Wallabies showed improved results in 2024 – but was it real? Or just another false dawn, asks Julian Linden
After a year in which the Wallabies showed improvement on the field and in their results, there’s room for real optimism for fans. But we’ve been here before, writes Julian Linden.
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Six wins, six losses.
The jury is still out on whether Rugby Australia really has turned the corner towards brighter days or is still just struggling to stay afloat after an up and down year in 2024.
To rugby’s ever faithful flock, 2024 was a year of massive improvement, offering renewed hope the Wallabies can get back the glory days after the unmitigated disaster of 2023 under Eddie Jones.
But for the doubters, who have grown tired of all the hollow promises, 2024 was just further proof that Australian rugby is delusional, preaching to all and sundry that things are getting better when everything suggests nothing much has changed.
Rugby writer Julian Linden looks back at the year that was.
THUMBS UP – The end of Fast Eddie
After Eddie Jones, the arrival of Joe Schmidt was just what the Wallabies needed. Unlike his divisive predecessor, Schmidt doesn’t say a lot in his rare public appearances, preferring the spotlight to be on the players rather than him. An old school pragmatist who just gets on with the job, the Kiwi made a good start to cleaning up the awful mess that Jones left behind after the 2023 World Cup debacle. The team’s results were mixed but mostly respectable.
THUMBS DOWN – At rock bottom
Despite the apparent on-field improvements, the Wallabies finished bottom of a full Rugby Championships for the first time. In six matches, their only win was a one-point victory over the Pumas courtesy of a late penalty as they crashed to losses in all of the other five games. It was the third time the Wallabies had finished dead last in the rugby championship but the first in a complete tournament. The other times were 2020, when South Africa pulled out because of Covid, and in 2023, which was reduced because it was a World Cup year.
THUMBS UP – Beating the Poms
If there was one match that reignited the true believers it was Australia’s heart-stopping 42-37 win over England at Twickenham. Beating the Poms never grows old but the Wallabies have not many moments to celebrate against the Old Enemy in recent times. The Aussies had lost 10 of their last 11 clashes against the English dating back to 2015, but broke the drought in a 79-point thriller capped by Max Jorgenson’s winning try after the siren.
THUMBS DOWN – Don’t cry for me
For all the progress made in 2024, there was one horrific result that almost undid most of the improvement. The 67-27 loss to Argentina in Santa Fe was a complete abomination. It was the heaviest defeat in Wallabies history but it was the manner of the capitulation that was most alarming. A week after beating the Pumas, the Australians led 20-3 after half an hour before the wheels fell off and they conceded nine tries in 50 minutes.
THUMBS UP – The $5 million man
Rugby Australia’s decision to empty the coffers to lure Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii from the NRL to rugby has been widely debated for the past year. Despite being put under enormous pressure to change his mind, the 21-year-old made good on his promise and proved an instant success, being named man of the match in his Wallabies Test debut in the win over England. He’s still got a lot to learn but the early signs all point to him being a good investment.
THUMBS DOWN – Bledisloe cup
In a two-horse race, this remains the eternal damnation of Australian rugby. It’s been more than two decades since the Wallabies held the Bledisloe Cup and the wait goes on. They came close to winning game one at the Olympic stadium in Sydney but didn’t show up in the return match in New Zealand. While the World Cup is the standard of global greatness, winning back the Bledisloe is the test the Wallabies need to pass to convince everyone they are the real deal.
THUMBS UP – Back of the pack
If big games are won by the contest for possession, the Wallabies have got plenty to look forward to after assembling their best back row in years. The pieces have been coming slowly but the jigsaw is now complete with Rob Valentini, Fraser McReight and Harry Wilson more than holding their own at the highest level.
THUMBS DOWN – Inconsistent selections
While the Wallabies now have a settled backrow, not much else about the side is decided. One of the biggest complaints about the last three Wallabies coaches, Jones, Dave Rennie and Michael Cheika, one of the consistent complaints was the chopping and changing of the team. For all his conservatism and detailed planning, Schmidt struggled all year long to figure out his best lineup. In 13 matches, Schmidt selected a total of 47 different players, including a record 19 debutants. His ever changing picks were all part of his grand plan to have the Wallabies challenge the British and Irish Lions in 2025 but the time to stick and pick has arrived.
THUMBS UP – Bums on seats
Wallabies fans are either the most loyal in sport or the most gullible. How else can you explain the huge numbers that turned out to watch them in 2024. Despite few seriously expecting the Wallabies to win, more than 68,000 people paid good money to watch the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney while 52,000 attended the first match against South Africa in Brisbane and 58,000 the second match against the world champions in Perth.
THUMBS DOWN – Paris Olympic disaster
Admittedly this didn’t involve the Wallabies but the Olympic sevens teams blew a golden opportunity to give the code a much-needed boost on the world stage. Unbeaten after the pool stages, both the Australian men’s and women’s team choked in the playoffs at the Paris Olympics, losing their semi-finals and bronze medal playoffs to miss the podium.
THUMBS UP – The top job
This doesn’t count on the scoreboard as a win for the Wallabies but arguably the most significant victory for Australian Rugby in 2024 was the election of former test flanker Brett Robinson as chair of World Rugby. The first chair from the southern hemisphere, the 54-year-old doctor was elected on a four-year term after campaigning for reform and an end to the bitter rivalries that have stalled the game’s attempts to expand.
Originally published as Wallabies showed improved results in 2024 – but was it real? Or just another false dawn, asks Julian Linden
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