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Watch: A shell-shocked Eddie Jones reacts to Wallabies rout
By Ian Cameron
A clearly shaken Eddie Jones has outlined the key fixes the Wallabies need to make if they are get ‘back in the money’ after a disasterous opening day at the office for the new head coach.
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Australia suffered a crushing 43-12 defeat against South Africa in Pretoria, extending their miserable 60-year winless streak at Loftus Versfeld.
A downcast Jones told Stan Sport that he believes the Wallabies can get ‘back in the money’ against Argentina after what was a clearly disappointing day at the office.
“We just got beaten to the punch. We really got beaten in the set piece. We got beaten on the game line, we got beaten in the air and when you don’t win any of those contests, it’s gonna be a long day in the office, which it was for us today.
“There wasn’t too many positives today. But we went out there to play with a bit of pace and we were able to do that for 20 minutes but we weren’t able to convert any of the pressure we we put on the Springboks into points and then and then of course, the Springboks came back and every time they got an opportunity, they converted into points.
Jones was asked about the Wallabies’ worrying inability to win collisions against a super physical South African side.
“Yeah, well, it starts with the set piece. Once they’re on top of the set piece, and then they’ve got their big ball runners, and there’s no better team than South Africa, once they get an edge, to keep playing on top of you.
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“And look, you know, we’ve got we’ve got to identify the two or three areas and one certainly is the consistency of our setpiece. There are possibly opportunities for us to be more dominant in the lineout and we didn’t take advantage of that. Our scrum definitely needs to be a continual work on and then we’ve got to find ways to get over the gain line. So if we fix those against Argentina and we’ll be back in the money.”
Eddie Jones faces the music after a horror show of a first outing as Wallabies head coach ?
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Jones did single out Marika Koroibete for praise, the winger scoring a scintallating try in the opening minutes of the contest. He also lauded Carter Gordon who did well a difficult situation coming off the bench.
“I thought Marika was absolutely outstanding you know and and Carter coming on in his first test in a in a difficult situation show that he’s going to be upload future.”
Come on, altitude hasn't been a factor since Super Rugby teams travelled regularly to Africa. What doesn't change against the Boks is the need for decent props. Slipper and Ala'alatoa and the reserves were absolutely schooled. Expect to see Angus Bell and Taniela Toupou rushed back in. Bell in particular will make a difference. But the game did show what a great coach Dave Rennie was/is. Even though he never regularly had the cattle that Jones has (the likes of Skelton, Kerevi, Arnold) his teams were never monstered like that. And for all the criticism of Fossie for appointing Sam Cane captain when his starting position at 7 is not guaranteed, look at what Jones has done: on their performances against the Boks, co-captains Slipper and Hooper might both struggle to get a start.
Wait and see Wallabies will beat ABs which is Eddie’s big goal for this year and to beat England
Having lived and played in South Africa at altitude this was totally predictable. Without weeks if not months to get aclimatised to 5500 ft Above Sea Level they didn’t stand a chance.
Altitude is long dead as a reason. The ABs have won 4 out of 5 tests in Pretoria & in 2 of those they thrashed the Boks.
No disrepect but I don't buy into the altitude theory. I believe only 2 of the Springboks starting lineup lives at altitude. There rest are from coastal areas. Maybe it is more a mental thing or maybe the Ausssies are not fit. The game was over by half time.
It took us here in England some time to realise Eddie Jones is no messiah. When we did it took us even longer to actually get rid of him.
Best win rate of any England coach does not make him perfect, but at least more perfect than his predecessors. Write off Australia at your peril.
The current SA team is hard to beat, especially at home and at altitude. Quade Cooper could not get into the game, the backline was neutralized, and the Bok pack was always going to be a problem (especially. In the last 20). Additionally Australia had some real weaknesses (eg at right wing). It was a tough first assignment for Eddie, but he will steer Australia to better things.