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.
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.
“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.
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Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, 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.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 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.
4 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
4 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 comments