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'Shadows in every corner': Wallabies block out noise for must-win clash
Australia’s World Cup-defining clash with Wales can’t come soon enough for Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who is still searching for answers about their historic loss to Fiji.
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The Wallabies bombed in their pool match in Saint-Etienne, suffering their first tournament loss to the Pacific Islanders, and now must beat Wales to keep their slim quarter-final hopes alive.
They face the unbeaten Welsh in Lyon on Sunday (Monday AEST) where they will seek to reverse the 2019 World Cup pool match result in which Wales were 29-25 victors.
The Australians will again be without skipper Will Skelton (calf) and Taniela Tupou (hamstring), with reserve hooker Jordan Uelese sidelined after a head knock in the seven-point Fiji loss.
Jones said the team needed to quickly turn their attention to Wales, who edged the Fijians in a thriller before beating Portugal in their second pool match.
“The only thing we are worried about is Wales this week – we’d be happy to play them tomorrow if they wanted to play – we can’t wait for the challenge,” the veteran coach said on Monday.
Jones said coaching staff and players alike would embrace the challenge of a do-or-die clash, with a loss sending the Wallabies packing before the play-offs for the first time in Cup history.
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“This is the best coaching week, best playing week, these are the weeks you remember when you are under the pump quite a lot and you’ve got to produce a good performance,” Jones said.
“There are no problems with motivation as this team cares a lot about their performance.”
With a game usually built on attacking flair, Fiji played in an untypical manner, scoring only one try with their points coming through penalties.
They also dominated the breakdown, winning 11 turnovers which Jones said was something his side needed to quickly rectify.
“We are all still searching for answers, none of us have the 100 per cent answer but we have ideas about where the game came unstuck.
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“But Wales are a completely different team, they grind away at you whereas Fiji is power.
“This is one of the biggest challenges for this team and personally for the coaching staff.
“We just had a coaching meeting and we know how we want to play against Wales and we are going to work really hard to get the players back on track.”
Jones admitted the young group had been “knocked around” by the result and said they had to shut out outside noise, with many Australian rugby fans outraged by the shock loss which was their sixth in seven Tests under the coach.
“When you have a loss like this it knocks you around a bit, knocks you around emotionally, knocked around team ethic-wise,” he said.
“You start to see shadows in every corner of the room.
“There’s noise from outside which you’ve got to handle and that’s a challenge for the coaching staff this week to make sure they’ve got the right noise.”
He said he would leave it up to the players whether or not they engaged with social media.
“That’s an individual choice for each player, they make their own decision on how they deal with social media.
“That’s not for us to tell them how to do it – everyone makes a choice of how they run their lives and that’s for the players. It’s their choice.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The rise of Hunter Paisami! Good read Nick (as ever). Cheers.
3 Go to commentsAs a long term glos supporter saturday was the last straw. Terrible run of results in league since Jan 23. No excuses , there are 3 conclusions Players simply arent good enough. Coaching team not good enough. Or combination of the 2. Either way glos lost pride in what used to be a team others feared.
1 Go to commentsWhat an interesting article, Nick. Late here, so will comment tomorrow am. “In the UK, you might have three whole months when you train set-piece and it’s pissing down. Over here, we very rarely experience games severely affected by weather..” Did you see the Waratahs game on the weekend ? If not have a look at the weather for that struck that one. Drowning would have a been a worry for any player trapped at the bottomof a pile up. Suspect the water polo people might be looking with interest at some of those rugby players after that game😀
3 Go to commentsThis article overlooks how the 9 position has developed to be a playmaker, which these 2 are both excellent at. Defences are so good now there is not the luxury of going 9 -> 10 on every play. Playing “off 9” as they say, has become very commonplace these days, but 10+ years ago you hardly saw this. Boiling the great modern 9s down to box kicking doesn’t do justice to how good the great ones have become. Dupont would be the first choice 10 in most teams in the world, JGP pops up in places you would never expect a 9 to be.
21 Go to commentsThe banning of the croc roll will make carrying the ball into contact far more risky, leading to more kicking, and the change to the Dupont law will mean forwards have to do far more running than they do now. As a result I think there will be a rise of smaller, more mobile forwards who are strong defenders and strong over the ball like Kirifi.
3 Go to commentsWhat does the ownership of the club have to do with the poor performance of the team. It’s not as if he’s coaching them or in any way influencing the composition of the teams. I honestly don’t understand the comment.
1 Go to commentsHe knows his body is not up to the work load of international rugby. The fact that Cane only played only 27 of the 46 games the ABs played while he was officially captain is a telling statistic. And that excludes the time he had out with neck injury. He was never able to put a long enough body of work together to get back to his best without a new injury setting him back. He knows better than anyone that the problem will get worse, not better, given the same workload. Correct decision and good luck to him.
8 Go to commentsWith three clubs it's surely death by oligopoly!😂 I suspect that other french clubs like Montpellier rich enough to compete, they are just missing some vital ingredients. Do you think that keeping an eight player bench but only being allowed to use four would level the playing field a bit? The 12 changes rule sounds disastrous for running rugby.
117 Go to commentsNice article
32 Go to commentsSurely they aren’t that short of 10s in the northern hemisphere?
1 Go to commentsBest wishes to a true warrior who gave everything for his team and country. He was no McCaw but the closest we've had in recent years in terms putting his head into dark places, leading the defensive line and securing the attacking breakdown - the core roles of a modern open side. If only he could have played more tests under Foster and Plumtree with blindsides who fulfilled their core roles. 2027 was always going to be a long shot. Hopefully Papalii fulfils the promise of 2021 and late 2022 and/or Lakai turns out to be as good as he looks.
8 Go to commentsFair play to him. A lot of exciting talent coming up in the loose forward position, can’t wait to see the next generation.
8 Go to commentsSam wants to focus on his family and learning how to tackle legally…what’s Japanese for ‘bend at the waist’?
8 Go to commentsNice story
1 Go to commentsThere's a log jam at the moment of quality number sevens competing for an All Black jersey. I think Du Plessis Kirifi is certainly one of them and has now developed an accurate sharp and energetic game as compared to when he was first picked. Would love to see Billy Harmon get first dibs at the jersey (been outstanding in a struggling side for a few seasons now), as I believe we've seen enough of Papali'i to understand what he brings to the role. Lakai is young and will get his shot. Du Plessis would be a bolt off the bench but his lack of versatility may hinder his chances.
3 Go to commentsGood Luck Sam, enjoy Japan.
8 Go to commentsWhen Sth Africa had Joost and Honiball at 9 and 10 they were almost impenetrable in and around the ruck. Even Jonah couldn't make headway in those channels so they were very hard to get in behind. They had a fantastic side who played a fast, rugged style which won them the Tri Nations during that period. That side would beat their current mob of which I have no doubt.
2 Go to commentsAwesome win by the NZ U20s. They were excellent in the 2nd half with some very patient and accurate phase play, a dominant scrum and decent lineout. Simpson controlled things very well at 10 and it was amazing to see the team maintain their composure and score points when he was in the sin bin for a very harsh yellow card.
2 Go to commentscome on Toulouse
1 Go to commentsNot unless the cartels get interested in rugby like they did w football
1 Go to comments