Wallabies planning marathon end of season tour to Europe to prepare for 2023 World Cup
RUGBY CONFIDENTIAL: Ask any true rugby fan and they’ll tell you the constant intervention by officials is ruining the game as a spectacle but the sport’s clueless law makers won’t listen.
Wallabies
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After failing to win any of their three matches on last year’s European Spring tour, the Wallabies are going all out to make amends this season.
The Wallabies have already locked in three end of season Tests in Europe, against France (November 5), Italy (November 12) and Ireland (November 19) but are in negotiations to add two more fixtures.
If everything goes according to plan, the Wallabies will kickstart their gruelling five game tour against Scotland a week before heading to Paris then finish with an extra game against Wales in Cardiff in November.
The only Six Nations’ side they won’t face on the tour is England, who are coming to Australia in July for three Tests.
The idea behind the extended trip is to prepare the Wallabies for next year’s World Cup in France which will span a marathon 50 days – the longest ever in the tournament’s 36-year history.
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TRICKY SELECTIONS
Including the six Rugby Championship clashes against New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina, the Wallabies will play 14 Tests in 2022, giving coach Dave Rennie plenty of chances to tinker with his line-ups ahead of the 2023 World Cup.
He will need it because there’s still a lot of positions up for grabs, including the key role of playmaker, and he’s made no secret of the fact he wants to test as many players as possible with the World Cup now just 17 months away.
Quade Cooper surprised all the doubters with his inspiring comeback last season but James O’Connor has emerged as the frontrunner to wear the No. 10 jersey against England after impressing Rennie with his displays for Queensland while Noah Lolesio and Ben Donaldson remain in the frame to get their shot once they return from injury.
DISCIPLINE
To put it mildly, the Wallabies haven’t had a lot of luck with referees in the past two seasons, more often than not copping the rough end of the stick from overzealous whistleblowers and video assistants.
Although he later apologised, Rennie was right on the money when he described the match officials as “horrendous” after the Wallabies’ controversial loss to Wales last year.
Ask any true rugby fan and they’ll tell you the constant intervention by officials is ruining the game as a spectacle but the sport’s clueless law makers are adamant the pedantic rules are here to stay so the Wallabies need to adapt.
The early indications from this season’s stop-start Super Rugby matches suggest the message is still not getting through with stacks of players getting carded for all manner of trivial offences.
The diplomatic version of Rennie says the problem is easily fixed – with players simply needing to adjust their techniques – but he’s also under no illusions that curbing their natural competitive instincts to fit in with the code’s nanny-state laws is one of the biggest challenges for his players going forward.
STORM THE FIELD
As a born and bred Sydneysider who has a keen interest in a lot of different sports, Aussie captain Michael Hooper can’t hide his excitement at the prospect of the Wallabies returning to the SCG this year.
‘Hoops’ wasn’t born the last time the Wallabies ran on to Sydney’s most hallowed turf way back in 1986 – against Argentina – but he could get the chance on July 16 when Australia tackles England in the final match of their three Test Cook Cup series.
Apart from a win, Hooper’s biggest wish is that security will allow the crowd to swarm the field just as they did when Lance Franklin booted his 1000th goal for the Swans last month.
“It would be epic, wouldn’t it?” Hooper said.
“We haven’t played in Sydney for a long time. We’ve been starved of games in the city. Selfishly, it’s my home state and city so it would be great to get there for this one at least.
“I can’t wait, a full house there is going to be epic. It makes for some cracking photos with the old stands behind everything.”
LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE SACK? WALLABIES ULTIMATE MOTIVATOR
No-one in Australia will shed a tear if Eddie Jones gets the sack as England coach later this year.
If he does get the punt, it will only mean one thing — his long winning streak against the Wallabies has come to a shuddering halt and he’s had to pay the ultimate price.
The former Wallabies coach has led the Poms to eight straight victories against his old team and loved every minute of it – smirking each time he rubs more salt into Australia‘s wounds.
But all of sudden, Jones is under immense pressure to keep his job after the English bombed out in the last two Six Nations’ championships.
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Jones has been told his future is safe for now but promises don’t count for much in professional rugby and everyone knows he could easily get the chop if England lose their three Test series against the Wallabies in July.
The one thing Jones can count on is that nobody in Australian rugby will have any sympathy for him because the Wallabies want nothing more than to end their losing streak against the Poms, which dates back to 2015, and win back the Cook Cup.
“We talk about getting silverware back on our mantles,” Wallabies captain Michael Hooper said. “That‘s why we’re here.”
Hooper said he hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the criticism Jones was getting back in England but is all too aware of the fine margin between winning and losing at the highest level.
“Every Test match is hard to win and you have to be on,” he said
“You make mistakes, the other team can capitalise so well the way things are playing out in Test rugby, there are little margins or momentum swings. I‘m sure that was the case in all of those Six Nations’ games.
“You call them upsets, but I don’t think they’re upsets anymore. If you’re off on your day, you can lose a game and that’s how close the top 10 sides also are in the world at the moment.”
Jones is a master of mind games, but opposition teams have grown used to his tactics.
The Wallabies’ boss Dave Rennie is an old school coach who prefers to do his talking on the field and is expecting Jones will be thinking the same way during the July series.
“He’s got massive experience, he’s the most experienced international coach in the world so a smart man, and they’re a team that’s really well resourced.”
The three match series against England will not only kick start the Wallabies’ 2023 season but also marks the launch of the long lead into the 2023 World Cup in France.
The Wallabies have struggled since reaching the 2015 World Cup final but Hooper remains confident they are building well towards France.
“You look at 2020, that was where we started, and then last year we improved on that,” he said.
“The expectations of our group is to improve again this year. If we can do that into the following year, then we’re looking pretty good come 2023.
“We need to improve and we want to improve and there’s a lot of energy going into that. Historically at the last World Cup, no one had lost a game to win a World Cup and South Africa did that.”
Wallabies v England Series
Wallabies v England, Saturday 2 July, at Optus Stadium, Perth
Wallabies v England, Saturday 9 July, at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Wallabies v England, Saturday 16 July, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Wallaroos fixtures
Wallaroos v Fijiana, Friday 6 May, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Wallaroos v Japan, Tuesday 10 May, Bond University, Gold Coast