'It's not over until it's over': Wallabies to don red in hope of Portugal upset
Before the World Cup in France got underway, rugby fans were licking their lips at the prospect of polarising coach Eddie Jones lining up for a quarter-final clash against his former team England.
Another prospect loomed, with the Jones-coached Wallabies squaring off in the final eight against former Australia coach Michael Cheika, who now oversees Argentina.
While Australia are still preparing to take on Pool D winners England in Marseille on Sunday, October 15 (Monday AEDT), the sad reality is Fiji are heavily favoured to finish runner-up in Pool C and send the Wallabies packing.
The Australians are in limbo this week; their slim hopes hanging on minnows Portugal denying Fiji a single competition point in their final pool clash next Monday (AEDT).
But if a miracle happens, the Wallabies need to be ready.
“We will have three days to freshen up and then we come back in to prepare for a quarter-final,” said assistant coach Dan Palmer.
“It’s out of our hands now but that’s all we can do. We’ll come back in and train hard.”
Asked if the preparations would be England-specific, Palmer said they would be.
After weeks of intense training, squirrelled away at a small resort outside Saint-Etienne, the players let their hair down for a night following the 34-14 win over Portugal that kept their Cup campaign alive.
They will get back into action on Thursday and then pray for the Portuguese to cause a boilover against Fiji, who scraped to a win over Georgia in their last outing.
Wallabies No.8 Rob Valetini said he would be ready to root for the men in red.
“I’ve actually swapped jerseys, so I’ll probably be wearing that,” Valetini said.
“I reckon they can beat Fiji. They’re quite a skilful team and on their day they can beat anyone. They’d have to believe that they can do it.”
Lock Richie Arnold said he would be also cheering for Os Lobos, who proved a handful in attack against Australia, scoring two tries and having two further efforts disallowed.
“We’ll have a couple of days off and the group will go away and have a bit of down-time, refresh and come back in and train Thursday, Friday, Saturday for potentially a quarter-final,” Arnold said.
“There are results that need to go our way. I will be wearing a Portugal shirt that’s for sure next Sunday.
“Portugal have a lot of fight. They have a good attacking team. It’s not over until it’s over. We still have a chance there mathematically.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny 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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 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 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!
5 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 …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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