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‘Eddie could pull this off’: Why the World Cup gives Aussies ‘hope’
Australia hasn’t won a Test all year, but a former Wallaby believes Eddie Jones “could pull this off” and take the underdogs to the semi-finals of the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
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When Rugby Australia made the decision to replace Dave Rennie with coach Jones in January, fans genuinely believed that that was the start of something positive.
Jones, 63, helped rugby return to mainstream sports headlines by reigniting the formerly fierce code war between rugby union and league. Change was coming, or so fans thought.
But at least on the scoreboard, the Wallabies have continued to struggle. After losing to France in their final World Cup warm-up Test last weekend, Australia are 0-5 under Jones.
The disastrous losing streak must have some fans feeling quite pessimistic ahead of rugby’s showpiece event, but others are taking the half-glass-full approach.
“Australia actually has the best group at the World Cup, you’re probably aware of that,” former Wallaby Greg Martin said on The Platform.
“As long as we can beat Fiji, and Georgia and Wales, even Australia should be able to beat them, (then) we’re in the quarters and we’ll play England and we might win that.
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“We could find ourselves in the semis, it’s possible! Eddie could pull this off.”
Wins continue to allude a young Wallabies outfit under coach Jones, but they are improving.
With a new captain in Will Skelton at the helm, and a promising halves duo of Tate McDermott and Carter Gordon, the Australians have shown plenty of fight, resilience and passion in the face of defeat.
Playing against World Cup favourites France at Stade de France on Sunday, the Wallabies were met with a simply incredible cheer as they made their way out onto the field.
But the fans weren’t there to see them, they were there for Les Bleus. The Wallabies attempted to silence the more than 80,000 in attendance early on, though, but failed to convert pressure into points.
Les Bleus made them pay and went on to register a comfortable 41-17 victory.
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But that Test is in the past. Looking ahead to their World Cup opener against Georgia and beyond, Martin spoke about the “beauty” of international rugby.
“You never know and that’s the beauty,” Martin added. “Footy, before it starts, offers hope to all of us.
“We can dream and we can believe that something strange could happen and it could.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Yes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
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