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Eddie Jones faces World Cup injury crisis amid Wallabies' MCG walloping
By Ian Cameron
The Wallabies’ Bledisloe loss to the All Blacks in Melbourne turned into a nightmare as Eddie Jones’ side now face a potential injury crisis at tighthead just weeks out from the Rugby World Cup.
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The All Blacks recorded a resounding 38-7 victory over a troubled Australian side in front of over 84,000 people at the MCG, handing Jones his third loss in a row as new head coach of the national team.
The match took a sour turn in for the home side in the first half when Wallabies captain, Allan Ala’alatoa, was carted off the field with what looked like a significant knee injury.
As the second half commenced, the Wallabies’ hopes of a comeback were dealt a further blow. Taniela Tupou, who had stepped in as Ala’alatoa’s replacement, collapsed in pain with an unspecified injury. He carried on gamely for several minutes, even though it was clear that he was struggling badly, the camera capturing the burly prop wincing in pain.
Jones appeared to kept the tighthead on despite it be clear that he was in not fit to continue, possibly fearing that Wallabies would be forced to play with 14 men if they couldn’t come up with a solution for the right-hand side of the scrum.
To add to their misery, the replacement prop was given a yellow card for a no-wrap challenge right after leaving the field. Referee Wayne Barnes then sent the incident to the TMO Bunker for review. The timing of the card left the Wallabies in disbelief, as Tupou had just been subbed off for Angus Bell, who had originally started the game at loosehead.
Bell was then forced to sit in the sin-bin in lieu of Tupou, for a dangerous tackle he had no part in.
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As the match continued, the Wallabies’ resistance began to crumble, with the All Blacks piling on the tries against 14-men, scoring two tries in quick succession with Bell in the bin.
With both Alaalatoa and Tupou potentially facing long stints on the sideline, the winless Jones is left with a major problem at tighthead. Both his first and second choice No.3s could now be unavailable, leaving a gaping hole in the team’s front row with the Rugby World Cup just around the corner.
Eddie is continuing the losses from England.
Drop Papalili & bring in that Choat dude
Not a bad win considering how average they played
It was a good match to test them out after a big win against South Africa. Australia were determined to not let them play their preferred game. It was a slow, grinding performance where they had to defend against an emotional, motivated (and very large) Aussie pack who were intent of tacking everything that moved.
Yet, the All Blacks didn’t concede much after the early stages, kept their discipline, kept winning their set pieces (especially the scrums), started to pick off errors and ultimately let the Wallabies run out of steam.
Under those terms, it was a very good performance.
Hopefully Tupou is okay, it wasn't a ligament, maybe a cracked rib? If so he might be okay by the later stages of pool play.
I gotta say, what an awful game, god that was a mess, Aaron Smith played bizarrely, it wasn't clinical in the slightest.
Roigard was good, definitely better than Christie and also much better than Aaron was this game. Will Jordan was great on the wing and validated my arguments for never playing him at Fullback, took one kick in open play after the switch and it went backwards 5 metres. The only players I want at Fullback are Beauden, DMac and Jordie in a pinch, hell I'd rather have Dane Coles there.
Agree, the ABs were a much better team when Aaron was subbed for Roigard. A Smith fell off tackles, very slow to the breakdown and did the odd aimless kick. Roigard is our best halfback by a mile, he can dart through holes and has a long left footed raking kick which Smith would dream to have. Roigard handled the atmosphere well.
Bang on Ruby, Aaron gives away far too much ball by kicking on attack..then defending his stupid kicks..he threw a ball out and was too slow to a breakdown...I think his days are over...ABs could have scored 40 plus points.
Wallabies XV is a shambles...2nd match will be a demolition job.
I think the All Blacks are the ones who will be worried. Only time they looked in control was when the Wallabies were down to 14.
Nope..the Wallabies never looked liked winning
They are rubbish and Jones is no saviour.
You have to take into account that the yellow cards conceded by Australia were largely down to All Blacks pressure. If you are sent off the field for illegally preventing tries being scored, for example, don’t be surprised if your team then concedes tries when you're off!
That's hilarious
very worried 🤣
Yes we are terrified.