Schmidt: Wallabies have been ‘written off’ before as France looms

Joe Schmidt has reminded the rugby world that the Wallabies have been written off before, only to claim famous wins against the British & Irish Lions and Springboks. After last weekend’s 46-19 Quilter Nations Series defeat to Ireland, they’ll carry the underdog tag into their final Test of 2025.

Young British & Irish Lions backrower Henry Pollock famously declared that “three-nil is definitely on the table” before the Test series against the Wallabies, only for the Australians to laugh last with a memorable 22-12 win at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.

The Wallabies followed that sweep-saving triumph with a historic comeback win against the two-time defending Rugby World Cup champions, clawing their way back from 22 points down to beat the Springboks 38-22 at Johannesburg’s Emirates Airline Park.

Australia came agonisingly close to defeating South Africa in Cape Town, before claiming a last-gasp win over Argentina in Townsville. But since that win at what’s formerly known as Ellis Park in Johannesburg, the men in gold have only won two of their last seven matches.

After trailing Ireland by five points at half-time, the Wallabies conceded 25 second-half points to lose by a convincing margin in the end. With one more match left in a mammoth 15-Test international season, the Wallabies are looking to shock France in Saint-Denis.

“I guess I can try to add my experience and chat to the group. I’ve had some really good experiences at the Stade de France with massive respect for Les Bleus,” Schmidt told reporters.

“At the same time, I’ve got huge respect for the players and how they will try to make sure they’re as well prepared for next week as they possibly can be.

“60 minutes in, it was 22-14. I honestly believe that if people write us off, we were written off before the Lions, we were written off before going to South Africa. I know that we didn’t do ourselves justice in that second half.

“At half-time, 19-14, I felt we really fought our way back into the game and I think had a bit of the breeze in the second half but didn’t get the platform to use that unfortunately.

“I’m confident that we can still fight our way into that contest next week and we’re just going to have to make sure that once we land in Paris tomorrow that we recuperate as best we can, have a really clear plan and then just go after it as best we can.”

Australia-born fullback Mack Hansen received Player of the Match honours after scoring a first-half hat-trick, which had Ireland in a strong position early on. Len Ikitau and Fraser McReight scored a try each to make it a one-score game at the break.

Fly-half Sam Prendergast nailed a drop goal to open the scoring in the second term, but the Irish piled on the points with three tries in 11 minutes. Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw crossed for five-pointers as Ireland made a statement in the Quilter Nations Series.

“The scoreline is obviously disappointing because it got probably, I’d say, exaggerated somewhat in those last few minutes,” Schmidt said.

“That can sometimes happen when you’re chasing a game. I’ve seen enough games now to know that when you start to overreach and try to create opportunity, particularly with 14 against 15, then inevitably you lose a bit of your own equilibrium and allow a bit of opportunity or time or space to the opposition.

“Ireland didn’t need too many second invitations.”