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‘A bit of a process’: Why Eddie Jones believes the Wallabies will ‘get it right’

Tom Wright of the Wallabies (C) looks on following The Rugby Championship match between the Australia Wallabies and Argentina at CommBank Stadium on July 15, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)

Coach Eddie Jones is confident that the Wallabies will “get it right” after showing plenty of fight and character during their thrilling 31-34 loss to Los Pumas in Sydney.

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Unfortunately for the Wallabies and their fans, the history books will show that the men in gold started their new era under coach Jones with back-to-back defeats.

After losing to the world champion Springboks in Pretoria last weekend, the Wallabies returned home to Australia for their first Test of the year on home soil.

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For the second week in a row, the Wallabies started quite well. Centre Len Ikitau scored the opening try inside the opening 10 minutes, but left the field shortly after with an injury.

This was the first of two major turning points.

Towering lock Richie Arnold was yellow-carded later in the half. Los Pumas had already scored 10 unanswered points by that stage, and they didn’t look like slowing down.

Captain Julian Montoya scored just after the break to put the visitors ahead for the first time, and they remained in a fight for the rest of the contest.

But against the run of play, Australian winger Mark Nawaqanitawase went coast-to-coast to give the hosts the lead with less than five minutes to play. In the NFL they’d call that a ‘pick six.’

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The thrilling Test was ultimately decided by a 79th-minute try to Los Pumas backrower Juan Martin Gonzalez. The Argentine fans in attendance went berserk.

The Australians were stunned, but as Jones said post-game, it’s not all “doom and gloom.” Reflecting on the match, the legendary coach was visibly proud of the Wallabies’ effort.

“We kept fighting mate, we kept fighting. It was one of those games where it’s sitting on the table and one team’s going to grab it,” Jones told reporters after the match,” he added.

“We thought we grabbed it and they grabbed it back, and we got beaten at the end.

“Our set-piece was good, last week our set-piece wasn’t good. We’re a bit like a broken car… last week our set piece wasn’t good, this week our set piece was good. Last week we didn’t attack, this week we did.

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“This is a bit of a process that we’ve got to go through, as painful as it is and as hard as it is. It seems like where we want to be, the team we are today is a long way away from the team we want to be tomorrow.

“We’ll keep working on it and we’ll get it right.”

With upcoming Tests against the All Blacks and France before the start of this year’s Rugby World Cup, there’s a real possibility that the men gold could go 0-5 before the sport’s biggest event.

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On the flip side of that very same coin though, the Wallabies could make a statement in those three Test matches – which includes a home and away fixture against the red-hot All Blacks.

But Jones isn’t panicking.

“100 per cent confident mate. At the moment it seems like we’re miles away from where we need to be but all of this is going to make us harder and more hungry to get it right.

“We’re a team that needs to change, we know that, and that’s the reason I’m here in the job.

“We’re not seeing the change in terms of results at the moment but we’ll see that.”

The Wallabies host fierce rivals New Zealand in a highly anticipated Bledisloe Cup clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground later this month.

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H
Hellhound 35 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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