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'There were some positives': Wallabies find silver lining in Springbok battering

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Some will say they’re clutching at straws but the Wallabies have found a silver lining to their 43-12 Rugby Championship mauling at the hands of Springboks.

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“It kind of shows how far off the mark we are,” halfback Nic White said of the pounding in Pretoria that has sent coach Eddie Jones back to the drawing board.

“It’s still a bitter pill to swallow … we’re not where we want to be – a long way off actually.

“There was no sugar-coating, we were straight into it after the game in areas that we weren’t up to scratch. We need to find answers.

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“Things didn’t go to plan. A bit of a baptism of fire out there. They’re a bloody good side, showed why they’re world champs and current World Cup holders.”

The honeymoon is well and truly over for Jones, the coach with the Midas touch who many billed as the saviour when Rugby Australia parachuted the 63-year-old in to replace the sacked Dave Rennie in January.

From failing to find touch from penalties to kicking out on the full in general play, turning over cheap possession and having two players yellow carded, White conceded the entire Wallabies performance was a horror show.

“But there were some positives out there,” White said.

“I know it’s hard to hear that right now but we’ve been together as a squad of 35 for, like, five sessions before that.

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“There were some things that we were well short of and we know that now.

“I’m not making excuses but we’re still finding a bit of clarity in the way we want to play.

“We were going up against the world champs there, a team that’s been together under the same staff, the same group of players for like eight years.

“They have real clarity in the way they want to play the game and it’s bloody hard to stop.”

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Jones has four more Tests to settle on his squad for the World Cup and fans will learn on Thursday if he makes wholesale changes for Saturday’s clash with the Michael Cheika-coached Argentina in Sydney.

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Winger Suliasi Vunivalu is in the firing line after a particularly poor starting debut in Pretoria.

Mark Nawaqanitawase would be an obvious replacement after enjoying an outstanding spring tour of Europe last November, while Andrew Kellaway is expected to be available for selection after recovering from injury.

Young gun Carter Gordon sparked the Wallabies after replacing playmaker Quade Cooper, who started strongly before being starved of ball against the rampant Springboks.

Jones is also sure to consider starting the lively Tate McDermott instead of White.

One player certain not to tackle the Pumas is Taniela Tupou, with Jones sending the powerhouse prop back to the Australia A team to play Tonga in Nuku’alofa on Friday night.

Tupou desperately needs game time after rupturing an achilles tendon on the spring tour.

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Comments

8 Comments
W
Willie 501 days ago

I didn't think it would take long to run "we only had 5 sessions" up the excuse flagpole.
Tight 5 pathetic and Skelton is certainly not the answer.
Backline alignment was school boyish.
Wallabies to beat a very poor Pumas.

c
carlos 501 days ago

I thought it was the Saffa B team….

m
mitch 501 days ago

What Eddie can't do is flog the team this week. They've just come back from SA playing a test at altitude. There's a lot to work on and fix but if this team gets flogged this week they'll run out of puff and hand the advantage to the Argies.

F
Flankly 501 days ago

Tough lessons, but Eddie learns fast and acts courageously. Wallabies will look a lot better against Argentina, and the Australia/NZ game will be much more competitive than the Australia/SA game.

It's obviously a stretch for them to claim they will win the RWC, but they will certainly up their game a lot by then. And Eddie will bring some surprises.

The Australia/Argentina game will be an interesting one. Hard to call a winner, because both teams will be addressing exposed weaknesses. But if I had to place a bet I would pick Eddie over Cheika. The bookies agree.

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Hellhound 53 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

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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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