'We can be a bloody good team': Eddie says he got selection right and Wallabies can still be RWC threat

As Eddie Jones took “full responsibility” for his side’s Bledisloe failure, the Wallabies coach defended his selection policy while also saying he believed there was enough in his side’s performance to suggest they can make a World Cup surge.

Despite leading 7-5 at the half-hour mark of their Bledisloe opener at the MCG, the Wallabies trailed 19-7 at half-time before conceding three more second-half tries to go down 38-7 in front of 83,944 fans.

The defeat was the Wallabies’ third straight loss to start Jones’ second tenure in charge of the national team, having been parachuted in to replace Dave Rennie in January.

Eddie Jones says the Wallabies can turn around their winless start to 2023 to emerge as a World Cup threat. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Jones’ side was left to rue three key moments in the match, with Carter Gordon’s kick restart late in the first half allowing the All Blacks another chance to post more points on the stroke of half-time.

The Wallabies then squandered several opportunities to hit back early in the second half, as the All Blacks’ defence held the home side out on their tryline.

To rub salt into the wound, the All Blacks didn’t need a second invitation following Taniela Tupou’s yellow card for a high shot as Caleb Clarke scored the visitors’ fourth try.

Two more quickly came, as the All Blacks blew the score out with the Wallabies down to 14 men to seal the Bledisloe Cup for a 21st straight year.

“I think the scoreline flattered us, to be perfectly honest,” All Blacks coach Ian Foster said.

“We clearly deserved the win but I thought there was enough in that Aussie performance they will take away some good points from that. But they will regret they couldn’t put prolonged periods of pressure on us.”

Indeed, Jones highlighted the Wallabies’ inability to convert pressure into points as one of the deciding factors in Saturday’s miserable result.

“I’m very disappointed about the result, the scoreline – that’s a real negative for us,” Jones said.

“Big crowd. We wanted to show that this is a new team but, and there is always a but, our first 20 minutes showed what we are capable of.

“At the moment, when we put pressure on we can’t turn that into points and then we release pressure.

“We still seem to get disappointed on the field when we don’t get the rewards we think we deserve, which is an area we continue to work on.

“All in all it’s disappointing, but I really like the way we came out in the first 20 minutes and the first 15 or 20 minutes in the second half as well.

“They scored four of their six tries through yellow cards. They made us pay for that.

“The team is very much a work in progress but what I liked about the team tonight was the way they tactically took on New Zealand in the first 20 minutes.

“If you arrived from Mars and watched the first 20 minutes, you would probably think the gold team was the stronger team – that is the reality. But you’ve got to be able to do it for 80 minutes and when you have teams under pressure you have to convert that to points and that is a step we need to take.”

Eddie Jones says the Wallabies need to back its youth and pointed to Richie Mo’unga’s development in international rugby. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Saturday’s 31-point loss was Carter Gordon’s starting debut in the No.10 jersey, with the 22-year-old one of seven changes to Jones’ starting side.

The Wallabies boss defended his changes, saying the next generation of players needed to be given a chance to show their worth.

“I think selection was right,” he responded to one journalist’s question around whether his statement regarding taking “responsibility” extended to picking the team.

“Are you suggesting it wasn’t? You can if you want to. I don’t mind a bit of discussion. Tell me who’d you pick?”

After it was put to him that Gordon struggled in the environment, Jones inferred he wasn’t surprised there were some teething problems but emphasised the need to usher through change. 

“I think he’s the best young 10 in Australia,” Jones said.

“I’ve seen Richie Mo’unga play Tests like that. And Richie Mo’unga if you look at his first 45 Tests, he had a bit of up and down in it. He wasn’t good enough, then he was good enough. And sometimes you’ve got to go through a bit of pain to bring young players through and I’m prepared to go through that.

“We’ve got an unsuccessful history at the moment and we need to turn it around. So we need to find players who can do it.”

As for Tom Hooper, who started at openside flanker in his second Test, Jones said he was impressed by what he saw from the 22-year-old Brumbies forward.

“Competitive. Good. I think he’s got a good future there,” Jones said.

“That’s a hard game for him to play and we wanted to find out where he’s at. So, we got a pretty good picture. I like his attitude. I like his competitiveness. 

“Wayne [Barnes] likes to have a continuous game. He likes to have a high ball in play game. So for a seven, it’s a hard job. I think in terms of the turnovers in the breakdown we probably shaded in that area. I haven’t seen the stats, but certainly my eye would tell me that. So, I thought he did a pretty good job.”

The Wallabies have plenty of selection headaches ahead of their final Test before Eddie Jones names his World Cup squad. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Jones wouldn’t be drawn on selection changes ahead of next Saturday’s final Test before he names his World Cup squad.

“We’ll review the game again and have a look and see where we can make an improvement because one of the things is we want to win the second one,” he said.

“And there’s a bit of a gap there at the moment. So we’ve got to see how we can improve the team.”

Making matters worse, the Wallabies are resigned to losing tight-head prop Allan Alaalatoa for September’s World Cup campaign in France following a suspected ruptured Achilles.

Nor is Taniela Tupou, who made his comeback to the Wallabies via the bench, likely to replace the acting captain in Dunedin next week.

After fighting through severe discomfort, a rib-injury eventually ended Tupou’s night prematurely as he made his way off in the 58th minute.  He left the field moments before the Television Match Official picked up his high shot that resulted in a yellow card.

As a result, regular co-captain James Slipper could be shifted to tight-head prop given the lack of genuine international depth in the role at Jones’ disposal.

In another injury development, Jones said fellow co-captain Michael Hooper would also miss the return Bledisloe fixture next week and was also in doubt for the World Cup.

“He’s a long way away,” Jones said.

“I’m saying that he’s got a serious injury. And when you’ve got a serious injury there are deadlines and we need to find out the deadline. When you’ve got a calf injury, sometimes you don’t know how quickly it can recover.”

Having watched his Wallabies side get smashed 50-21 by the All Blacks in 2003 before beating them to make the World Cup final mere months later, Jones said all hope wasn’t lost.

“We got hammered by more than this way,” he said.

“I saw enough today to make me believe that we can [turn it around for the World Cup], but there’s a lot of hard work to do.

“Transforming a team from where they are now to a team that’s capable of beating New Zealand takes a lot of hard work and the clock’s ticking, but we’ve still got enough time. Every day counts.

“We might have to train on the plane on the way. We’ll see if we can get a Hercules or something, so we can do a bit of training on the way over. Everything counts. 

“Where’s there’s life there’s hope. I’ve coached teams like this before and you can turn it around.

“I saw enough today to know that we can be a bloody good team. It doesn’t look like it at the moment. You’re sitting there thinking, ‘shit, what’s his bloke talking about?’ But I’m telling you, we can turn it around and be very good too.

“For the fans, they got to keep being hopeful. Keep praying, whatever God they’ve got, keep praying to that, that we turn it around. We will.”