Wallabies’ World Cup fallout: All Blacks have ‘head start’ in 2024

It’s almost hard to describe what the atmosphere was like at Lyon’s OL Stadium in September after the Wallabies’ record 40-6 Rugby World Cup defeat to familiar foe Wales.

The result left the Wallabies on the brink of a first-ever pool stage exit at the sport’s showpiece event. It was an all-time low for Australian rugby, and you could feel that in the stadium that night.

Players and fans alike were left gutted, disappointed and heartbroken as the darkest night in Australian rugby history was etched into the record books.

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Coach Eddie Jones was uncharacteristically quiet after the Test, too. The Wallabies went on to bow out of the Rugby World Cup before the quarter-finals.

“Deep down we thought we could go further in the competition and we probably should have. It was obviously very disappointing,” starting flyhalf Ben Donaldson told RugbyPass.

“It took a couple of months, probably up until the start of pre-season here with the Force to really kind of get over that.

“As soon as the World Cup finished we were on break for seven or eight weeks so you’re not doing any rugby, you’re just with your friends, with your partners just chilling out but that’s always lingering in the back of your mind.

“What could I have done better? What could we have done better? Because essentially we let our country down. We didn’t play the kind of footy we wanted to.”

While the Australian players went on a break, their arch-rivals across the ditch continued to pursue what would’ve been a fourth Rugby World Cup crown.

The All Blacks defied the odds and underdog status as they held on for a valiant win over Ireland in the quarters. New Zealand backed that up with a clinical win over Argentina a week later.

But their quest for glory would end there. Captain Sam Cane was sent off midway through the first half in the final against South Africa which unfortunately proved to be a pivotal moment.

New Zealand mounted a comeback and had an opportunity to win the Test at the death off the boot of Jordie Barrett, but it wasn’t to be. South Africa became back-to-back world champions with a 12-11 win.

Both the Wallabies and All Blacks will be disappointed with how their World Cup campaigns ended for different reasons, but the New Zealanders are the first to officially put it behind them.

More than 70 days on from the one-point defeat to the Springboks, 22 All Blacks assembled for a brief two-day camp in Auckland with new coach Scott Robertson this week.

Meanwhile, across the ditch, the Wallabies are separated by Australian state borders as they continue to chip away at pre-season with their Super Rugby clubs.

“It’s obviously a bit of a weird situation. We don’t have a head coach at the moment, they’re still figuring out the high-performance team and program,” Donaldson said.

“We haven’t really had any conversations with anyone from the Wallabies since we left the World Cup whereas the All Blacks are in camp now, they’re already moving forward.

“It does feel like they’ve got a bit of a head start but most of us boys, we’ve all spoken and we’ve got full trust in Australian rugby at the moment and what they’re doing, how they’re moving forward.

“They’ve already appointed a few new people so we’re just focusing on the short-term at our clubs, just day-to-day really, just training… trying to get a starting position at the Force.

“If I’m playing well there (the Force) then everything else will take care of itself.

“We’ve got full trust in whoever is working in Australian rugby to get those positions filled and if all of us at our Super clubs can just keep working hard, when we do come into camp – not we, whoever gets picked to go into camp eventually – the boys should be ready to go.”

Playmaker Ben Donaldson didn’t take the field for a second during last year’s Rugby Championship. But a few months later, he was Australia’s go-to man on the sport’s biggest stage.

Donaldson, 24, received Player of the Match honours after scoring two tries against Georgia in Australia’s World Cup opener. He started the first two Tests at fullback before replacing Carter Gordon as the Wallabies’ No. 10.

But with all that in the past, Donaldson is looking to channel the learnings from that World Cup campaign ahead of a Super Rugby Pacific season with a new team.

The NSW Waratahs let Donaldson go last year, with the playmaker linking up with Wallaby veteran Nic White out west with the Force.

“Being at the Tahs for four or five years, ever since I left school, and leaving the way it all happened, a little bit of bitterness there but I think I was ready for a move, a new experience, a new challenge,” he added.

“I think this move over here to the west is probably the best thing for me.

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“The World Cup, obviously not the results we wanted but I took so many learnings and so many experiences out of that that will help me moving forward as an individual and as a playmaker for the Western Force.

“There’s definitely that bit of fire in the belly. I’ve been to a World Cup now, started every game and also I’m at a new club and you want to prove some people out there wrong.

“At the end of the day I know what I can do, I know what I’m capable of and thankfully Crono has got full backing of me and the boys of this team as well.

“I’ll take those experiences from the past couple of years and the World Cup and just take them into the 2024 season.”

The Western Force will kick off their Super Rugby Pacific season at home to the Hurricanes on February 23.