Wallabies coach Eddie Jones insists Australia are on track to mount a competitive Rugby World Cup campaign despite another humiliating Bledisloe Cup loss on Saturday night.
Jones is now 0-3 in his second coming as Wallabies coach after New Zealand turned on the second half style in a comprehensive 38-7 victory at a packed MCG.
Adding to the pain were injuries to tighthead props Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou while Jones also gave a surprisingly ominous update on co-captain Michael Hooper.
Watch every match of the 2023 Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup on the home of rugby, Stan Sport. All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand
Brutal blow as Wallabies captain carted off
Alaalatoa, who captained Australia in Melbourne, suffered what Jones described as likely a “serious” Achilles tendon injury, almost certainly ruling him out of the World Cup.
Tupou battled on manfully before succumbing to a painful rib injury in the second half.
Australia were competitive early on but were unable to maintain the rage.
READ MORE: Emotional prop says Wallabies ‘let down Australia, let down Eddie’
READ MORE: Wallabies captain’s beautiful boomerang response to All Blacks haka
READ MORE: ‘Horrible scenes’ as Wallabies skipper in doubt for Rugby World Cup
“Where’s there’s life there’s hope. I’ve coached teams like this before and you can turn it around,” Jones said.
“I saw enough today to know that we can be a bloody good team. You’re sitting there thinking ‘shit, what’s this bloke talking about?’ But I’m telling you boys, we can turn it around and be a very good team.
“So for the fans, they’ve got to keep being hopeful. Keep praying, whatever God they’ve got, keep praying that we turn it around. We will.”
All Blacks run rings around Wallabies defence
Australia now have just two more games before the World Cup, starting with another date against the All Blacks in Dunedin next Saturday.
“The starters did a really good job and we came off at halftime 19-7 (down), and the first 15-20 minutes of the second half we dominate. But the scoreboard blows out and it’s hard to be positive about a result like that,” Jones told Stan Sport.
Giving Australia World Cup life is the fact they have been placed in the soft side of the draw.
Injured Tupou binned for tackle
They are favoured to top their pool ahead of Wales and Fiji which would likely set up a winnable quarter-final against either Argentina or England.
Jones is known as a World Cup master – who has reached two finals – but fans are already losing patience.
“The only thing that changes is the way you train, you’ve just got to train better,” he said.
Blinding Nawaqanitawase run nets Wallabies try
“You know, our only opportunity to get better is through training. We don’t have any other opportunities. There’s selection, but I think the starting guys did pretty well and we’ll see next week. It’s not experimentation, but we need to find a squad of 33 that can go to the World Cup.”
Jones said he was happy with backs Samu Kerevi, Mark Nawaqanitawase and Marika Koroibete but was disappointed in his side’s ineffective mauling.
“We didn’t get anything out of that. We’re doing a lot of work. So we’ve just got to find out what we’ve got to fine tune there.”
Brutal tackle gifts epic All Blacks try
Former Wallabies star Drew Mitchell declared it was time to “pick and stick” with selection.
“It’s disappointing. It’s not where we want to be and where we need to be at this point of a campaign this close to a World Cup,” Mitchell said on Stan Sport.
“Eddie Jones needs to pick his best XV and give them some time together in these next two Test matches to start getting some combination and cohesiveness together.”
Two-time World Cup winner Tim Horan said the players should be “gutted.”
“No one wants to see the Wallabies beaten by that much. But I saw enough in 56 minutes to give me and hopefully the fans, hope leading into next Saturday and the World Cup,” Horan said.
“I thought they were more physical at the breakdown, defence was a lot better and they needed to score a try in that first 16 minutes in the second half.”
Before the game kicked off, former Wallabies coach John ‘Knuckles’ Connolly launched an extraordinary attack on Jones.
Speaking to The Telegraph in the UK, Connolly – who succeeded Jones as Australia coach in 2006 – described Jones’ homecoming as “a bloody disaster.”
“How did we end up with Eddie again? He is full of it,” Connolly claimed.
“When I took over from Eddie, the players were like beaten down sheepdogs. If you walked in a room they would have their heads down and were scared to do anything.
“There was no leadership. There was no development. It was a total void that took nearly a year to rebuild.
“I can’t believe we have made the same mistake again.”
All Blacks coach Ian Foster said “the scoreline flattered” his side.
“We clearly deserved the win but I thought there was enough in that Aussie performance that they will take away some good points from that,” Foster said.
“But they will regret they couldn’t put prolonged periods of pressure on us.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here
Eddie Jones’ remarkable career in pictures: Wallabies coach’s prescient Bazball warning for England
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
