Wallabies ignored in dream team selection as world class Ireland await in season finale
Joe Schmidt hopes supporters can see the growth in his team despite another World Rugby dream team snubbing and a disappointing loss to Scotland. Meanwhile Aussie Maddison Levi is celebrated on the world stage.
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FOR the second successive year, no Wallabies player has made the World Rugby dream team and the strength of their rebuilding year comes down to a clash against an Ireland side with four of the best on the planet.
Ireland lock Tadhg Beirne, No.8 Caelan Doris, halfback Jamison Gibson-Park and winger James Lowe were all named in the dream team overnight, with only South Africa’s seven players including world player of the year Pieter-Steph du Toit having more representation at the awards night in Monaco.
Introduced in 2021, the dream team featured Wallabies Michael Hooper and then Marika Koroibete in the first two years, but Australia have been unable to produce a world’s best in their position according to a judging panel that includes Drew Mitchell, Victor Matfield, Kieran Read and Thierry Dusautoir.
With the 27-13 loss to Scotland ending their Grand Slam hopes, Joe Schmidt’s side heads to Dublin for their final game of 2024 and it will be the most definitive indication as to how they’re placed against the touring British & Irish Lions next year, to be guided by Ireland coach Andy Farrell.
Beirne, Doris, Gibson-Park and Lowe are set to be among the many Irish stars included in the touring party, and the Wallabies need a strong showing to build confidence after a rollercoaster year.
The Wallabies won their early season Tests against Wales and Georgia, then finished last in The Rugby Championship that saw them lose by a record score to Argentina, before they bounced back to defeat England and Wales.
However, the loss to Scotland identified some key weaknesses – most visibly their lack of cohesion at the breakdown and lineouts – which Farrell will be keen to exploit to create anxiety for the 2025 series.
The supreme XV of 2024 âš”ï¸
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) November 24, 2024
Presenting the Men's 15s Dream Team of the Year #WorldRugbyAwardspic.twitter.com/4Ub6KiK2Za
The Wallabies weren’t helped in Edinburgh by the late withdrawals of hooker Matt Faessler and lock Jeremy Williams, while the absence of star flanker Fraser McReight was obvious.
“What I’m hoping is that people do see it as a real contest next July (against the Lions) because I think we’re building a little bit of momentum and I always said from the start it would never be linear because high performance, it just isn’t,” Schmidt said after his team’s sixth defeat from 12 games this year.
“There’s going to be days where it doesn’t go as well as you’d like it to go and, again, they’re not excuses, they’re just reasons for why we were a little bit out of kilter. We lacked a bit of our cohesion from the last two weeks when we lost a couple of guys, a hooker and a lock.
“That’s a little bit of our cohesion up front in the lead up and I thought on the back of that our start was still really positive so there are no excuses, but Scotland are a good side and hopefully people can still see that there’s some quality starting to be built through on Australian side that’s actually starting to show a bit of depth, albeit with some pretty inexperienced players.
“The front row, probably a dozen caps between them to finish the game (Isaac Kailea, Billy Pollard and Zane Nonggorr). That’s a big ask for those young men but exciting for us to start getting them involved because that’s a bit of the long-term project.”
Wallabies captain Harry Wilson reiterated the importance of finishing strong in Dublin on Sunday (2.10am AEDT).
“I think we’re getting some positive results and everyone back home sees we’re heading in the right direction, and for us it’s now obviously a disappointing performance today but we’ve got such a good opportunity next week to finish on a high note and for what is a very, very exciting 2025,” Wilson said.
Australia was represented in the Sevens awards, with Maddison Levi winning women’s player of the year, the St George Illawarra Dragons’ new NRL recruit Nathan Lawson named in the men’s dream team, and Olympian Emilee Cherry inducted into the Hall of Fame.
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Australia's record-breaking try-scorer 🇦🇺
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) November 24, 2024
Congratulations to Maddi Levi, the Women's Sevens Player of the Year, in partnership with HSBC#WorldRugbyAwardspic.twitter.com/KAvyhHFoQ8
Originally published as Wallabies ignored in dream team selection as world class Ireland await in season finale