Halfback Tate McDermott has made the startling admission that the Wallabies “didn’t really understand” how the Springboks were defending in Sunday’s ugly 43-12 Rugby Championship loss in Pretoria.
Despite being severely understrength, the world champions bossed virtually every department in Eddie Jones’ return, ramping up the pressure ahead of Saturday’s shot at redemption against Michael Cheika’s Pumas in Sydney.
“We kicked away a lot of ball so we didn’t really understand how they were defending,” McDermott told Stan Sport’s Morgan Turinui on Rugby Heaven.
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“We’d expected them to be a good, rushed line speed side but we didn’t hold onto the ball enough to figure that out… we’ve obviously still got to kick the ball.
“We can kick smarter but we’ve got to make sure we at least understand how teams are operating when we’re out there just purely by holding that ball for a little bit.”
While McDermott’s honesty is refreshing, it highlights how much work Jones has to do to hone tactics and street-smarts ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
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Jones is responsible for Australia’s attack along with assistant Brad Davis, a former league player and London Irish coach.
The good news is that gun centre Samu Kerevi has returned to the starting lineup in place of Reece Hodge, after playing off the bench in South Africa.
“Big in for the Wallabies, to try and get us across the advantage line,” legendary No.12 Tim Horan said on Rugby Heaven.
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“Against South Africa we got bullied. We kicked too much ball away, dropped a lot of ball, lost a couple of lineouts in that second half, crooked throws.”
Turinui, another former Test midfielder, believed the powerful Kerevi’s return would make the Wallabies game plan “simpler.”
“Yes, they’re still going to have to kick, there’ll be some times when they can go to width but if you’re Quade Cooper, if you’re in trouble, you just dump to Samu Kerevi or you proactively give the ball to Samu Kerevi and it’s not just Rob Valetini getting the Wallabies over the gain line,” Turinui said.
“So it should give them some tactical adaptability. On the weekend they couldn’t win a collision with or without the ball.”
All Blacks great Justin Marshall also emphasised the magnitude of Kerevi’s return as one of the country’s few truly world class players.
“There just wasn’t enough hard threat at the line (in Pretoria) and you bring Kerevi in with (Len) Ikitau outside and there’s absolutely ability then to hold defenders and that creates the space on the outside for the likes of (Tom) Wright and (Mark) Nawaqanitawase to get into the game,” Marshall said.
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“And that’s what Australia need – the ability to play across the park.”
Argentina’s 30-29 victory over England at Twickenham last year was Cheika’s first coaching triumph over Jones and contributed to the veteran’s sacking in December.
The Pumas kicked heavily in that victory but both Jones and Turinui expect Cheika to change tack at CommBank Stadium – the scene of Argentina’s historic victory over the All Blacks in 2020.
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“I reckon he’s going to try and spread the ball wide really early and try and stretch the Wallabies – a bit like the Springboks did last weekend,” Turinui said.
“It’s a Michael Cheika team so they’re always high possession teams. He’s going to want to see a lot of himself in that team. So I can see them going multiphase.”
WALLABIES (15-1): Tom Wright, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Len Ikitau, Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete, Quade Cooper, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Jed Holloway, Will Skelton, Richie Arnold, Allan Alaalatoa, Dave Porecki, James Slipper (c)
Reserves: Jordan Uelese, Angus Bell, Pone Fa’amausili, Matt Philip, Rob Leota, Josh Kemeny, Tate McDermott, Carter Gordon
PUMAS (15-1): Emiliano Boffelli, Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Carreras, Gonzalo Bertranou, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Santiago Grondona, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lavanini, Matias Alemanno, Francisco Gomez Kodela, Julian Montoya (c), Thomas Gallo
Reserves: Agustin Creevy, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Eduardo Bello, Lucas Paulos, Rodrigo Bruni, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Nicolas Sanchez, Matias Moroni
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