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Axed 12 months ago, Harry Wilson makes Wallabies admission

By AAP
Harry Wilson of the Wallabies (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

Harry Wilson is determined to hold his ground after sealing his whirlwind international revival with a last-gasp win on his Wallabies captaincy debut in Argentina.

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The Queensland Reds favourite was tremendous at No.8 in La Plata on Sunday morning (AEST), denting the line and making a desperate tackle to thwart a try in their after-the-siren 20-19 defeat of Los Pumas.

A year earlier Wilson, who fell out of Wallabies favour after a breakout 2020 Test campaign, was best on ground for club side Brothers in their Brisbane grand final.

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Siya Kolisi says the win was written in the stars

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Siya Kolisi says the win was written in the stars

Not part of Eddie Jones’ World Cup plans, Wilson then enjoyed a European tour with the Barbarians and dominated for the Reds under new coach Les Kiss.

A broken arm cut his Super Rugby season short but, once fit, new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt brought him straight back to face South Africa and then anointed him as the fourth captain in his six Tests in charge.

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“It feels amazing, pretty special to be sitting here right now,” Wilson said.

The loose forward relished the unlikely premiership a year ago, alongside brother Will who was gunning for back-to-back titles in a stacked Brothers side just hours later at Ballymore on Sunday.

In a canny coincidence centre Hamish Stewart, who made his Wallabies debut on Sunday, was also part of that Brothers side last year.

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“This time last year having the coolest time of my life paying with Brothers and winning that premiership, but to be sitting here after a Wallabies win,” Wilson reflected.

“It’s a pinch yourself moment … I worked hard to get back here and I want to keep building and this is where I want to stay.”

Schmidt had been pleased by Wilson’s lead-by-example approach, demonstrated when his late tackle attempt on opposite number Juan Martin Gonzalez spoiled what looked a certain, match-winning try.

In wet conditions his trademark expansive play had to be shelves, he and his fellow forwards able to play in tight and slowly wear down the hosts.

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The teams will play each other again next weekend but the coach hinted his men might toast their Sunday triumph, Wilson no doubt keeping one eye on proceedings at Ballymore.

“I don’t know what they’ll be doing but I’ll be having a wine, might even have a couple of beers tonight,” Schmidt said.

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Nickers 3 hours ago
Why the All Blacks overlooking Joe Schmidt could yet hurt them in the Bledisloe battle

I've never understood why Razor stayed on in NZ after winning 3 SR titles in a row. Surely at that point it's time to look for the next thing, which at that stage of his career should not have been the ABs, and arguably still shouldn't be given his lack of experience in International rugby. What was gained by staying on at the Crusaders to win 4 more titles?


2 years in the premiership, 2 years as an assistant international coach, then 4 years taking a team through a WC cycle would have given him what he needed to be the best ABs coach. As it is he is learning on the job, and his inexperience shows even more when he surrounds himself with assistant coaches who have no top international experience either.


He is being faced with extreme adversity and pressure now, possibly for the first time in his coaching career. Maybe he will come through well and maybe he won't, but the point is the coaching selection process is so flawed that he is doing it for the first time while in arguably the top coaching job in world rugby. It's like your first job out of university being the CEO of Microsoft or Google.


There was talk of him going to England if the ABs didn't get him, that would have been perfect in my opinion. That is a super high pressure environment and NZR would have been way better off letting him learn the trade with someone else's team. I predicted when Razor was appointed that he would be axed or resign after 2 years then go on to have a lot of success in his next appointment. I hope that doesn't happen because it will mean a lot of turmoil for the ABs, but it's not unthinkable. Many of his moves so far look exactly like the early days of Foster's era when he too was flanked by coaches who were not up to the job. I would like to see some combination of Cotter, Joseph, Brown, and Felix Jones come into the set up.

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