Rugby Union – Rugby World Cup 2023 – Pool C – Australia vs Portugal – Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Saint-Etienne, France – October 1, 2023 Australia’s Matt Fessler’s reaction after the match REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
PARIS, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Australians are some of the most avid gamblers on the planet, which is perhaps why Australia’s worst Rugby World Cup campaign in history was built on two high-stakes decisions. Not surprising.
He hopes Australian Rugby chief executive Hamish McLennan’s first sacking of Dave Rennie in January and bringing back Eddie Jones as coach may pay off in the future. ing.
Jones’ second attempt to ditch the team’s experienced mainstay and roll the dice on younger players failed miserably as the Wallabies, currently ranked 10th in the world, were eliminated for the first time in the World Cup pool stage.
Bernard Foley, one of the experienced playmakers left out of the squad, posted on social media platform “Ta,” he posted.
Fiji’s bonus point defeat to Portugal on Sunday night put the final nail in the coffin, with the Wallabies now free to return home after a week in France preparing for a quarter-final they never had the chance to play. can.
Jones has pledged to remain under contract until the 2027 World Cup, to be held on home soil, unless he is released following a review by Rugby Australia in November. But his reputation has been badly tarnished over the last month, with Australian fans as well as French and Portuguese fans booing him every time his face appeared on screen during the final pool win over Portugal.
The 63-year-old has dominated the spotlight with his public comments, as it was clear he was trying to protect his young players from accusations over the collapse of their campaign.
Carving space for rugby on the back pages of Australian newspapers has been Jones’ goal from the moment he returned home in January to secure Australia’s third World Cup title in France.
At the time, this story had little credibility and sounded like the ramblings of a fantasist when Australia lost all five Tests in the run-up to the tournament.
The third gamble was that Jones selected talented newcomer Carter Gordon as the team’s only fly-half specialist, but Ben Donald was selected at fullback to compensate for the 22-year-old’s goal-kicking weaknesses. The fact that they had no choice but to use Son was immediately exposed.
training injuries
A comfortable 35-15 win over Georgia in the opening game greatly boosted morale in the camp, but the week before the second game against Fiji, captain Will Skelton and prop Taniela Tupou were injured during training. attacked.
This big duo is key to Jones’ plan to combine front-line power with back-line flair, and is not the only reason, but after the 22-15 loss to Fiji in Saint-Etienne, The 40-6 defeat against Wales in Lyon was a contributing factor.
Rugby Australia knows there are structural issues in the game that need to be resolved, and Jones is the man to take the Wallabies to the British & Irish Lions tour in 2025 and the World Cup in two years. It seems likely that trust will be maintained.
Jones accepted that his bet on youth was a “high risk”, but that the foundations of a decent team, forged in the fire and capable of competing with the big boys of the game again in the not-too-distant future, were in place. I thought it was done.
“This is just a continuation of what we’re doing,” he said last week. “Work hard, focus on developing the Australian style of rugby, players take more personal responsibility and the leadership group continues to grow. In nine months we will be a different team. There will be.”
Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Ken Ferris
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