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‘We’ve come up short’: Will Skelton’s heartfelt message for Wallabies fans
The Wallabies are hurting. You could hear it in captain Will Skelton’s voice as the towering lock shared a heartfelt message of thanks following Australia’s disastrous Rugby World Cup campaign.
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With coach Eddie Jones at the helm, the Wallabies failed to make it past the pool stage at the sport’s showpiece event for the first time ever.
The Wallabies were winless from five starts coming into the tournament, and while the young squad managed to kick off their campaign with a win over Georgia in Paris, their dreams of a quarter-final berth took a hit against the Flying Fijians and Wales.
Fiji beat the Wallabies for the first time since 1954 as they took control of their own destiny with two pool games to play. Australia needed to beat Warren Gatland’s Wales a week later and didn’t just pull up short, they fell to a record World Cup defeat.
There was quite a sombre feeling at OL Stadium in Lyon as the full-time whistle sounded on that fateful Sunday night. The Wallabies had lost 40-6 which left their campaign in tatters.
While Portugal offered the Wallabies a glimmer of hope against Fiji last weekend, the Pacific Islanders did enough as they sailed into the knockout stages for the first time since 2007.
The Wallabies have shared a video on social media with captain Will Skelton narrating over clips of despair, sadness and disappointment from the campaign that was. Skelton thanked fans for support after the Wallabies came “up short of our own expectations.”
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“On behalf of the team I want to thank you, the people who came to the games, watched us on TV and supported us from afar,” Skelton said.
“Wearing the gold jersey comes with a great responsibility, we always want to do our country proud. We’ve worked hard, we’ve believed in each other, but we’ve come up short of our own expectations.
Knockout
11 - 12
Final
6 - 44
SF1
15 - 16
SF2
17 - 29
QF1
24 - 28
QF2
30 - 24
QF3
28 - 29
QF4
“Thank you to everyone who’s been with us along the way. To those that welcomed us in Arnhem Land and the Northern Territory, to those who wished us well while we trained and to those who farewelled us in Sydney.
“Our experience this year will make us better players, better men. We’re a young team, eight of us are new Wallabies. We will have a lot more to give.
A message to our fans. Thank you.#Wallabies pic.twitter.com/clD7db6Cbk
— Wallabies (@wallabies) October 12, 2023
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“We have a long journey ahead and we’ll continue to ask for your support. We believe in the depth in our squad and the young players across the country, all of us competing for the greatest honour of all: to represent our country on the world stage.
“We’ve learned a lot about where we’re at as a team, we’ve learned a lot about each other and what it takes to achieve our goal. We’ve never been more motivated, more driven to make you proud.
“Thanks again for all your support and look forward to seeing you next year.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Just came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
4 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
4 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
4 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
4 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to comments