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How ‘cut-throat’ Wallabies sparked hope for Australia’s rugby revival

Max Jorgensen of Australia celebrates scoring his team's fifth and winning try with teammates Tom Wright, Fraser McReight and Tate McDermott of Australia during the Autumn Nations Series 2025 match between England and Australia at Allianz Stadium on November 09, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Rugby World Cup winner Matt Burke has opened up on how a “cut-throat” Wallabies outfit was able to recapture the attention of a nation during their four-Test Spring Tour. Australia shocked England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium and dominated Wales during their tour up north.

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Len Ikitau and Mex Jorgsesen combined in the 84th minute for a match-winning try down the left edge as the Wallabies stunned Steve Borthwick’s England 42-37 in early November. It was an inspiring result that left Australian sports fans daring to dream of a potential grand slam.

The Wallabies backed up that performance with an emphatic 52-20 win over Warren Gatland’s Wales, who went on to finish the calendar year without a single victory. With two wins from two starts, there was a bit of a buzz about rugby union in Australia before another decisive Test.

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Australia and Scotland have played out a series of tightly-contested battles over the last decade, but unfortunately for the visitors, they wouldn’t repeat their heroics from 2022 by leaving Edinburgh’s iconic Murrayfield Stadium with a sought-after triumph.

After falling to Scotland, Australia’s international season came to a close with a three-point loss to world no. 2 Ireland in Dublin. But as Burke discussed, Australia was proud of the Wallabies’ performance up north, which sets the stage for the 2025 British and Irish Lions Series.

“It’s a bit different, isn’t it? This time last year it was two and four, or two and two I should say, two out of four,” Burke said on Sport Nation’s Scotty & Izzy. “There seems to be a little bit of a culture shift in amongst the team.

“About six weeks ago, seven weeks ago, I did an interview with Mike Cron who is obviously the forwards coach that Joe (Schmidt) brought across… he spoke very calmly, very succulently, and he basically said, ‘I had to take these guys back to go forward.’

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“It was the most intricate interview I’ve ever heard, and it was really interesting because he basically said, ‘I didn’t know these guys, I didn’t know their background… when I came from New Zealand… I knew their strengths and weaknesses.’

“I think the biggest difference is the forwards. You look at these guys now and they’re competing in those last four games in Europe.

“Scotland was a blowout… that was the old, ‘I think we’re going to win this game and yep it’s Scotland and oh my God what are they doing.’ They played well, they played good ball movement and that was the most disappointing part.

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“The exciting part was that finish of the England game and also putting to the throat the Welsh, finishing them off. Normally that would’ve been, for this team, a 30-20 game rather than the 50-20 game and I thought it was the most cut-throat I’ve seen them for a while.

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“In that last game against Ireland, you just need to be tough, don’t you? I think that’s what’s showed in that last tour, it’s pretty cool.”

Jorgensen’s try in the 84th minute against England will be replayed for years to come, with the youngster’s swan dive against the old foe speaking volumes about the significance of the score. You could see it on the faces of the players themselves, they had proved some doubters wrong.

Ikitau had thrown a pearler of a flick pass to send the winger flying down the left edge. As Jorgensen celebrated, Ikitau was embraced by new teammate Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii who received Player of the Match honours after a sensational debut in rugby union.

Suaalii is Rugby Australia’s marquee recruit ahead of the Lions Series and the Rugby World Cup. The 21-year-old impressed with the Sydney Roosters in the NRL, which saw him earn representative honours with Samoa and New South Wales in State of Origin.

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt selected the code-hopper in the national squad before he’d played any professional rugby union at senior level, but that decision proved to be a masterstroke as Suaalii’s performance against England showed.

“It’s certainly turning,” Burke explained. “There’s a bit more, as they used to say, column inches in the paper. We’re seeing a flood on social media now, especially with Joseph coming across and that first game he played against England.

“I chat with a bit of radio boys here and they said, ‘Well he didn’t look like a rugby league bloke playing rugby union.’ I said that’s because he was a rugby union bloke playing rugby league. His background is in the 15-man game.

“He did well. He underplayed his role when he needed to, he stepped up when he needed to.

“I was at a lunch the other day, a rugby lunch the other day, and we were talking about the Lions Series next year and how many people are coming down… the Lions, because it’s so infrequent every 12 years, I think people forget how big it’s going to be.

“There’s going to be 40,000 people come down. It’s a calendar stop for those Europeans who want to follow their rugby… that’s huge in itself.

“People are talking about it, people are getting interested in it… it’s creating opportunity for people to have that conversation rather than being that sport that was on the low for so long.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why NZR's Ineos settlement may be the most important victory they'll enjoy this year

It really all depends of how much overseas players would be paid (by NZR) to play for the All Blacks. I’ve not heard a peep on this front from any author suggesting it’s a good idea.


If it’s nothing (a player gets his weekly paycheck from the club and thats it (which we know is definitely not the case in Ireland and France, or SA even I think?), then maybe it would retain more SR level players given that they’ll be getting the “AB” component (which is about where things stand, Burke for instance would have had to had his Sader contract upgraded to an AB one (think above Pero levels) to be on similar money.


I’d having to imagine if a player is getting paid to do nothing over the international windows though, they are going to want to get paid extra for appear for the ABs, so in this situation, it’s hard to see many players being retained, yes.


I’m pretty sure they flew to Japan and met in person.


I’ve heard/had these discussions numerous times. I don’t think theres anyway to judge the interest that would be retain in SR. For one, it might be a more entertaining league as a result, as the JRLO is compared to Europe, despite it obviously being a lesser standard.


If SRP is of a lesser standard and now able to use Japanese and American players to bolster teams, perhaps those markets more than make up for the downturn in NZ and Aus? Perhaps it gives NZR flexibility to create a more fit for purpose interdomestic competition, and interest actually increases? All you might need is a proper pathway from school to pro?


Razor asked NZR to keep an open mind. Did NZR answer any of these questions to themself?

23 Go to comments
J
JW 2 hours ago
Kyren Taumoefolau All Blacks stance splits opinions on eligibility

Yeah of course it can be, it manages a good commerical outcome when 100 million people are following it. I’m saying rugby is no where near even remotely close to getting the payoff you’re talking about, never mind the distinct lack of anyway to implement it.


So you’re going for the dirty approach. I’m not surprised, it’s the only way to easily implement it right now. I wouldn’t see the benefit to doing that myself. A draft, if purely feasible in it’s own right, doesn’t need to provide commercial benefit at all (if it works, that’s all it needs to do, as it no doubt did back in america’s heyday). But without the advantageous backing of sponsors and interest levels, if you pick the wrong method to implement it, like a dirty approach, you do potential harm to it’s acceptance.


The aspect’s of the approach you chose that I don’t like, is that the franchises are the ones spending the money of the U20’s only for there opposition to get first dibs. Personally, I would much prefer an investment into a proper pathway (which I can’t really see SR U20s being at all in anycase). I’m not exactly sure how the draft works in america, but I’m pretty sure it’s something like ‘anyone whishing to be pro has to sign for the draft’, and results in maybe 10 or 20% of those being drafted. The rest (that accumulative 80/90% year on year) do go back into club, pronvincial, or whatever they have there, and remain scouted and options to bring in on immediate notice for cover etc. You yes, you draw on everybody, but what is generating your interest in the drafties in the first plaec?


This is your missing peace. If some come through school and into the acadamies, which would be most, you’ve currently got three years of not seeing those players after they leave school. Those that miss and come in through club, maybe the second year theyre in the draft or whatever, aged 20/21, you’re going to have no clue how they’ve been playing. NPC is a high level, so any that are good enough to play that would already be drafted, but some late bloomers you might see come in NPC but then Sky’s not going to broadcast that anymore. So what’s generating this massive interest you’re talking about, and most importantly, how does it tie in with the other 7 clubs that will be drafting (and providing) players outside of NZ?


Is the next step to pump tens of millions into SRP U20s? That would be a good start for investment in the youth (to get onto international levels of pathway development) in the first place but are fans going to be interested to the same level as what happens in america? Baseball, as mentioned, has the minor leagues, if we use that model it hasn’t to be broad over the whole pacific, because you’re not having one draft right, they all have to play against each other. So here they get drafted young and sent out into a lower level thats more expansive that SR, is there interest in that? There would be for large parts, but how financially viable would it be. Twiggy tried to get a league started and NPC clubs joined. BOP and Taranaki want SR representation, do we have a mix of the biggest clubs and provinces/states make a couple of divisions? I think that is far more likely to fan interest and commerical capabilities than an U20 of the SR teams. Or ofc Uni fits a lot of options. I’ve not really read anything that has tried to nut out the feasability of a draft, it can certainly work if this spitballing is anything to go by, but I think first theres got to be a need for it far above just being a drafting level.

36 Go to comments
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