'A lot of dumb rugby': Wallabies' Joseph Suaalii tactics against Ireland slammed

The Wallabies valiantly came up short by 22-19 against Ireland after being run down in the final 10 minutes by the home side.

With new recruit Joseph Suaalii overcoming an arm injury suffered against Scotland to start at No 13 in his fourth Test, there were expectations that Australia would use their high profile weapon in Dublin.

Suaalii starred on debut with his offloading and aerial prowess stunning the rugby world with a man-of-the-match performance against England at Twickenham.

While there were flashes against Ireland, Suaalii just didn’t get many opportunities. Irish TV pundit and ex-Scotland coach Matt Williams was left stunned at the Wallabies game plan against Ireland which reduced Suaalii to effectively a bystander as he cleaned rucks all day.

“Let’s give Australia some credit. They defended very, very courageously in that second half. I’d like to see the possession percentages of the second half. It was overwhelmingly Ireland,” Williams told Virgin Media Sport. 

“You also got to say, we’re talking about Joseph Suaalii all week. What a breath of fresh air. This guy’s exciting. They just didn’t use him, the whole time.”

Suaalii finished with five carries for 15 metres and one offload as chances to attack space in good areas of the field were limited. In defence he made eight tackles, including one punishing hit on Ireland’s fullback Hugo Keenan. 

He showed his aerial game early by grabbing a loose ball after a high ball, and propelling it out wide with an offload. The Wallabies had Ireland stretched on the right side but a try went begging. However, they were able to score on the opposite side through Max Jorgensen a short while later.

But for the most part Suaalii ended up as a support option which meant cleaning out rucks when the ball didn’t come his way.

“That last scrum, they smack up Ikitau at 12, and they use one of the most exciting, potentially exciting attacking outside centres as a clear out. All game, he‘s just clearing people out,” Williams. 

“I was absolutely bamboozled by Australia’s attacking tactics. I thought they were, as they have been all year, manful, trying hard, giving everything they’ve got.

“But, you know, a lot of dumb rugby, a lot of dumb penalties, like the last try came from a very dumb penalty. But Ireland still underperformed significantly in that game, because they should be beating that Australian side by a lot more.”