Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'You've got two choices, bitch and moan and blame others or stick tight'

Noah Lolesio. (Photo by Steve Christo - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Noah Lolesio’s chance to nail down the Wallabies’ No.10 jersey will arrive against South Africa but assistant coach Dan McKellar is adamant the team’s Test fortunes will be decided elsewhere.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Brumbies five-eighth was overlooked for the two Tests in Argentina, a horror loss costing veteran No 10 James O’Connor his spot in the squad to face South Africa.

Bernard Foley, 32, has been recalled from Japanese rugby but it’s the man 10 years his junior who’s set to face the world champions at Adelaide Oval on Saturday ahead of next year’s World Cup.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

“He (Lolesio) was close to playing in Argentina but it’s a position where it hasn’t been nailed yet,” said McKellar, who has overseen the young playmaker’s rise at the Brumbies. “He gets his chance this week.

“He’s got Whitey (halfback Nic White) on his inside who he knows very well. There should be really good cohesion, now he just goes about doing his job.

“I think so, yeah (he can make the No 10 his own). My advice there is he doesn’t have to go out and think he needs to be the best player on the field, be man of the match.”

McKellar said Lolesio’s direction would be crucial but the Wallabies’ success would be measured by the forward pack’s ability to handle South Africa’s set piece.

ADVERTISEMENT

“There will be no surprises, although I shouldn’t say that, there may be one or two,” McKellar mused.

“Their big percentage is going to be around their set piece battle, set piece strategy, our ability to defuse it and look for an opportunity off the back of it. They’re very good at what they do, won a World Cup on the back of it. But as we’ve shown in the past, when we get our game right we can trouble them.

“It’s easy to talk about and put on a whiteboard … it’s about having the composure and skill set to execute that under pressure.”

Related

South Africa have lost their last seven Tests in Australia, their last victory coming in 2013.

McKellar isn’t fussed by that dominance though, particularly with the wounds of Argentina a fortnight ago still healing.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We were pretty filthy about how we performed in San Juan,” he said. “We didn’t win the collisions and didn’t have a thirst to win the collisions.

“You’ve got to stick tight; it’s Test footy, it’s hard. You’re always going to have these periods. You’ve got two choices, bitch and moan and blame others or stick tight, stick together and take on board the feedback.”

– Murray Wenzel

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 35 minutes ago
Let's be real about these All Blacks

I didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.


What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.


Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.


There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..

Whilst these All Blacks aren’t blowing teams off the park like during the 2010s, they are nuggety and resourceful and don’t wilt. They are prepared to win the hard way, accumulating points by any means necessary.

and..

The other top sides in the world struggled to put them away. France and South Africa both could have well been defeated on home soil.

I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍

57 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Lamb to the slaughter? Italy aim to 'get stuck into' All Blacks Lamb to the slaughter? Italy aim to 'get stuck into' All Blacks
Search