Eddie Jones' Wallabies World Cup prep in tatters after Pumas comeback win
The Wallabies’ World Cup preparations lay in tatters after a demoralising 34-31 Rugby Championship loss to Argentina in Sydney.
A last-gasp try to No.8 Juan Martin Gonzalez broke Australian hearts after recalled winger Mark Nawaqanitawase appeared to have saved the Wallabies’ blushes with a 95-metre intercept try with five minutes remaining on Saturday night.
A risky selection call from coach Eddie Jones hurt Australia badly as former Wallabies mentor Michael Cheika masterminded the historic Pumas victory at Commbank Stadium.
The stirring comeback win from 10-0 early, then 31-27 late, marked the first time Argentina have conquered Australia in successive Tests between the two nations.
The Pumas pumped the Wallabies 48-17 in San Juan last August before Dave Rennie was sacked as coach and replaced by Jones after an unsuccessful spring tour of Europe.
Now, though, Jones faces the grim prospect of taking the Wallabies to France for this year’s global showpiece without a win.
Unless Australia can rebound from Saturday night’s defeat and a 43-12 hammering at the hands of South Africa to open the Rugby Championship with success in either of their two looming Bledisloe Cup clashes with the All Blacks, Jones will be winless in his second coming as Wallabies coach heading to the World Cup.
Early on, Jones’ five team changes from last week’s pounding in Pretoria looked like being a masterstroke as Nawaqanitawase, powerhouse centre Samu Kerevi and giant lock Will Skelton all excelled to help the Wallabies to their 10-0 lead.
A quick tap and sharp footwork from Nawaqanitawase put Australia deep on the attack and, with the Pumas defence stretched, Quade Cooper found Kerevi lurking out wide and the centre’s inside ball was enough for Len Ikitau to dive over in the corner in the fourth minute.
But the try came at a huge cost, with Ikitau forced off shortly after with a shoulder injury sustained while scoring and sen t to hospital for scans.
His departure and having no outside backs on the bench forced the Wallabies into a reshuffle with Carter Gordon’s introduction at inside centre breaking up the potent Cooper-Kerevi midfield partnership.
The entire complexion of the match changed.
Suddenly the Wallabies attack was clunky and disjointed while Cooper and Gordon, two playmakers, defensively looked vulnerable alongside each other.
Gordon tried his heart out and was only denied a breakout try by a desperate ankle tap, but the 22-year-old was playing out of position in the biggest match of his life.
The Wallabies found themselves hanging on at halftime with a player down following the sin-binning of lock Richie Arnold for deliberately slowing the ball down.
The Pumas had fought their way back into the game through a try to fullback Emiliano Boffelli, who converted and added a penalty to leave the match evenly poised at 10-10 at the interval.
The visitors hit the front for the first time when hooker J ulian Montoya forced his way over five minutes into the second half before Wallabies halfback Nic White darted over to level the scores again.
When winger Mateo Carreras beat a fatiguing Dave Porecki to score out wide in the 68th minute, Argentina led 26-17.
But a Kerevi try, then Nawaqanitawase’s rousing solo effort had Wallabies fans in raptures before the Pumas snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
“To sum it up, gutted is probably one word that comes to mind,” said Wallabies captain James Slipper.
“We turned up and started playing some good rugby but we kept taking pressure off the Argentinians and they kept coming back.
“Ill discipline really hurt us tonight again – a yellow card and a couple of penalties put us at the wrong end of the field and you just can’t win Test matches playing that sort of rugby.
“There’s quite a few of us who have to look at those penalties and rectify them pretty quickly because performances like t hat, we won’t go far at the World Cup.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Crazy he’s only 28, feel like he’s been around forever - don’t mind the move, safe pair of hands and creates depth in a thin position for ABs. Hopefully aides Kemara’s growth also without thrusting too much responsibility on him
1 Go to commentsMen should show strength and be mean, but they should be able to show emotion to those close yo them in certain times, birth of your child, death of family, proud moment. This article is stupid
4 Go to commentsWhat a weak article…absolute drivel and clickbait, well done. Will stick to rugby365 thanks
4 Go to commentsHonest, discipline, humility… Priceless.
2 Go to commentsSo many excuses. No mention of the SA number 2 being taken out illegally in the 2nd minute. That act of foul play had a massive impact on the SA game. Face it, NZ play pretty dirty very regularly, and it’s only since 2016 they’ve been held to higher officiating standards via stricter officiating and TMO reviews. They deserved to have a man down. Sorry. Fix the yellow and red cards and NZ will win more RWCs. Plus, there WAS a knock on invalidating the one try, so it was NOT a try. Period. Here’s a Kleenex…
211 Go to commentsOverheard conversation between NZ and SA rugby fans everywhere: We’re the greatest! No! we’re the greatest! We’re the greatest! No we’re the greatest! Ireland are arrogant! True but they beat you! We’re the greatest! No! we’re the greatest! Etc. etc, etc.
23 Go to commentsTypical crap Aussie weather
11 Go to comments“If they’d have beaten England, I still feel we would have been talking ‘is this the best team ever,’ ‘is this the best team that’s ever played in the Six Nations'” he said. “I still think they’re not quite that good. I actually don’t think they’re that good.” So Trimble is saying he doesn’t think this is the best 6N team of all time. He is silent on if it is the best Irish team of all time. Can’t disagree with him. Just another misrepresentative clickbait headline from the guys at RP.
23 Go to commentsWow, do we really still have to listen to all the excuses and “unfairness” of it all. Even blaming the bounce of an egg shaped ball for the loss. But the article is about context, so what about the Springboks having to play the other 5 teams in the top 6 and still beating a comparatively rested AB team on a very empty tank.
211 Go to comments“Teams would generally have three coaches below their head honcho; attack coach, defence coach, forwards coach” do they? I’m not sure what the NZ set up is tbh, but the other 4 sides top 5 sides all have very different structures to the one outlined in the article! As well as attack, defence, and forwards coaches, SA, Ireland, and France also have specialist scrum coaches. England have a specialist scrum coach too, but arguably don’t have a forwards coach, with that role taken on by Borthwick. SA also have a backs coach in addition to defence and attack, and Ireland and England have fitness coaches, with England also having two skills coaches.
2 Go to commentsWorst article I've read in a while. Trying to disguise a backhand slap as a compliment. The whole article is a bit weird and negative. I think South African men are emotional in general… think Clad le Clos’s father 2012 London Olympics.
4 Go to commentsIreland are going to win the world cup.
23 Go to commentsIt was the strangest result ever. Etzebeth should've been yellow card for his cynical retiring move and a penalty try. Birth second half tries by the Allblacks were fantastic and the TMO operating outside the law to rule out the first try was egregious. Yes, the boks got the win but it was through some bizarre officiating that allowed them to sneak home against 14 men that dominated them. The quieter Bok supporters know and acknowledge the Allblacks were the better and dominant side. Justifying the win because they beat a pre world cup Allblacks selection is silly.
211 Go to commentsA very English thing to do hey Courtney, blerrie kant
4 Go to commentsIt sounds like Andrew is trying to convince himself or has just lost all perspective. The team did look jaded for the last couple of games of the six nations but a few things were wrong there. Italy tackled their hearts out and made Ireland work hard for every try. Outsmarted by Scotland? Huh? Ireland got held up over the line about 4 times. Scotland did nothing on attack the whole game other than one breakaway near the end. A recharge and reset is needed which they hopefully will have had before the SA your.
23 Go to commentsIncluding SA and Argie teams was great for the quality of rugby, but middle of the night games and player travel/ jet lag make that unworkable. I think that SA in Europe and Argie building an American league with USA, Canada etc would be better long term. If Oz can't sustain Rebels then next cab off the rank should be a Japanese team. Keep regional comps to time zones, both club and test rugby. Then existing test windows for test tours plus RWC.
7 Go to commentsMisogynists have feelings too!
4 Go to commentsCrowd sizes of the URC v the Premiership must be a big factor.
1 Go to commentsWell you’ve made a proper tit of yourself, haven’t you! 😂
173 Go to commentsBen it's beyond their comprehension-
211 Go to comments