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How the 'vibe' of a home World Cup kept Wallabies star in Australia

(Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Allan Alaalatoa hopes the “vibe” of a home World Cup in 2027 will be enough to tempt other Wallabies to follow his lead and turn down the riches overseas and recommit to Rugby Australia.

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Alaalatoa inked a four-year contract extension last month which will ensure he’s front and centre of Australia’s plans for the 2025 British and Irish Lions Tour and the 2027 World Cup.

As a tighthead prop, and after a disappointing 2022 campaign with the national team, the Brumbies forward could have taken the easier option and chased the money on offer in France, the UK, Ireland or Japan.

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But with two big occasions on home soil – and the prospect of being coached by Eddie Jones – the 29-year-old says he wants to play his part in the next few years.

“The vibe and the energy that went around (in the 2003 World Cup) was unreal so to get that opportunity to be in that space is awesome,” Alaalatoa said.

“It’s a goal of mine and I think that it is a goal for a lot of Australian players.

“I think that definitely encourages players to stay in Super Rugby Pacific and to stay here and to put their best foot forward for the jersey.

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t looked overseas.

“My brother (Michael) is over there with (Irish club) Leinster and couldn’t speak highly enough of it.”

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As one of the Wallabies’ experienced campaigners, Alaalatoa was recently sounded out by Jones, who secured a long-term deal as Wallabies coach last month when Dave Rennie was axed.

Jones faces a mammoth task to get the national team primed under his game plan and direction with just five Tests before the World Cup in France.

“I’ve heard he’s hard on his players and you hear stories from past players but it was awesome to catch up,” Alaalatoa said.

“It was good for us to get to know each other, he wanted to know about my wife, my kids and what motivates me.

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“(He wanted to know) what worked for us as a team and what our biggest growth was moving forward.”

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JW 30 minutes ago
Scott Robertson explains the new halves pairing for the All Blacks ahead of France

More indecision and excuses from Razor.


You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.


Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.


I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.


Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.


With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.

12 Go to comments
F
Flankly 57 minutes ago
Jake White: If I was England coach, I’d have been livid

I am not an England fan, but still very disappointed at what Borthwick is serving up. Regardless of winning or losing, they should be executing the basics at a world class level. That was the reason they replaced Eddie with Steve. After two years England has not built the solid foundations that the RFU were presumably after. Its hard to see it as anything other than a coaching problem.


Having said that I really hope that Rassie has got his team fired up for the game. The Boks at maximum intensity and with no crises (eg red cards) would be expected to win this game. But it does not take much reduction in pressure for Bok teams to lose. The Boks lose when complacency sets in.


On Felix Jones, my guess is that they can't agree on a non-compete so they kept him on payroll for the duration of the Nov tests. The risk was that he would be hired by Rassie or Razor prior to the tests.


As relates to law tweaking, it feels like WR are more comfortable discussing changes in laws than insisting on implementation. For my money the biggest thing they could do is to be strict and consistent in officiating ruck behavior. In every game we see flopping, lazy lying, clearing of unbound players, making plays while off your feet, delays in placing the ball, side entry, offside line infringements, and similar nonsense. It's really really bad, and the WR attitude seems to be that we should turn a blind eye in pursuit of "flowing rugby". In truth it's just boring, because it randomizes the outcome.

9 Go to comments
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