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Former Wallabies captain Phil Waugh predicts Australian clean sweep of Bledisloe Cup
Upset the All Blacks in the first-ever Bledisloe Cup match in Perth, and then win at Eden Park for the first time since 1986 to end Australia’s 17-year Bledisloe Cup drought.
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That’s the verdict from ex-Wallabies captain Phil Waugh, who has questioned the All Blacks’ status as the world’s premier side.
Speaking to Fox Sports, Waugh predicted an unlikely clean sweep from the Wallabies in their upcoming Bledisloe Cup series after the All Blacks struggled in their opening two fixtures of the year against Argentina, which ended in a 20-16 victory, and South Africa, which finished in a 16-all stalemate.
“Coming off that draw, they should have beaten the Springboks,” the 39-year-old said. “They should have closed out that game.”
The former Waratahs star said that losses to the Springboks and Ireland over the past year is further evidence that Steve Hansen’s men are in decline, and that the All Blacks’ last 80-minute performance came in their 40-12 thumping of the Wallabies in Sydney last year.
Subsequently, Waugh believes that the rest of the rugby world has caught up to the reigning back-to-back world champions less than two months’ out from the World Cup, labelling the All Blacks as “very beatable”.
“We go over to Perth and have a good win in Perth, and then we go to Eden Park and you beat the All Blacks for the first time since 1986,” the 79-test veteran said.
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“I know I’m sounding really optimistic here, but things turn around very quickly.
“You lose [Brodie] Retallick, who’s probably their most dominant forward. They’ve put Richie Mo’unga in at 10, Beauden Barrett’s gone back to 15, so you actually go, ‘well, all of a sudden, there’s a few different combinations there for the All Blacks, too’.
“They haven’t got the settled look, without Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith.”
Waugh’s criticism of the All Blacks didn’t stop there, as he predicted the New Zealanders wouldn’t be able to retain their world title, attributing that to the tinkering of the halves combo between Aaron Smith, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga.
Smith and Barrett started the Pumas test at halfback and first-five, but Smith was dropped to the bench in place of Perenara for the Springboks clash, while Barrett was shifted to fullback to make way for Mo’unga in the No 10 jersey.
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“If you go through World Cup history, to win, your nine and 10 really need to click, and you go right back to 1987, when it was [David] Kirk and Grant Fox,” Waugh said.
“You need to have a really good combination at nine and 10, and that’s probably a little undecided at the moment.”
The Wallabies, meanwhile, were thumped 35-17 in an unconvincing display against the Springboks at Ellis Park in their first clash of 2019, and followed that up with a scratchy 16-10 win over Argentina in Brisbane a week-and-a-half ago.
Australia haven’t won the Bledisloe Cup since 2002, and have won only eight tests of the 47 played between the trans-Tasman rivals since then.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments