Wallabies selections leave Eddie Jones with 'no safety net' at World Cup
The Wallabies no longer have a golden glow but halfback great Will Genia believes they can still shine at the Rugby World Cup, saying Australia have more upside than other contenders.
Pundits have written off Australia’s chances of lifting aloft a third William Webb Ellis trophy in France – and with good reason with the team winless in five Tests in 2023.
Replacing coach Dave Rennie with Eddie Jones – in his second World Cup as Wallabies coach after reaching the final in 2003 – hasn’t yielded immediate results.
Jones has also made some shock selections – most notably leaving out long-time skipper Michael Hooper and veteran five-eighth Quade Cooper – to bank on a side that only includes eight players with World Cup experience.
But Genia, who played 110 Wallabies Tests and was part of three World Cup campaigns, sees positives in the changes.
He said the young players – 20 of the 33-man squad are aged 26 or under – were fearless, carrying no baggage from years of losses.
The former Queensland stalwart, now playing in Japan, said he could see plenty of growth in the Wallabies, who play Georgia in their first pool game in Paris on Sunday (AEST).
“It’s going to be tough but the fact that not really anyone’s giving them hope is probably a good thing because they can fly under the radar and just focus on themselves,” Genia told AAP.
“Because in my experience with World Cups, it seems and it sounds really simple, but it’s the teams that improve week to week that will do well.
“You find better cohesion, you get more confident, you do things better, you’re more accurate, more physical as the tournament goes on.
“And if they can make it to the semi-final, it’s about who turns up on the day.”
Genia likes that Jones has opted for genuine size in his pack and also selected a new captain in lock Will Skelton.
The France-based giant is a proven winner, which has been sadly missing from Australian Super Rugby players with New Zealand dominating that competition.
“I really like that big Willy Skelton is the skipper because he’s someone who’s won everything there is to win in European rugby, which you’d say is the highest level of competition outside of Test rugby,” 35-year-old Genia said.
“And he’s not just being a passenger in those teams, I think he’s won man of the match in a couple of the finals that he’s played in so he’s a winner.
“He understands what it takes to win, not just on the field but in terms of performance, in terms of culture, so he will lead what Eddie wants to create, in terms of a winning mindset or winning culture.
“And he’s also just a really good team man – he’s always positive, he’s very solution-focused and he’s not someone who dwells on things that are going wrong. He looks at how to fix it.”
Genia was disappointed to see his old halves partner and great friend Cooper left out, feeling he would have offered valuable security and support to rookie playmaker Carter Gordon on and off the field.
But he said on the flip-side Jones had removed the “safety net” and backed Gordon and young halfback Tate McDermott to make the team their own.
“It’s about trusting them – without Quade, Eddie has said there is no safety net – this is your team and you drive it and that will hopefully accelerate Carter’s growth.
“I really like the look of Tate and Carter as they’re both instinctive players who like playing attacking football and with the forward pack we’ve got, we can get good ascendancy or at least parity and then Tate and Carter can really drive the team and get some positive results.”
Genia feels hosts France, who have never won a World Cup, will be hard to stop, particularly if they down New Zealand in the tournament’s opening pool game.
But he said Australia, with a hugely favourable draw, should have confidence they can cause a boilover.
“There’s no doubt that they all have belief that they’ll win the World Cup and then they should,” he said.
“The team Eddie has selected, it’s a good balance of flair and exuberance and excitement but also power, particularly in the forward pack.
“I’m really excited to see what they can do with the confidence Eddie has shown in them.”
Australia’s pool match schedule (all times AEST):
Sunday Sept 10 v Georgia, Stade de France, Paris, 2am
Monday Sept 18 v Fiji, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne, 1.45am
Monday Sept 25 v Wales, OL Stadium Lyon, 5am
Monday Oct 2 v Portugal, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne, 2.45am
Australia’s possible path to the World Cup final:
* If Wallabies win Pool C, quarter-final 1 v runner-up pool D (England, Japan, Argentina, Samoa, Chile) at Stade de Marseille on Sunday, Oct 15, 2am. If victorious, likely semi-final opponent is New Zealand/Ireland.
* If Wallabies are second in Pool C, quarter-final 3 v winner pool D at Stade de Marseille on Monday, Oct 16, 2am. If victorious, likely semi-final opponent is France/South Africa.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny 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.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 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 comments