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Wallabies dealt injury blow with winger to return home to Australia

Dylan Pietsch of Australia looks on 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 Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

Wallabies winger Dylan Pietsch will return home to Australia after suffering a calf injury in the thrilling 42-37 win over England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium. Josh Flook has been called into the squad as a replacement as the Wallabies prepare to face Wales in Cardiff.

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Pietsch was replaced in the 47th minute as the Wallabies clung to a two-point lead. The visitors extended their advantage about two minutes after the speedster was replaced by Max Jorgensen, with lock Jeremy Williams scoring a brilliant try along the left touchline.

While the Wallabies went on to claim victory after Jorgensen flew down that very same sideline in the 84th minute, they have been dealt a blow. Pietsch had shown signs of promise after earning a maiden Test start in the second Bledisloe Cup Test at Wellington’s Sky Stadium.

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The 26-year-old was among the Wallabies’ best during that loss to the All Blacks in New Zealand’s capital, with Stephen Hoiles later comparing Pietsch to two-time John Eales Medallist Marika Koroibete on Stan Sports’ Between Two Posts.

But, the Wallabies confirmed on Wednesday morning (AEST) that Pietsch would miss the rest of the team’s Grand Slam tour. Six-Test midfielder Flook returns to the nation’s top squad after suiting up at outside centre for the Australia XV in the draw with Bristol Bears.

“Dylan Pietsch picked up a calf injury against England and will return to Australia to begin his recovery,” the Wallabies’ Instagram post read.

“Josh Flook will join the squad in Cardiff.”

While Pietsch is now out of the picture for the remainder of the Wallabies’ international season, those still available will look ahead to three more Test matches during their Spring Tour. Australia will take on Wales and Scotland before finishing the year against Ireland in Dublin.

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For a team that only won one of their six matches during The Rugby Championship, last week’s win over England would have come as a major confidence boost. They showed resilience, flair, and an unwavering sense of determination to snap their hoodoo at the Twickenham venue.

 

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With that win now in the books, they’ll look to pile more misery onto Wales who haven’t won a Test match since last year’s Rugby World Cup. They’re on a 10-Test losing streak, with their only win since the sport’s showpiece event coming against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.

The Wallabies, even without Pietsch, will be full of belief going into this Test.

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“I’m not sure we’ve turned it around. I think we’re turning,” Schmidt told reporters after the win over England.

“Inevitably, progress is never linear, so there’ll be a few peaks and troughs on the way further forward, but I’ve found a really good bunch of people, both in the staff and in the playing group.

“The players can grow confidence in themselves. And I thought some of the skill exhibited, some of the things we’ve been working really hard on, were certainly visible, which gives us a bit of confidence, certainly gives the players a bit of confidence.

“I think there’s green shoots.”

Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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