LONG READ Key Wallabies trio running hot a year after being left in cold

It was only last month I started a column with the well-worn phrase, ‘what a difference a year makes’, and here I am again.

Actually, a bit more than a year in this case. Sunday, 24 September 2023, in the southern French city of Lyon, is a date and location Australian rugby fans are unlikely to forget in a hurry; the darkest day in their Rugby World Cup history, and a result that quickly rendered the Wallabies’ campaign all but over.

Even just typing ‘Wales 40 Australia 6’ still sends chills down the spine. Clearly, the memory remains raw.

A second Ben Donaldson penalty got the Wallabies back to within a point of Wales by the 14^th minute that night at the OL Stadium, but little did Australian supporters realise that 7-6 scoreline was as good as things would get.

Wales ran in two more tries and 33 unanswered points from that point including six penalties and a drop-goal  from Gareth Anscombe, as all of Eddie Jones’ planning and campaigning was consigned to history. So was his tenure as Wallabies coach, as it turned out.

Fast-forward almost 14 months from that fateful day and it’s genuinely incredible to see what a difference that year really has made.

A new coach has the Wallabies playing a style that makes sense and fits the playing group, and more importantly, is not radically different to the style they played with last week, or The Rugby Championship, for that matter. It’s amazing what sticking to a plan can do for team morale and confidence.

All three of Wright, Ikitau and Lolesio are playing superb rugby at this moment, maybe even the best they’ve played in a Wallabies jersey

Australia have recorded a third win over Wales in four months and a 66-point turnaround from Lyon that was about as emphatic as it gets.

But what might be the most remarkable aspect within the Wallabies’ 2024 rebuild under Joe Schmidt is that among the names standing out – the Valetinis, Bells, McReights, Frosts and Salakaia-Lotos, and latterly the Suaaliis – it’s the presence of three backline players getting better with every outing that has given Australian fans ‘all the feels’ this international season.

Tom Wright. Len Ikitau. Noah Lolesio.

All three of them are playing superb rugby at this moment, maybe even the best they’ve played in a Wallabies jersey. All three are backed to do a particular job within the Schmidt game-plan, and are just getting on with it. And all three are shining after being left to their own devices during the World Cup last year. It’s just great to see.

There’s been one common question asked among Wallabies fans over this last week and a bit, and it’s only been asked more after Australia backed up the inspirational win over England at Twickenham with sheer domination of Wales in Cardiff:

Why on earth was Len Ikitau left out of the RWC squad?

It’s a question only one man can honestly answer, and so far, he has yet to do that. It will remain one of Australian rugby’s great mysteries until he does.

Whatever the reasoning, Ikitau has simply moved on and in turning out the performances he has against England and Wales in consecutive weeks, is making his non-selection only look more farcical by the week.

If Twickenham was all about what was quickly dubbed the ‘Flickitau’, Cardiff a week later became the ‘Stepitau’

Shifted in one spot to inside centre against England, to accommodate Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on debut at 13, Ikitau was simply brilliant. His defensive prowess remained unaffected, despite having less time and space to make the defensive decisions needed, and he provided the perfect midfield conduit in attack between the halves and the outside backs.

His flick-pass to put Max Jorgensen away down the left edge at Twickenham for the match-winner will be part of rugby promos in Australia for years to come; it’s already done multiple laps of the social media world.

But if Twickenham was all about what was quickly dubbed the ‘Flickitau’, Cardiff a week later became the ‘Stepitau’.

Attacking the Welsh line to the right-hand upright, Lolesio called Ikitau around to the open side and set off in the face of three red jerseys, albeit a fractured line. As Lolesio drew in the middle defender, Wright was on his outside steaming through a massive gap, and could easily have had his hat-trick five minutes earlier than he did, under the posts untouched.

In the end, Lolesio found Ikitau on the outside loop, who now only had Welsh full-back Cameron Winnett in front of him.

Winnett was already committed to the inside by the time the ball got to Ikitau, effectively putting the Australian on his outside. Ikitau dummied to no-one on the outside, Winnett over-committed back out, Ikitau feigned to the inside, and the two of them engaged in a split-second battle of zig and zag, before Winnett ultimately threw his head down in defeat as Ikitau strolled around on the outside to score one of the great Wallabies tries of 2024.

Ikitau has always been able to find a camera when he scores runaway tries, and he didn’t miss this time either. In fact, after Wright blew kisses into the crowd after running in the first of his three tries, more than a few Wallabies fans wondered if the gestures might have been aimed squarely at Jones. It’s an interesting thought, but might also be a bit of a stretch.

Wright in this current vein of form is genuinely one of the most dangerous players in the game right now

Wright did get his third eventually, following up his 70-metre intercept try early in the second half with a broken play special in the 80^th minute after supporting Tate McDermott’s turnover back near the Wallabies’ 22.

The Brumbies and Wallabies full-back was named the official player of the match, but like Suaalii last week, it could easily have been any of half-a-dozen team-mates. A hat-trick of tries, all run in from distance, certainly makes for a decent highlights reel, however, and Wright in this current vein of form is genuinely one of the most dangerous players in the game right now.

Amazing also what a coach’s backing can do for a player’s confidence, isn’t it? Wright has had it at the Brumbies for two full seasons and has been tearing it up at Super Rugby level ever since, and now he’s doing exactly the same for Joe Schmidt and the Wallabies.

The big improver among the three might be Lolesio, though.

Since Australia headed to the UK and Ireland for the northern Autumn, Schmidt has massaged the attacking shape into one that is playing wider. Much of the attack, the defence-beating and the line-breaking is coming out near the 15m ‘tram line’ as the Wallabies spread quick ball aimed at getting outside the blitz defence.

Central to this width has been Lolesio, who Schmidt has got playing a lot flatter and wider, and tasked simply with being the distributor for the outside channels. This pattern doesn’t need Lolesio to be the creator, it just needs him to steer the team to a position from which the creating can happen out wide.

Lolesio is playing with a confidence we’ve not seen much of at Test level…he’s enjoying the freedom to play the way the coach knows he can within the system

This is seen in the stats too, where against Wales, Lolesio threw the most passes for the Wallabies outside the scrum-halves, with Ikitau and Wright both high in the passing tally too.

But Lolesio is also picking his moments to run in this pattern, averaging nearly four metres from 11 carries in the match, with a line break and a beaten defender, a couple of offloads and the assist for Ikitau’s try.

He’s playing with a confidence we’ve not seen much of at Test level, and it’s noticeable to see opinions among Wallabies fans changing over these last few weeks too. Again, he’s enjoying the freedom to play the way the coach knows he can within the system and designed to enhance this team’s attacking capabilities.

With all this new-found confidence, it’s not surprising to see the lift in news coverage for the Wallabies back in Australia right now. Certainly, these November Tests fall in a sweet spot of the sporting calendar, where the NRL and AFL are long finished and just trying to find any headline they can, and Test cricket is yet to start.

Throw a winning Wallabies into this sporting news void, and voilà! Rugby has been filling the bulletins and back pages so much that high-ranking and thin-skinned rugby league types with their noses out of joint have resorted to begging their media and broadcast partners to tone it down a smidge.

But so they should be getting the coverage. The victories over England and Wales were the first consecutive wins outside Australia since the 2019 RWC in Japan, and outside that tournament, the first time since November 2017.

Beat Scotland this weekend, and it will be the first time since beating Wales, Scotland and France in consecutive weeks in November 2016 that the Wallabies have won three straight on foreign soil.

Scotland this weekend was always going to be, and will now definitely be, the true test for this Australian squad, and the true test of Schmidt’s methods and structures with this playing group.

Concerns about Australian competitiveness are disappearing every day, and whatever the Wallabies do over these next two weeks in Edinburgh and Dublin is entirely up to them

Their ball-carrying effectiveness, and their shape and structures in attack, is looking more Irish by the day, and that’s a very welcome development given where they sit currently.

Ikitau, Wright and Lolesio highlight the enjoyment that is present in this Wallabies camp currently, and Schmidt has the squad playing in a way that looks like they don’t have a care in the world.

Right now, the rugby world is at their feet. Concerns about Australian competitiveness are disappearing every day, and whatever the Wallabies do over these next two weeks in Edinburgh and Dublin is entirely up to them.

But it’s certainly fitting that the guys leading the charge are running so hot little more than a year after being left out in the cold.