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Joe Schmidt’s candid take on whether Wallabies are trending the right way

By Finn Morton
A dejected Allan Alaalatoa of Australia looks on following during The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies at Sky Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Head coach Joe Schmidt remains confident the Wallabies are trending in the right direction despite their last-placed finish in The Rugby Championship. South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand all recorded big wins over Australia during the six-round competition.

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The Wallabies’ most recent defeat came across the ditch at Wellington’s Sky Stadium, with the men in gold failing to maintain a red-hot start. Noah Lolesio scored the visitor’s last points in the 36th minute, while the men in black ran riot in the nation’s capital.

Wing Caleb Clarke scored just before the half-time break to give the All Blacks the lead, and it was an advantage they’d never surrender. Tamaiti Williams and Clarke scored a try each in the second term to help the New Zealanders run away with a 33-13 win.

That was the All Blacks’ first win in Windy Wellington since 2018.

The All Blacks made sure to celebrate Sam Cane’s 100th Test and TJ Perenara’s final international appearance on home soil with an incredibly loud haka. That celebration was heard from the post-match press conference room as the Wallabies’ coach and captain spoke.

While the New Zealanders were joyous and generally in good spirits after the Test, it wasn’t the same story for some of the Aussie players who were hurting after that loss. But their coach, Schmidt, is still positive about the direction of this side.

“Yeah, it does,” Schmidt told reporters in Wellington when asked if the Wallabies are trending in the right direction.

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“We had that one half in Argentina that was pretty tough to take but the first half we led and Argentina are a very good side. Obviously, semi-finalists last year, they won here in Wellington which is more than we managed to do.

“On the back of last week, a three-point margin is skinny enough and even today, as I said, we probably rolled up our sleeves up sufficiently to maybe deserve one more try but you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you earn and we didn’t put it down over the line.

Match Summary

0
Penalty Goals
2
5
Tries
1
4
Conversions
1
0
Drop Goals
0
155
Carries
143
9
Line Breaks
4
12
Turnovers Lost
15
9
Turnovers Won
5

“As a group of coaches we’re pretty hard on ourselves; are we managing to get what we need from the group and have we got the right group? There’s a number of things we’ll reflect on.

“There are a number of positives over the last, certainly four weeks and even the last two weeks against the All Blacks.”

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The Wallabies started their new era under Schmidt with three wins on the trot during the July window, but they’ve since won just one of their last six. That will see them carry the underdog tag into most of their Tests on what promises to be an intriguing Spring Tour.

Australia will take on traditional rivals England at Allianz Stadium (formerly known as Twickenham) in the early hours of November 10 (AEST). They’ll also take on Wales, Scotland and Ireland as they ramp up preparation for next year’s British & Irish Lions Tour.

The best players from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland will band together for a blockbuster three-Test series Down Under, as well as some other matches. Whether or not the Wallabies can compete with some of the best players from up north remains to be seen.

“Going north is for us still about building depth because that was this year’s big project was about building depth,” Schmidt explained.

“We’ve had 16 debutants and a new leader and Harry’s done very, very well.

“Those four Test matches, they make up the Lions for next year so we get a good look at their personnel. Some of them I still know from having coached them. I know them well and I know how good they are.

“It’s a bit like when we come up against the All Blacks, you know it’s going to be a really tough tour, but if we can keep building through that tour, then I think we put ourselves in a position of potentially being competitive next July.”

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Comments

4 Comments
L
Lulu 10 days ago

There has been an improvement. Have to stick with Joe and start selecting overseas based players. If it's a tight call go with home-based player. Wallabies just dont have the cattle.The S.A. model is a good one to follow. Alot of players coming back home to play.

A
AM 11 days ago

Wallabies wont win without selecting OS players and forming better relationships with OS clubs like Rassie did with SA. The blueprint is there but Joe seems too daft to do it. They have tried the policy of supporting domestic players for a decade too long.


A team with Skelton, Philip, Arnold Bros, Samu, Kerevi, Hodge, Ainsley, Sio, Latu and others far more durable and can win more often.

O
OJohn 11 days ago

When you are picking up a million Australian dollars a year for being completely useless, one would say that.

C
ClintP 11 days ago

Time to pick up the phone and call Tane Edmed, he’s playing way better than any Australian right now, he’s hardly “overseas “ , only a three hour flight away in NZ. Tim Ryan needs to get a call too, to wait for him to “bulk up” is a mistake, he’s already bigger than some, Cheslin Kolbe for example who’s size is hardly holding him back.

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EV 4 hours ago
Is this why Ireland and England struggle to win World Cups?

Rassie is an extremely shrewd PR operator but the hype and melodrama is a sideshow to take the attention from the real reason for the Boks dominance.


Utimately the Boks dominate because Rassie and his team are so scientific and so driven. His attention to detail and obsessive analysis smacks of Tom Brady's approach.


He has engineered a system to find and nurture talent from the best schools to the most desolate backwaters. That system has a culture and doctrine very similar to elite military units, it does not tolerate individuals at the expense of the collective.


That machine also churns out three to five world class players in every position. They are encouraged to play in Ireland, England, France and Japan where their performance continues to be monitored according to metrics that is well guarded IP.


Older players are begged to play in the less physical Japanese league as it extends their careers. No Saffa really wants to see Etzebeth or Peter Steph or Pollard play in France or British Isles. And especially not in South Africa, where you just have these big, physical young guns coming out of hyper competitive schools looking for blood.


Last but but no means the least is the rugby public's alignment with the Springbok agenda. We love it when they win between World Cups but there is zero drama if they lose a game or a string of games for the sake of squad depth.


It's taken time to put it together but it has just matured into a relentless machine.

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