After two decades of pain, Wallabies co-captain James Slipper is adamant his side stands as good a chance as ever to end his country’s Bledisloe woe.
That’s despite Australia going into their all-important clash with New Zealand off the back of losses to South Africa and Argentina.
Speaking ahead of the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground since 2007, Slipper said the Springboks “humbled” the Wallabies before they were “disappointed” to come up short against the Pumas.
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Against an All Blacks side that has beaten them both, the Wallabies will have to overcome the seemingly insurmountable.
Even with back-to-back losses, Slipper said there are encouraging signs from those results under new coach Eddie Jones.
“There’s been a lot of hard work, a lot of honesty,” Slipper said.
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“I guess a lot of bad habits that we’ve formed over the last 10, 20 years that we haven’t been able to win the Bledisloe – for us, we’re trying to change that in the way we train, understanding what we’re doing wrong and then training it out of us.
“So it’s a bit of a work in progress at the moment, but we’re confident we’re on the right track for sure.”
Slipper has long suffered with the Wallabies since making his debut with the national side in 2010. Now, some 13 years on, he’s determined to change the narrative.
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“It’s one of those things that we’re just gonna have to understand, that’s part of our history,” he explained.
“It’s been 20 years now. As I said, a little bit earlier, it’s a new group, new coach, we’ve got high endeavours to push forward and win the cup.
“It’s a two-horse race. The odds don’t really stack up when you’ve lost 20 in a row, and that’s on us as players and that’s something we’re trying to rectify.
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“We’re trying to build something where we’ve changed what we’re doing in terms of staff, coaches, there’s new players in the squad,” he added.
“Just like you look at tomorrow, we’ve got a new five-eighth, he’s gonna lead us around, He’s young, he’s from Melbourne, so there’s a different landscape to us.
“But in saying that, I’m not gonna stand here and say we’re the finished product, but one thing I’m gonna say is we’re gonna work very hard to be.”
One word that the Wallabies won’t want to mention is discipline.
It haunted them through the Dave Rennie era and has been prominent in their first two Rugby Championship clashes.
Against the Springboks, the Wallabies conceded 13 penalties while their hosts recorded just three.
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Against the Pumas, the Wallabies went one better with 14 while the visitors racked up 10.
“We’re trying to change some habits that have been formed over the last decade or two – discipline is something I feel like I talk about a lot,” said Slipper.
“In our sport the referee has a pretty hard job to referee the game and for us we always seem to be on the wrong side of that and that’s on us as players.
“We’ve spoken about it, but it’s reoccurring and that’s probably the issue. We’ve addressed it, we’ve trained it, we need to see that transfer into the game.”
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