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Joe Schmidt’s candid take on whether Wallabies are trending the right way

A dejected Allan Alaalatoa of Australia looks on following during The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies at Sky Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Head coach Joe Schmidt remains confident the Wallabies are trending in the right direction despite their last-placed finish in The Rugby Championship. South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand all recorded big wins over Australia during the six-round competition.

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The Wallabies’ most recent defeat came across the ditch at Wellington’s Sky Stadium, with the men in gold failing to maintain a red-hot start. Noah Lolesio scored the visitor’s last points in the 36th minute, while the men in black ran riot in the nation’s capital.

Wing Caleb Clarke scored just before the half-time break to give the All Blacks the lead, and it was an advantage they’d never surrender. Tamaiti Williams and Clarke scored a try each in the second term to help the New Zealanders run away with a 33-13 win.

That was the All Blacks’ first win in Windy Wellington since 2018.

The All Blacks made sure to celebrate Sam Cane’s 100th Test and TJ Perenara’s final international appearance on home soil with an incredibly loud haka. That celebration was heard from the post-match press conference room as the Wallabies’ coach and captain spoke.

While the New Zealanders were joyous and generally in good spirits after the Test, it wasn’t the same story for some of the Aussie players who were hurting after that loss. But their coach, Schmidt, is still positive about the direction of this side.

“Yeah, it does,” Schmidt told reporters in Wellington when asked if the Wallabies are trending in the right direction.

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“We had that one half in Argentina that was pretty tough to take but the first half we led and Argentina are a very good side. Obviously, semi-finalists last year, they won here in Wellington which is more than we managed to do.

“On the back of last week, a three-point margin is skinny enough and even today, as I said, we probably rolled up our sleeves up sufficiently to maybe deserve one more try but you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you earn and we didn’t put it down over the line.

Match Summary

0
Penalty Goals
2
5
Tries
1
4
Conversions
1
0
Drop Goals
0
155
Carries
143
9
Line Breaks
4
12
Turnovers Lost
15
9
Turnovers Won
5

“As a group of coaches we’re pretty hard on ourselves; are we managing to get what we need from the group and have we got the right group? There’s a number of things we’ll reflect on.

“There are a number of positives over the last, certainly four weeks and even the last two weeks against the All Blacks.”

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The Wallabies started their new era under Schmidt with three wins on the trot during the July window, but they’ve since won just one of their last six. That will see them carry the underdog tag into most of their Tests on what promises to be an intriguing Spring Tour.

Australia will take on traditional rivals England at Allianz Stadium (formerly known as Twickenham) in the early hours of November 10 (AEST). They’ll also take on Wales, Scotland and Ireland as they ramp up preparation for next year’s British & Irish Lions Tour.

The best players from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland will band together for a blockbuster three-Test series Down Under, as well as some other matches. Whether or not the Wallabies can compete with some of the best players from up north remains to be seen.

“Going north is for us still about building depth because that was this year’s big project was about building depth,” Schmidt explained.

“We’ve had 16 debutants and a new leader and Harry’s done very, very well.

“Those four Test matches, they make up the Lions for next year so we get a good look at their personnel. Some of them I still know from having coached them. I know them well and I know how good they are.

“It’s a bit like when we come up against the All Blacks, you know it’s going to be a really tough tour, but if we can keep building through that tour, then I think we put ourselves in a position of potentially being competitive next July.”

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Comments

4 Comments
L
Lulu 95 days ago

There has been an improvement. Have to stick with Joe and start selecting overseas based players. If it's a tight call go with home-based player. Wallabies just dont have the cattle.The S.A. model is a good one to follow. Alot of players coming back home to play.

A
AM 96 days ago

Wallabies wont win without selecting OS players and forming better relationships with OS clubs like Rassie did with SA. The blueprint is there but Joe seems too daft to do it. They have tried the policy of supporting domestic players for a decade too long.


A team with Skelton, Philip, Arnold Bros, Samu, Kerevi, Hodge, Ainsley, Sio, Latu and others far more durable and can win more often.

O
OJohn 96 days ago

When you are picking up a million Australian dollars a year for being completely useless, one would say that.

C
ClintP 96 days ago

Time to pick up the phone and call Tane Edmed, he’s playing way better than any Australian right now, he’s hardly “overseas “ , only a three hour flight away in NZ. Tim Ryan needs to get a call too, to wait for him to “bulk up” is a mistake, he’s already bigger than some, Cheslin Kolbe for example who’s size is hardly holding him back.

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JW 12 hours ago
The Fergus Burke test and rugby's free market

I can guarantee that none of the three would have got a chance with Ireland in the state they arrived from NZ.

Why would you think they would?

Two of them were at Leinster and were bench-warmers when they arrived

Sometimes you can be beyond stupid JW.

Haha look who's talking! Hello? Can you just read what you wrote about Leinster to yourself again please lol

It took prob four seasons to get James Lowe's defence up to the required standard to play international footy. If Jacob Stockdale had not experienced a big slump in form he might not have gotten the chance at all.

I'm really not sure why you're making this point. Do you think Ireland are a better team than the All Blacks, where those players would have been straight in? This is like ground hog day the movie with you. Can you not remember much of the discussions, having so many readers/commentors? Yup, 26/7/8 would have been the perfect age for them to have been capped by NZ as well.


Actually, they would obviously have been capped given an opportunity earlier (where they were ineligible to for Ireland).


TTT, who was behind JGP at the Hurricanes, got three AB caps after a couple of further seasons acting as a backup SR player, once JGP left of course. In case you didn't see yourself contradicting your own comments above, JGP was just another player who became first choice for Ireland while 2nd (or even 3rd/outside the 23 in recent cases) for Leinster. And fair enough, no one is suggesting JGP would have surpassed TJP in three or four years either. He would have been an All Black though, and unlike in your Leinster example, similar performances from him would have seen TJP move on earlier to make way for him. Not limited him like he was in Ireland. That's just the advantage of the way they can only afford so many. Hell, one hit wonders like Seta Tamanivalu and Malakai Fekitoa got rocketed into the jersey at the time.


So not just him. Aki and Lowe both would have had opportunities, as you must know has been pointed out by now. It's true that the adversity of having to move to Ireland added a nice bit of mongrel to their game though, along with their typical development.


Aki looked comfortable as the main 12 in his first two seasons, he was fortunate SBW went back to league for a season you could say, but as a similar specialist he ultimate had to give the spot back again on his return. There's certainly no doubt he would have returned and flourished with coachs like Rennie, Wayne Smith, and Andrew Strawbridge, even Tom Coventry. All fair for him to take up an immediate contract instead of wait a year of course though.


It's just whatever the point of your comments are meant to make, your idea that these players wouldn't have achieved high honors in NZ is simply very shortsighted and simplistic. I can only think you are making incorrect conclusions about this topic because of this mistake. As a fan, Aki was looking to be the Nonu replacement for me, but instead the country had the likes of Laumape trying to fill those boots with him available. Ditto with Lowe once Rieko moved to center.

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