‘A bit of a process’: Why Eddie Jones believes the Wallabies will ‘get it right’

Coach Eddie Jones is confident that the Wallabies will “get it right” after showing plenty of fight and character during their thrilling 31-34 loss to Los Pumas in Sydney.

Unfortunately for the Wallabies and their fans, the history books will show that the men in gold started their new era under coach Jones with back-to-back defeats.

After losing to the world champion Springboks in Pretoria last weekend, the Wallabies returned home to Australia for their first Test of the year on home soil.

For the second week in a row, the Wallabies started quite well. Centre Len Ikitau scored the opening try inside the opening 10 minutes, but left the field shortly after with an injury.

This was the first of two major turning points.

Towering lock Richie Arnold was yellow-carded later in the half. Los Pumas had already scored 10 unanswered points by that stage, and they didn’t look like slowing down.

Captain Julian Montoya scored just after the break to put the visitors ahead for the first time, and they remained in a fight for the rest of the contest.

But against the run of play, Australian winger Mark Nawaqanitawase went coast-to-coast to give the hosts the lead with less than five minutes to play. In the NFL they’d call that a ‘pick six.’

The thrilling Test was ultimately decided by a 79th-minute try to Los Pumas backrower Juan Martin Gonzalez. The Argentine fans in attendance went berserk.

The Australians were stunned, but as Jones said post-game, it’s not all “doom and gloom.” Reflecting on the match, the legendary coach was visibly proud of the Wallabies’ effort.

“We kept fighting mate, we kept fighting. It was one of those games where it’s sitting on the table and one team’s going to grab it,” Jones told reporters after the match,” he added.

“We thought we grabbed it and they grabbed it back, and we got beaten at the end.

“Our set-piece was good, last week our set-piece wasn’t good. We’re a bit like a broken car… last week our set piece wasn’t good, this week our set piece was good. Last week we didn’t attack, this week we did.

“This is a bit of a process that we’ve got to go through, as painful as it is and as hard as it is. It seems like where we want to be, the team we are today is a long way away from the team we want to be tomorrow.

“We’ll keep working on it and we’ll get it right.”

With upcoming Tests against the All Blacks and France before the start of this year’s Rugby World Cup, there’s a real possibility that the men gold could go 0-5 before the sport’s biggest event.

On the flip side of that very same coin though, the Wallabies could make a statement in those three Test matches – which includes a home and away fixture against the red-hot All Blacks.

But Jones isn’t panicking.

“100 per cent confident mate. At the moment it seems like we’re miles away from where we need to be but all of this is going to make us harder and more hungry to get it right.

“We’re a team that needs to change, we know that, and that’s the reason I’m here in the job.

“We’re not seeing the change in terms of results at the moment but we’ll see that.”

The Wallabies host fierce rivals New Zealand in a highly anticipated Bledisloe Cup clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground later this month.