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Axed 12 months ago, Harry Wilson makes Wallabies admission

Harry Wilson of the Wallabies (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

Harry Wilson is determined to hold his ground after sealing his whirlwind international revival with a last-gasp win on his Wallabies captaincy debut in Argentina.

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The Queensland Reds favourite was tremendous at No.8 in La Plata on Sunday morning (AEST), denting the line and making a desperate tackle to thwart a try in their after-the-siren 20-19 defeat of Los Pumas.

A year earlier Wilson, who fell out of Wallabies favour after a breakout 2020 Test campaign, was best on ground for club side Brothers in their Brisbane grand final.

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Siya Kolisi says the win was written in the stars

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Siya Kolisi says the win was written in the stars

Not part of Eddie Jones’ World Cup plans, Wilson then enjoyed a European tour with the Barbarians and dominated for the Reds under new coach Les Kiss.

A broken arm cut his Super Rugby season short but, once fit, new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt brought him straight back to face South Africa and then anointed him as the fourth captain in his six Tests in charge.

Fixture
Rugby Championship
Argentina
19 - 20
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Australia
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“It feels amazing, pretty special to be sitting here right now,” Wilson said.

The loose forward relished the unlikely premiership a year ago, alongside brother Will who was gunning for back-to-back titles in a stacked Brothers side just hours later at Ballymore on Sunday.

In a canny coincidence centre Hamish Stewart, who made his Wallabies debut on Sunday, was also part of that Brothers side last year.

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“This time last year having the coolest time of my life paying with Brothers and winning that premiership, but to be sitting here after a Wallabies win,” Wilson reflected.

“It’s a pinch yourself moment … I worked hard to get back here and I want to keep building and this is where I want to stay.”

Schmidt had been pleased by Wilson’s lead-by-example approach, demonstrated when his late tackle attempt on opposite number Juan Martin Gonzalez spoiled what looked a certain, match-winning try.

In wet conditions his trademark expansive play had to be shelves, he and his fellow forwards able to play in tight and slowly wear down the hosts.

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The teams will play each other again next weekend but the coach hinted his men might toast their Sunday triumph, Wilson no doubt keeping one eye on proceedings at Ballymore.

“I don’t know what they’ll be doing but I’ll be having a wine, might even have a couple of beers tonight,” Schmidt said.

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H
Hellhound 49 minutes ago
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

4 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

27 Go to comments
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