quickly establish relationships with Test referees — a rapport other captains have been building for years.
But there is another aspect of this squad that is a concern: the number of players who just haven’t played any, or many, quality minutes in months.
Ben Donaldson, Lalakai Foketi, Langi Gleeson and Max Jorgensen simply haven’t played. Rob Leota and Taniela Tupou are coming back from long layoffs, and to a lesser extent it’s a similar story with Angus Bell, Matt Philip and Samu Kerevi.
Players like Josh Kemeny, Blake Schoupp, Izaia Perese, Zane Nonggorr, Matt Faessler, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa and even Suliasi Vunivalu saw little or no action during the Rugby Championship.
The lone five-eighth named in Eddie Jones’ squad, Carter Gordon, has shown plenty of hunger in his brief Test career.Credit: Getty
And in Dunedin last week, Jones revealed that Jordan Uelese’s knee has a habit of popping out — due to a previous ACL injury — as happened in the warm-up before the second All Blacks Test.
Throw in Dave Porecki’s most recent injury issue, and half the squad is either coming back from injury and/or short of game time.
That’s a very high percentage, and doesn’t take into account Allan Alaalatoa’s season-ending injury, Len Ikitau’s shoulder, Quade Cooper’s Achilles, or Michael Hooper’s calf — all of which surely counted against them.
Wales coach Warren Gatland will be paying close attention to this Wallabies squad and 100 per cent believes he’ll beat them when the Pool C rivals meet on September 25 (AEST).
After watching his young Welsh side beat England last week, the ‘old’ Gatland was back, taunting England about their lack of fitness. RWC organisers could probably sell tickets for Jones v Gatland if the veteran coaches decide to go at each other in France.
But, there is now a real sense that the defining game of the Wallabies’ Rugby World Cup campaign will take place against Fiji on September 17.
The Fijians themselves are not the most experienced side — they surprisingly omitted Ben Volavola from their squad — but their large contingent of Drua players know their Australian opponents well, and they won’t hold any fears.
It also has to be remembered that for Wales and Fiji, there would be significant cachet in beating the Wallabies, a brand whose lustre has probably faded more in Australia than overseas.
Undoubtedly, there are some exciting parts of the Wallabies squad. Fraser McReight has made big strides this year. Even when he was effectively bullied off the ball by Los Pumas in Sydney, he came back strongly against New Zealand in Dunedin. Tate McDermott, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Tom Hooper, Carter Gordon — they are all exciting prospects who have shown excellent levels of hunger and the desire to get better.
But the heavy emphasis on youth will expose players to the pressure of a Rugby World Cup. The way the squad is constructed, for example, means that Donaldson may have to close out some big games. Recency bias means that Cooper’s knock-on against the All Blacks last week is getting plenty of air time, rather than his nerveless kick to win the Test against the Springboks on the Gold Coast in 2021.
Throw in the ‘underdone’ factor, with so many players entering the tournament with no real form lines, and the size of the Wallabies’ task is apparent. They are heading for a tour of France full of mountain stages.
Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Every match ad-free, live and on demand in 4K UHD from September 9.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.