Australia coach Jones ‘confident’ for Rugby World Cup despite France humbling
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has declared he remains ‘confident’ for the Rugby World Cup after Australia suffered a fifth-straight defeat.
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Australia head coach Eddie Jones said on Sunday he remained “confident” of his side’s chances at the Rugby World Cup despite suffering a heavy 41-17 loss to France, a fifth straight defeat since he took over.
The Wallabies, two-time World Cup winners, start their tournament against Georgia on September 8 but have yet to win since Jones took over at the start of the year.
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“Within the camp we have a fair bit of confidence,” Jones told reporters.
“We’d like to have a better win/loss record.” “We’re trying to play a different way and the results haven’t been good enough but we do have a long term plan for the World Cup and that’s what we’re here for,” he added.
In the French capital young fly-half Carter Gordon had a difficult game from the tee, wasting 10 points on his fifth Test appearance.
The 22-year-old was one of 12 players in Australia’s matchday squad with 10 caps or fewer.
“It’s 100% a concern. But all we can do is work with the young kid,” Jones said.
“We’ve got young kids in this team and we’re backing them, and he’ll get better.” One positive for the colourful 63-year-old was winger Suliasi Vunivali’s try-scoring performance.
“I was thinking about a number of players that are improving and Suli’s one,” Jones said.
“He scored one good try, could have scored a couple more. He looked like he was ready to play at the highest level.” Jones returned for a second stint as Australia coach after being sacked by England late last year.
On Saturday, his former side were beaten for the first time by Fiji, who the Wallabies face on September 17 in a potentially crucial World Cup group game.
“It was fantastic,” Jones said. “It adds even more flavour to the competition. “This could be the World Cup that no-one will ever forget.”
Meanwhile, France head coach Fabien Galthie said France must “go up another level” after breezing past Australia 41-17 in their final Rugby World Cup warm-up on Sunday.
Winger Damian Penaud crossed twice within the space of 20 minutes during the second half for tournament hosts and leading contenders Les Bleus, who were never really threatened by the Wallabies.
Galthie’s side open the World Cup by welcoming three-time winners New Zealand to the Stade de France on September 8, a day before Australia face Georgia at the same venue.
“It was a warm-up game, it allowed us to develop,” Galthie told TF1. “But now we have to move on and go into competition mode. We have to go up a level across all factors,” he added.
Matthieu Jalibert started at fly-half for the home side in a line-up which is also expected to face the All Blacks early next month.
Lock Will Skelton captained the Wallabies for the first time as they looked for their maiden victory in four games under Eddie Jones.
After two minutes, Australia fly-half Carter Gordon missed a penalty from 45m in overcast conditions in northern Paris.
Things worsened for the Melbourne Rebels playmaker on just his fifth Test appearance as Les Bleus centre Jonathan Danty crashed through him to open the scoring after a flat Antoine Dupont pass.
France fullback Thomas Ramos slotted the conversion to make it 7-0 before the visitors then responded.
Gordon helped set-up winger Mark Nawaqanitawase in the corner but 22-year-old fly-half missed the conversion.
By the interval, Ramos had pushed his side’s advantage to 16-5 with three penalties as Gordon failed with another attempt.
Despite the lead, France looked sluggish compared to a majority of their performances since Galthie took over as head coach in December 2019.
Galthie reacted by changing his front five after 48 minutes and was rewarded shortly after as replacement lock Cameron Woki stole a dangerous Wallabies lineout.
Australia winger Suliasi Vunivalu was then sent to the sin bin and Ramos made it 19-5 with 27 minutes to play.
France’s tails were up as captain Dupont underlined his brilliance with his second assist of the game, a delicate cross kick, to set up Penaud after Jalibert had tested the Australia defence.
Ramos slotted the extras and with the score at 26-5 the Stade de France crowd burst into life before Dupont left the field after an hour, the hosts protecting him less than two weeks out from meeting with the All Blacks.
There was short-lived hope for Jones’ side through flanker Fraser McReight’s 63rd-minute try before Gabin Villiere crossed for the hosts, after another lovely cross kick, this time by Jalibert, looking comfortable as the man in France’s No. 10 shirt.
Penaud kept his best effort for six minutes before time with a sublime solo try starting from the halfway line, almost as good as his matchwinning touchdown against the same opponents in November.
Jones’ men finished on a positive note as winger Vunivalu, standing in for the rested Marika Koroibete, dotted down with three minutes left.
Originally published as Australia coach Jones ‘confident’ for Rugby World Cup despite France humbling
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