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Aussie media tear Wallabies to threads in wake of Fiji loss
The Wallabies have been ripped a new one by their native media outlets following their upset loss to Fiji in Pool C of the Rugby World Cup.
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The Flying Fijians ran out 22-15 victors over Eddie Jones Wallabies in St-Etienne, their first win over the Aussies in nearly 70 years of Test rugby.
The Wallabies have the youngest squad at the World Cup, with Jones overlooking the likes of long-time captain Michael Hooper and veteran playmakers Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley.
Their game plan fell apart without injured heavy-hitters, lock and skipper Will Skelton and prop Taniela Tupou with a telling 18-7 penalty count as the team struggled at the breakdown.
Christy Doran writing in his player ratings in The Roar, stated: “The Wallabies’ worst fears have been realised. Eddie Jones’ men must beat Wales in Lyon next weekend or risk becoming the first Australian side to miss the quarter-finals…”
“Without Will Skelton and Taniela Tupou, Jones’ men were smashed in the contact zone by the Fijians and were consequently annihilated at the breakdown, leading to the Wallabies giving away 18 penalties.”
Peter FitzSimons conceded that the win was a great result for the World Cup in The Sydney Morning Herald.
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“As devastating as it is for the Wallabies, it is a great result for world rugby and this World Cup. The Fijian victory over England a month ago was no fluke. They are a great and superbly coached side who have now, officially, arrived on the world stage. Let the word go forth: Rugby World Cups are no longer a matter of the Six Nations sides, plus South Africa, New Zealand and Australia – with the rest making up the numbers. On their day, you feel like the Fijians could beat just about any side.
“Where to from here for the Wallabies? All is not lost, just close. It will all come down to beating Wales next week in Lyon so well that the Welsh don’t get bonus points. A good Welsh thumping will see the Wallabies get through the group stage intact. Hopefully, Will Skelton and Taniela Tupou will be back for that match, but I agree with Hoiles – right now the team is crying out for more experience. We are the youngest team in the entire World Cup and, while the hope was that would give us so much youthful energy and the other teams wouldn’t be able to cope, it ain’t working. Nothing is working.”
Julian Linden didn’t spare them in The Australian: “The Wallabies’ Rugby World Cup campaign is already on life support after a humiliating 22-15 loss to Fiji early on Monday morning. The Wallabies have suffered some embarrassing defeats over the years but few as painful and gut-wrenching as the nightmare that unfolded in St Etienne.
“Take nothing away from the Pacific Islanders, they fully deserved their historic win, but the Australians only have themselves to blame for their first loss to Fiji since 1954- before birth control pills and commercial jetliners were approved. Eddie Jones has talked a big game since he was reappointed as head coach at the start of 2023 but when the pressure was applied his Wallabies folded in a heap.
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“Now the board of Rugby Australia — which sacked Dave Rennie and appointed Jones as the team’s saviour — has some explaining to do because this was an unmitigated disaster that the struggling code may never recover from. The Wallabies are now facing the mortifying prospect of failing to make it out of the group stage for the first time ever at a World Cup.”
The British press weren’t much gentler. Ben Coles, writing in The Telegraph, said Fiji were “comprehensively the better side, a sign not only of their remarkable growth in a short space of time this year under Simon Raiwalui but also how far the Wallabies have dramatically fallen.
“The most shocking thing about the game was how normal it all felt.”
additional reporting AAP
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
14 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
14 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
14 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
2 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
135 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
14 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
14 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
135 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
135 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
6 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
135 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
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