Joe’s our man: James Slipper says Wallabies improvement under Joe Schmidt is astronomical
‘We’re keeping our head above water’: Joe Schmidt says the Wallabies are still far from the finished product.
Wallabies prop James Slipper believes Joe Schmidt has the side on track to replicate the dominance of Ireland, who he took to No. 1 in the world.
On the eve of Australia’s final Test match of 2024 in Dublin against the Irish on Saturday (early Sunday AEDT), Slipper said the improvement under Schmidt has been “astronomical”, following the disastrous World Cup campaign under Eddie Jones.
“I think the proof is in the pudding at the moment, from where we’ve come from last year in particular, that was a pretty tough year for us, and the growth in the squad in general has been astronomical,” Slipper said.
“We’ve missed a few games and (had) a few close results. But I think overall, our trajectory has been on the upward trend for performances itself, so I think Joe’s definitely our man.
“I can confidently say most of the rugby public back home are very confident that Joe’s the man to take us forward.”
Schmidt found a deflated and dejected playing group when he took over as Australia’s coach.
“The two wins over Portugal and Georgia but then big losses to the likes of Wales and missing out on the playoffs at the World Cup was very deflating and the players, they were quite fractured at the start,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt is only contracted until the end of the British & Irish Lions series, and will decide if he continues in the role next month.
The Lions series could be his finale, and if so Schmidt’s tenure would be judged on the outcome of that battle next July and August.
“I feel like I’m paddling hard but I’m not necessarily going forward but I think we’re keeping our head above water,” Schmidt said.
“We’ve demonstrated we can be competitive with some really top teams, 31-28 in the first Bledisloe Cup game, we led just before halftime.
“We have slipped off in a couple of second halves, which is frustrating, but at the same time we’re trying to build to 80-minute performances and we’re trying to build depth so that if we get a ripple like we did last week we can still try to stay on top of the water.
“I wouldn’t say flying through it but we are managing to keep our head above it. There’s been progress, I believe,” Schmidt said.
“We were quite confident in the progress we were making but sometimes when it’s not reflected on scoreboard results, there’s always an element of frustration,’’ the coach said.
“But the other thing, we just wanted to raise the profile and excitement around the game and we’ve had some really super messaging during this tour from people at home and really supporting the team and that’s a little bit of encouragement because it was very flat this time last year.”
Slipper, who will start at loosehead against Ireland. echoed the coach regarding support from Australia after the Wallabies were widely panned after the World Cup.
“We do get so much support from home, obviously there’s a lot of sports and it’s spoken about a lot, we’re a very competitive market in the sporting industry in Australia and the Wallabies is a very strong brand in that,” Slipper said.
“We’ve obviously had difficulties over the last past few years and that obviously hurts the support a little bit. But deep down, there’s a lot of support for us. And we do feel it, especially walking around Coogee, walking around Brisbane.
“We’ve had some massive, massive turnouts at stadiums at home this year and it was great and really helped us along. So we’re not going to sit here and think we don’t have any support at home because we know we do.”
Ireland vs Australia
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Sunday, 2.10am (AEDT)
Ireland: 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park 8. Caelan Doris (captain) 7. Josh van der Flier 6. Tadhg Beirne 5. James Ryan 4. Joe McCarthy 3. Finlay Bealham 2. Ronan Kelleher 1. Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16. Gus McCarthy 17. Cian Healy 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Peter O’Mahony 21. Craig Casey 22. Jack Crowley 23. Garry Ringrose
Australia: 15. Tom Wright 14. Andrew Kellaway 13. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii 12. Len Ikitau 11. Max Jorgensen 10. Noah Lolesio 9. Jake Gordon 8. Harry Wilson (captain) 7. Fraser McReight 6. Rob Valetini 5. Jeremy Williams 4. Nick Frost 3. Taniela Tupou 2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa 1. James Slipper.
Replacements: 16. Billy Pollard 17. Angus Bell 18. Allan Alaalatoa 19. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto 20. Langi Gleeson 21. Tate McDermott 22. Tane Edmed 23. Harry Potter.
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