1
Battle lines are drawn ahead of England's Wallabies test
England head coach Eddie Jones has begun the countdown to next week’s Twickenham Test against his native Australia in typically robust manner.
ADVERTISEMENT
Since the former Wallabies and Japan head coach switched allegiance to England following the 2015 World Cup his adopted country has recorded seven consecutive wins over his former team.
The most recent of these took the form of an emphatic 40-16 success in the 2019 World Cup quarter-final, and Jones is keen to extend the winning sequence against the below-strength tourists.
Dave Rennie’s Wallabies conceded plenty of penalties during yesterday’s narrow defeat against Scotland at Murrayfield, with retirement-bound French official Romain Poite in particular finding regular fault with a front row badly disrupted by injury.
And Jones was quick to probe the refereeing angle during his most recent press conference when he responded to a question about what he expected from Australia by heaping praise on next Saturday’s referee Jaco Peyper.
“The breakdown against Australia is going to be brutal,” he said. “Rennie’s teams are always renowned for being exceptional at the breakdown, so we are lucky we have got the best referee in the world next Saturday in Jaco Peyper, who is particularly very good in that breakdown area. We are going to get a great contest.”
BREAKING: Owen Farrell is set to rejoin camp ?#EnglandRugby https://t.co/ArEy69RbUQ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 7, 2021
An Australian side already without three key Japan-based players, including influential midfielders Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi, now face a six-day turnaround before facing England where head coach Dave Rennie believes they will need to find significant performance improvement.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We defended really well, we created multiple turnovers when Scotland had a lot of possession, hence the reason the score was close,” he said. “We’ve got more in us. We certainly need to be a lot better and we need to be a lot better against England.”
“We didn’t play anywhere near as well as we’d like to. We’ve got to be able to build pressure for longer, and we got pinged (penalised) a bit in possession for cleaning out and various other things – we’ve got to make some shifts there.”
England will be boosted by the return of captain Owen Farrell whose Friday COVID-19 test result has been confirmed as a false positive.
Bath flanker Sam Underhill left the field at half-time during last weekend’s win over Tonga but otherwise Jones has few fitness concerns away from his long-term absentee list.
ADVERTISEMENT
By contrast Australia left Edinburgh with a few concerns. Jordan Petaia is expected to miss the rest of the tour following a hamstring injury while giant tight-head Taniela Tupou left the field with concussion.
This loss began the Wallaby’s scrum concerns, and unsurprisingly Rennie is hoping the 135kg prop is able to line up at Twickenham.
“He’s fine at the moment, so he’s got enough time to be available for next week, but obviously he has to go through fair protocols and find out later in the week if he’s available, Australia’s head coach said.”
Rennie declined to make a public comment on his side’s scrum issues against Scotland.
“I thought it was a bit of a mess,” he said. “We’ll feed back directly to the referees. It’s a tough area to adjudicate – as happens every week around scrum, obviously didn’t agree with a number of the decisions.”
Eddie Jones wants to keep flyhalf Marcus Smith grounded. #ENGvAUS https://t.co/0e6dSfkK4g
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 8, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Says much about the player picking this gig over the easier and bigger rewards offered to him in Japan. Also says a lot about the state sanctioned tax benefits the Irish Revenue offers pro rugby players, with their ten highest earning years subject to an additional 40% tax relief and paid as a lump sum, in cash, at retirement. Certainly helps Leinster line up the financial ducks in a row to fund marquee signings like this!!! No other union anywhere in world rugby benefits from this kind of lucrative financial sponsorship from their government…
2 Go to commentsTrue Jordie could earn a lot more in Japan. But by choosing Leinster he’ll be playing with 1 of the best clubs in the world and can win a champions cup and URC…..
6 Go to commentsThanks for that Marshy, noticed you didn't say who is gonna win it. We know who ain't gonna win it - your Crusaders outfit. They've gone from having arguably the best Super Rugby first five ever, to having a clutch of rookies. Hurricanes all the way!
1 Go to commentsGeez you really have to question the NRLs ability to produce players of quality. Its pathetic. Dont the 25mil in Aus produce enough quality womens players. Sad.
1 Go to commentsBulls fan here, and agree 100% with the conclusion (and little else) of this article. SA sides should absolutely f-off from the champs cup until we get fair scheduling, equal support for travel arrangements and home semis. You know, like all the european teams get.
23 Go to commentsI’m yet to see why Grace would be an ABs contender. He’s pedestrian and lacks the dominance required of a top flight 8.
10 Go to commentsGee my Highlanders were terrible. They have gone backwards since the start of the season. The trouble began when we left Millar behind to prep as the 10 against the Brumbies and he was disconnected from the team that came back from Aussie. We rested Patchell for that game and we blew an avalanche of ball in good attacking positions in the 1st half. Against the Rebels we seem to of gone into a pod system with forwards hanging off from the breakdown leaving Fakatava to secure our ball!
78 Go to commentsPot Kettle, the English and French teams have done it for years.
23 Go to commentsHas virtually played every minute of previous games. Back row of Li Lo Willie , Grace and Blackadder would be the 1. Crusaders issue is a very average 1st 5 who cannot run. Kicking in general play is also below par They need to put Yong Kemara in. He must have so.e talent for them to bring him down from Waikato. Hoehepa would struggle to play in so.e club sided
10 Go to commentsI hope this a good thing making all these changes!
2 Go to commentsThe Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
3 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
3 Go to commentsIs Barrett going play full back??? They already have all the centers…
16 Go to commentsForgive my ignorance, I might not fully understand so would appreciate clarification: Didn’t the Bulls have to fly with three different carriers, paid for by the South African Rugby Union, whilst Edinburgh got a chartered flight sponsored by EPCR? Also, as far as I understand it South African teams don’t yet share in the revenue from the competition and are not allowed to host Semi-finals or Finals at home. Surely if everyone wants South Africans to “take the competition seriously” then they must make South Africans feel welcome, allow them to share in the revenue, and give them the same levels of access as the teams from the other countries. Just a reminder that South Africa has a large and passionate Rugby audience. Just by virtue of our teams being a part of these competitions means that more of us are likely to watch the knockout games, even if our teams haven’t qualified. It would be silly to alienate such a large audience by making them feel unwelcome.
23 Go to commentsFirst of all. This guy is very much behind the curve. All the bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning took place days ago already. Not adding anything to the topic other than more bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning. 🍼 Second of all, not one mention of the fact that South African teams can’t get home semi finals or finals. The tournament was undermined and devalued by the administrators. 🤡 Thirdly, football teams often have to juggle selections in mid week games, premier games, champions league games etc. and will from time to time prioritize certain titles over others. 🐒 And lastly FEK Neil, and anyone else for that matter, for insisting on telling teams how to manage themselves. If they make what is largely a business decision that suits them and doesn’t suit you - tough shite. 💩 It’s not rocket science as to why the Bulls did what they did. If this guy is too slow to figure it out (and is deliberately not mentioning one of the key reasons why) then he isn’t a journalist. He should join the rest of us pundit plebs in comments section. 🥴
23 Go to commentsSo the first door to knock on Rob is Parliament followed by HMRC. The Irish Revenue deliver a 40% tax relief rebate on the HIGHEST EARNING TEN YEARS of every pro Irish rugby players contract earnings at retirement. That goes a long way to both retaining their best talent and freeing up wages for marquee players. Who knows, if that had been in place in the UK, you might not have been able to poach Hoggy and Jonny Gray from Glasgow…!!!
3 Go to comments