Hooper sledges 'rugby nerd' while O'Connor makes successful Wallabies return
The Wallabies have won three in a row for the first time since 2017 after defeating Los Pumas 27-8 in Townsville on Saturday night.
Playing in their First Nations jersey, the Wallabies ran out to a crowd at Country Bank Stadium which had just witnessed a thrilling match between the All Blacks and Springboks, which had been decided by a late Jordie Barrett penalty.
Australia got off to a great start early on, with fullback Reece Hodge slicing his way through the Argentine defensive line en route to the opening score of the match in the fifth minute. Samu Kerevi and Andrew Kellaway also crossed for five-pointers for the home side during the match.
But the Wallabies could’ve all but taken complete control of the match late in the first half had it not been for a brain fade from scrumhalf Nic White.
With the hosts looking threatening deep inside the Argentine 22, the 31-year-old grounded the ball against the post. Under the old rules that would’ve been a great heads-up play from 31-year-old, but after World Rugby’s change to the law last year, it’s no longer a try.
The Wallabies have now clocked up three wins in a row. Who were their best performers in the crunch match with the Pumas? #Wallabies #LosPumas #AUSvARGhttps://t.co/Q4FrA0PX9Y
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 25, 2021
While the victory itself was definitely a talking point following the match, captain Michael Hooper couldn’t help but playfully sledge “rugby nerd” Nic White for his attempt at a score.
“He’s an absolute rugby nerd and then he goes and places it at the post,” Hooper said following the 27-8 win. “That rules been there for two years.
“I think I did it last year as well so I can’t really give him too much crap but he’ll definitely be kicking himself and I think so will the coaches, give us a rev up this week and make sure everyone in the squad knows it.”
The last time the Wallabies won at least three in a row was in 2017, when they actually went four matches unbeaten. After a draw against South Africa in Bloemfontein, the Wallabies went on to record wins against Argentina, New Zealand, Japan and Wales.
It’s a great result for Australia, who drew three matches last year, including both of their two tests against Los Pumas.
“We’re really pleased to get the win. We drew these games last year so really pleasing for us to take a step forward,” Hooper said.
“Argentina can be a really dangerous team so I think we came out of the block really well there today, everyone pulling their strings a bit.
“I think we let them back in the game a little bit there with some ill-discipline and we didn’t execute our maul that great. I think we could’ve put them to the sword a few times and we let that slip.
“Definitely some stuff to work on as we continue in our journey.”
'I don’t know if it was Rugby Australia, SANZAAR or whatever, but it’s just disrespectful' ?#AUSvARG #RugbyChampionship https://t.co/k2LR4lQnla
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 25, 2021
Much like his captain, Coach Dave Rennie was also “happy to win” the test against Los Pumas but did also mention how he was left frustration at times by his side.
“We worked really hard in the first half to put ourselves in a strong position,” Rennie said. “Probably a bit of frustration from us that we had a lot of opportunities late to put them out of the game and didn’t do the obvious, just got to throw one more pass.
“There was a bit of frustration around that but we worked hard, we had to sustain a lot of pressure sort of 20-minutes after half-time.
“So I guess mixed emotions. Happy to win but we need to be better.”
While the three wins in a row are a big indication of the improvement that the Wallabies are making, the successful return of James O’Connor was also no doubt a major boost to the side.
O’Connor was subbed on alongside Reds teammate Tate McDermott with just over 20-minutes to play, and the 31-year-old made an almost immediate impact on the scoreboard with a penalty shortly after.
The replacement finished the night with five points to his name after converting a try to Andrew Kellaway – who’s well and truly in a rich vein of form at the moment. O’Connor actually set up that try after taking the ball to the line, before throwing an inside pop pass to the winger.
?? A great night out in the Ville!#Wallabies #TRC2021 #AUSvARG @eToroAU @CadburyAU pic.twitter.com/gDDxKI0sRt
— Wallabies (@wallabies) September 25, 2021
As Rennie mentioned after the match, the player known as “Rabs” will undoubtedly take plenty of confidence from the match after missing out on other tests through injury.
“Obviously great for Rabs to be back out there, be back in the test arena. He’s missed out on every test this year through injury so he’ll take a bit of confidence out of that.
“Obviously his combination with Tate at the Reds is the reason we put them both on together.
“We’ll review as we do and we’ll make some decisions around selection. I know he’s just excited to be back in the fold.”
The Wallabies could potentially make it four wins in a row when they face Los Pumas for the second time in Round Six of the Rugby Championship this weekend coming. The final round of the competition will return to the Gold Coast.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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!
3 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 …
30 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.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments