u/Ruck_Off

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Gregor Paul - 7 min read

Having seen the opening weekend of the Nations Championship produce an average of 63 points per game, it’s apparent that international rugby has emerged out of the box-kicking dark ages and is in the midst of a ball-in-hand, attacking renaissance.

Gone, it seems, are the days of teams wanting to play without the ball, convinced that the rules made it dangerous to hold possession.

The obsession with the box kick and smothering rush defences has been replaced with a newfound desire to run and pass – to let the playmakers play, the whippets run and the tanks rumble.

Based on the evidence of round one of the top-tier’s shiny new competition, everyone has joined the attacking revolution – there were 10 tries scored in each of Christchurch, Sydney and Johannesburg and a staggering 12 in an epic encounter between Argentina and Scotland in Cordoba.

The All Blacks are no longer the lone wolves on the world scene trying to play a fast, highly skilled brand of aerobic rugby. They were playing on Venus, everyone else on Mars, but now there has been intergalactic migration on a previously unknown scale.

Their realm has been invaded and the question now is whether they can get ahead of the new entrants and rebuild their game to the extent that they once again become recognised as the undisputed leaders in the business of playing fast-tempo, innovative rugby.

Certainly, the environment feels right for them to thrive. They never looked comfortable in the old world in which teams simply looked to shut them down with a blitz defence and a targeted aerial assault.

The game wasn’t set up for them in the pre-Covid period when the Northern Hemisphere nations were colluding to influence the decision-makers within the halls of power about the shape of the game.

When mauls were virtually lawless, aerial battles a free-for-all, the defensive player afforded more rights to the tackled ball and the offside line not policed, the All Blacks were depowered and often looked a little lost.

But this new era looks tailor-made for them. It’s a world where there is more space, more fatigue and a world in which the arms race has shifted from building impregnable defensive walls to creating innovative, unpredictable attack patterns.

It’s even more basic than that – the game has changed from being anaerobic to aerobic and, in their first 80 minutes under new coach Dave Rennie, the All Blacks engendered an element of hope that they firstly recognise the new nature of the international game and that they have rebuilt an attack plan that looks fit for purpose.

Forget the execution and decision-making errors that enabled a good French team to pick up a couple of soft tries. And forget, too, the occasional difficulties the lineout had in trying to throw to the back.

These were problems linked to the inevitable rustiness that comes in the first test of the year when players are trying to adjust to one another and a new system, as well as adapting to the higher intensity of test rugby.

What really mattered was that the All Blacks used a Blitzkrieg approach at the tackled ball to produce a quality of possession that was almost unheard of.

They also didn’t defer or get sucked into the endless games of box-kick tennis the way they did last year – those prolonged phases where the game would be stuck within the 10-metre lines.

Instead, when France started to kick more in the second half, the All Blacks worked to get defensive numbers behind the ball and into the back field and then keep possession.

Their mindset was exactly as they said it would be – alive to the opportunity to keep the ball and pass and run from wherever they felt it was legitimate to do so.

They had a consistency to their attacking shape, too. A sense of organisation and purpose that suggests everyone is on the same page and that, in time, the running lines will sharpen, the passes will stick and this All Blacks team will become quite the handful.

It’s too soon to say where this will end up, but the early signs are promising. The All Blacks look to be building a style that genuinely suits their athletes and skillsets, and that they can get ahead of the curve and play at a speed that no other team can match.

The agility, explosive power and soft skills of their forward pack may be the key. Josh Lord and Sam Darry gave a solid Brodie Retallick-Sam Whitelock impression in Christchurch with their energy, ball-carrying and presence.

Peter Lakai and Ardie Savea got everywhere and their speed and mobility gave the All Blacks an ability to damage France in the widest parts of the field where some of the skill execution – pass and catch – was outrageously good.

Luke Jacobson didn’t play like an orthodox No 7, but he brought a dynamism on and around the ball, and the All Blacks look to be setting up to be able to use their speed, explosive power and neat handling to be able to run through and around opponents.

That’s their superpower – the agility, athleticism and aerobic capacity of their forwards to play across the park and pick and drive through the middle or pass and catch on the edge.

And then, of course, there was the maturity of Ruben Love, who mostly picked his options well and facilitated the attack the way the coaches wanted.

He played like he belonged in the No 10 jersey and looked like the right man to lead the revolution, even when Richie Mo’unga has served his penance and is available to play again.

There is a long way to go but the All Blacks are in a better place in a more favourable world.

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Amanda Lulham - 2 min read

Junior Wallabies unleash overseas monster props to take on powerful France

Overseas based twin titans Swerling-Finaipepe and Lehopoame Leota in Junior Wallabies for a massive U20 world championship battle against France in world junior rugby semi final chase.

The Junior Wallabies are relying on a pair of monster props based overseas to crash the French party at world Junior rugby championships in Georgia.

Kingbenjamin Swerling-Finaipepe and Lehopoame Leota in Junior Wallabies are in the front row together for the first time at the tournament in a massive U20 world championship battle against the young six-nations U20 champions France.

Australian under 20s coach Coach Chris Whitaker is rewriting the Australian rugby playbook by sending the pair out after their call-up to the Junior Wallabies from their European based clubs.

“We know what sort of challenge France are going to pose and we will be ready to take on the fight,” said Whitaker, a former Wallaby and a name being thrown around as potentially the new coach of the NSW Waratahs.

Whitaker has made eight changes to the squad that beat Fiji last week in the wake of Australia’s massive win against Spain in their tournament opener.

At stake is a spot in the semi-finals with the match at 12am Wednesday AEST.

The new-look squad also boasts two Sevens star in Cooper Watters from Bathurst and Wallace Charlie from Queensland, Zach Fittler, the son of Brad Fittler, Tom Farr-Jones, the nephew of former wallabies captain Nick also in the side with late injury call-up Riley Whitfield named on the bench.

Swerling-Finaipepe and Lehopoame Leota, promising stars plucked from the Queenslamd Reds junior ranks to play in the French club competition, will join mainstay hooker Ewald Kruger in the front row.

William Ross and Toby Brial will keep their lock partnership in tact while Randwick’s Luca Cleverley and captain Tom Robinson return into the side after being rotated out post the first win and will join Eli Langi completing the backrow.

The halves pairing from the Spain game of Angus Grover and Finn Mackay is reunited France while in the backline Watters replaces HIA casualty Taione Taka on the wing.

Loose-head Jacob Job, a starter against Spain and Fiji, is on the bench with replacement hooker John Grenfell and tight-head Edwin Langi.

NSW backrowers Isaac Fonua and TJ Talaileva are the forward replacements with Sam Blank, Charlie Bird are Whitfeld also named on the bench.

“From our first match in the Coffs Coast to the Rugby Championship in South Africa, to our opening games here in Georgia, these are the types of opportunities we have been preparing for,’’ Whitaker said.

Australia U20 team list v France U20: 1. Kingbenjamin Swerling-Finaipepe 2. Ewald Kruger 3. Lehopoame Leota 4. William Ross 5. Toby Brial 6. Luca Cleverley 7. Tom Robinson (c) 8. Eli Langi 9. Angus Grover 10. Finn Mackay 11. Cooper Watters 12. Treyvon Pritchard 13. Zach Fittler 14. Tom Farr-Jones 15. Wallace Charlie.

Substitutes: 16. John Grenfell, 17. Jacob Job, 18. Edwin Langi, 19. Isaac Fonua, 20. TJ Talaileva, 21. Sam Blank, 22. Charlie Bird, 23. Riley Whitfeld.

Unavailable for Selection: Kenneth Harris - Injured, Leo Jaques - Injured, Taione Taka - HIA

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The Sydney Morning Herald

Paul Cully - 6 min read

Wasteful Wallabies need to be hard on themselves after loss to Ireland

Brave? yes. Wasteful? Definitely. The Wallabies blew the chance to get their Nations Championship off to a winning start, turning a 24-12 lead after 28 minutes into an agonising 33-31 loss in Sydney on Saturday night.

That might sound harsh after the Wallabies matched or beat the Irish in a number of areas, but they need to be hard on themselves because Ireland were sluggish for the first half.

A couple of Wallabies’ mistakes around the 60-minute mark summed up a lack of composure and accuracy. First, Max Jorgensen fired a wild pass into touch after the Wallabies had created space.

Then, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii threw a loose offload to no one after initially doing well to straighten the line. That’s not good enough, and the mistakes squandered the precious territory and possession that had been won by a strong Wallabies scrum that had been lifted by a noticeably fitter Taniela Tupou.

The goalkicking woes of Carter Gordon and Ben Donaldson were also costly, but the unforced errors in possession need urgent attention as next Saturday’s opponents French will arrive ready to play.

They were very close to beating the All Blacks in Christchurch on Saturday and will add further firepower to the team that will face the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday. Their attacking play was superb.

Losing Lonergan was a huge blow

When Ryan Lonergan left the field after 33 minutes after a head knock, the Wallabies led 24-12. Without him, they lost the next 47 minutes by 21-7.

The in-form Brumbies No.9 is a great controller of games, and the Wallabies were guilty of becoming a bit lateral in the second half.

Tate McDermott has his own special qualities, exemplified by his try, but Lonergan was enjoying an excellent Test before his injury and the Wallabies will be far worse off if he isn’t fit to play France.

Carter Gordon’s injury in the second half was also a worry, with the big Reds No 10 showing enough on attack (goalkicking aside) to justify his inclusion.

However, with Waratahs veteran Jake Gordon and the outstanding Western Force No.9 Henry Robertson already ruled out for the year with serious injuries, the Wallabies are already looking a bit light on the style of halfback that Joe Schmidt likes.

The Wallabies’ winner and losers

New second-row partners Jeremy Williams and Josh Canham were standouts for the Wallabies, while Rob Valetini rediscovered his best form as the game unfolded, putting multiple dents into the Irish defensive line.

Life in France is also clearly agreeing with Tupou, who looked lean and explosive when injected into the Test in the second half.

Len Ikitau also showed his class in the No.12 jersey, and the Wallabies’ attacking intent in the first half was a big step up from the end-of-season tour. The jury is out on the effectiveness of Max Jorgensen and Dylan Pietsch switching wings, while the collective discipline was an issue – especially with the current interpretations around the ruck (see item below).

But, the Wallabies’ most obvious weakness was the limited bench impact compared to the Irish. The visitors’ Tadhg Beirne and Nick Timoney brought an energy to the contest that the Wallabies couldn’t match, and Carlo Tizzano was therefore conspicuous by his absence.

Brilliant weekend shows we’ve got our game back

The try-laden first weekend of the Nations Championship confirmed that attacking rugby is back, and the Wallabies certainly bought into the new trend with some genuine ambition in the first half. So, what has happened to prompt this shift without any rule changes?

It’s all in the interpretation, and it is very difficult to miss the influence of World Rugby chair Brett Robinson and his new Chief of Rugby, Mark Robinson. Most notably, the referee teams have clearly been empowered to make quick and decisive decisions instead of checking every try for five minutes with a series of inconclusive replay angles.

That is why everyone should be prepared to live with the decision to award Jamison Gibson-Park’s try against the Wallabies just before half-time.

Was there a forward pass? It was hard to say conclusively, and if we want a quick game that’s the sort of call officials must be backed to make.

Second, there is clearly a lot less leeway for blokes lying on the ground and clogging up the contact area. As a result, legal jackals are harder to make, and we are seeing more quick ball and attacking rugby.

It’s made life harder for players such as Fraser McReight, but the game is now allowing elite players to show their full range of skills.

Rennie’s Wallabies regret

The new All Blacks coach has kept his counsel since Rugby Australia sacked him in 2022, choosing not to address his dismissal or criticise his former employer. But in an interview on Sky Sport in NZ before his first Test in charge against France, he lifted the lid a little.

Rennie said he had no regrets from his time in charge of the Wallabies, but conceded he might have been better at “managing up”. Several former Wallabies and Waratahs coaches over the past decade or so will be nodding their heads at that assessment.

Rennie’s implication that politics is a part of the head coach’s role is on the money, even if most of them don’t realise it until too late. The relationship between the head coach and the chief executive or chair is one of the most important in the game.

It appears strong between Joe Schmidt and Phil Waugh/Dan Herbert, and it needs to be the same with Les Kiss if the Wallabies are to have a good World Cup in 2027.

Australia’s horror day converting penalties has passed from the Socceroos to Wallabies, as Ben Donaldson missed the kick after the buzzer to end Australia’s six-year drought against a plucky Ireland.

Jamie Pandaram

Jamie Pandaram

@JamiePandaram

5 min read

Rugby: Young star Jock Campbell has beaten Tom Wright for the fullback spot for the Wallabies for their test vs Ireland.

The Wallabies have rallied around Ben Donaldson after his missed penalty goal after the siren.

Donaldson’s kick from out wide sailed to the right of the posts, handing Ireland a 33-31 victory in Sydney.

It was his second miss in the final eight minutes, and Wallabies captain Harry Wilson conceded after the game that in hindsight, they should have gone for the scrum in the 72nd minute when they were leading 31-26.

“In the 72nd minute we had a bit of a chat, I guess he couldn’t really make many metres if he did kick for touch and contemplate having a scrum there,” Wilson said.

“Ultimately he went for goal hopefully to try and get eight points ahead going into the last seven or six minutes.

“Hindsight, obviously, could have gone for a scrum there and let our backs go.

“And then in the 80th minute I guess we did have a lock off the field there too and I backed Dono. I know he’s a good kicker and I loved how he stepped up in that moment.

“He wanted it and that’s what you want from your 10.

“I can live with him missing that because he wasn’t scared at the moment.

“He wanted it and I’m sure down the future in Wallabies he’ll step up and get that win for the Wallabies.”

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt noted that the result was not just determined by Donaldson’s misses, with Carter Gordon also missing two conversions early in the game.

“He’s got those kicks in him and they weren’t there tonight, but we’re going to keep backing those guys,” Schmidt said.

“We missed a couple of kicks early in the game as well. So that’s the nature of it.

“We scored very wide in the very first try of the game. So that was a missed kick even then.

“And when it’s only a two-point ball game, they can be costly.

“The players got around Dono straight away.

“And that’s very visible, but there are some other things that, a couple of the penalties we gave up or a couple of the missed opportunities that we had, they’re of a similar ilk.

“We have to get better at taking those opportunities because you’ve got to work so hard to get them.”

Ireland coach Andy Farrell watched Donaldson miss a penalty kick in the 72nd minute from nearly the same spot, and believed his side was about to lose.

“Honestly, I thought he’d get it because it’s the one that he had before,” Farrell said.

“When you have an opportunity and it doesn’t quite go right the first time, you know what to fix or whatever, but having said that, it was a long way out. Tough old kick.

“He’s a class operator. I suppose you would love that option of a player like that with so much experience to come off the bench and have the opportunity, but it’s a tough old kick.

“It’s a shot to the dark, really, but fine margins, isn’t it? That’s top-level Test match rugby. That’s how it should be.”

Ben Donaldson missed a penalty after the siren as the Wallabies fell 33-31 to Ireland in a thrilling opener to the Nations Championship.

Ireland kept their six-year winning streak over Australia alive, with a sixth straight win since 2018, as the Wallabies gave up a 24-12 lead in the 40th minute.

The Irish scored after the half-time siren.

Donaldson had the chance to steal the game with a penalty kick 39 metres out on the sideline, but struck it wide as Ireland celebrated to the sounds of The Cranberries’ Zombie in front of a new record crowd of 41,971 at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium

Ireland’s replacement prop Thomas Clarkson scored in the 77th minute, after debutant Wallabies lock Lachie Shaw was sent to the sin-bin after repeated Wallabies infringements.

Sam Prendergast nailed his conversion to put Ireland ahead, the seventh lead change of an extraordinary encounter.

Ireland were stunningly denied a try after it was awarded and converted in the 58th minute.

Irish captain Dan Sheehan dived over after a rolling maul, and referee Ben O’Keeffe gave the five-pointer.

Wallabies skipper Harry Wilson remonstrated with O’Keeffe and the assistant referees as Sam Prendergast kicked the conversion.

As the game was about to restart at halfway, Wilson told Donaldson not to take the kick-off, and television match official Matteo Liperini then watched several replays that showed Ireland lock James Ryan peeling off the rolling maul and taking out Rob Valetini, who was denied the chance to tackle Sheehan.

The 33-31 Ireland lead on the scoreboard went back to 31-26 in favour of the hosts.

Donaldson missed a penalty kick attempt in the 72nd minute. Remarkably, it was the first penalty kick attempt of the game, as both sides prioritised try-scoring opportunities.

While this is a devastating loss, there were several positive signs for the Wallabies.

Their wobbly lineout held firm, winning 11 of 12, and in fact it was Ireland’s lineout that was turned over three times.

Playmaker Carter Gordon was brilliant in attack, while the forward pack showed power and skill.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii had one of his better games in gold, making breaks and thumping tackles, while centre partner Len Ikitau was reliably outstanding.

Fullback Jock Campbell was also impressive after a 1316 day absence from Test footy.

Leading 24-19 at the break, Australia found themselves 26-24 down by the 47th minute after Irish fullback, and player of the match, Huge Keenan strolled over from a gorgeous short pass from centre Garry Ringrose.

It had taken Australia just three minutes to open the scoring, with winger Dylan Pietsch flying over in the corner.

The Wallabies pressed the Irish on their own line with several pick-and-goes before Gordon flung the ball to Queensland teammate Jock Campbell.

The fullback did well to take the low pass, and fling it to the unmarked Pietsch.

Gordon missed the sideline conversion.

However, Ireland hit back in the 11th, with backrower Cian Prendergast powering over after the visitors opted for an attacking lineout from a penalty, rather than taking a kick at goal.

His younger brother, playmaker Sam Prendergast, kicked the conversion to put Ireland 7-5 up.

The Wallabies responded with a brilliant try in the 14th minute, started by a Gordon break from his own half.

As their attack applied pressure, the ball went from Canham to Gordon to Len Ikitau, who drew in two defenders and put Jock Campbell free out wide.

The fullback, who hasn’t played a Test in four years, raced away to score in the corner.

But the 10-7 lead was erased five minutes later.

Ireland again refused to take a kickable penalty, opting for a quick tap close to the line.

Hooker and captain Dan Sheehan faked the charge to the tryline, throwing a no-look pass to backrower Josh van der Flier who scored.

At 12-10 down, the Wallabies found another gear, scoring two more tries.

Canham went over from close range, after an earlier break from Rob Valetini.

That was in the 24th minute. Three minutes later, Max Jorgensen stole the ball from Sam Prendergast, raced upfield, chased by Stuart McCloskey, but passed over him to halfback Ryan Lonergan for a sensational bonus-point try.

Ireland hit back after the half-time hooter, when halfback Jamison Gibson-Park took an inside pass from Jack Conan to race in under the posts.

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The Wallabies are hopeful Ryan Lonergan will be fit to face France after the Test scrumhalf - who has staked a claim to keep Australia's No.9 jersey - was sent for scans in the hours following a heartbreaking loss to Ireland.

Lonergan lasted just 34 minutes in Australia's Nations Championship opener in front of a sold-out crowd in Sydney on Saturday night.

The ACT Brumbies scrumhalf underwent a precautionary scan on his throat in the hours following the gut-wrenching 33-31 loss to Ireland, but Wallabies officials are hopeful Lonergan will not be sidelined.

Officials confirmed the 28-year-old would travel with the squad as the Wallabies turn their attention to a clash with France in Brisbane on Saturday night.

Lonergan may have only lasted 34 minutes against Ireland, but it was more than enough time to prove his worth in the Test arena during his first start for the Wallabies.

Lonergan capitalised on a moment of Max Jorgensen magic to score a try, while delivering crisp service before succumbing to a throat injury late in the first half which saw Tate McDermott see out the game at scrumhalf.

"It was great to see, Ryan Lonergan had his first start and copped a knock, but he is okay," Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said.

The Wallabies will be left to rue what might have been after Ben Donaldson's last-gasp penalty goal attempt sailed wide of the posts.

Donaldson missed two difficult penalty attempts while flyhalf Carter Gordon - who combined well with Lonergan during the first half - missed two conversions as the Wallabies fell to a two-point defeat.

Lonergan could emerge as a saviour with the kicking tee, having finished the Super Rugby Pacific regular season as the competition's leading point scorer with 107 points.

The Brumbies star finished the season with a goal kicking percentage of 75 per cent - but he had been striking at a 90 per cent success rate from round eight onwards after a slow start to the year.

Donaldson's success rate throughout the Super Rugby season was 78.4 per cent, while Gordon was striking at 85.7 per cent.

It would be unfair to pin the result of what Ireland coach Andy Farrell called "one hell of a Test match" on the shoulders of either Donaldson or Gordon, but Lonergan will provide another goal-kicking option for the Wallabies.

"I backed 'Donno'. I know he's a good kicker and I loved how he stepped up in that moment. He wanted it, and that's what you want from your 10," Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said."

"I can live with him missing that because he wasn't scared at the moment and I'm sure down the future he'll step up and get that win for the Wallabies."

Schmidt concedes missed shots at goal "can be costly" - but the Wallabies were their own worst enemy at times.

"He's got those kicks in him, and they weren't there [on Saturday night]. We're going to keep backing those guys," Schmidt said.

"We missed a couple of kicks early in the game as well, that's the nature of it. When it's only a two-point ball game, they can be costly.

"The players got around 'Donno' straight away. They are very visible, but there are some other things - a couple of penalties we gave up or a couple of the missed opportunities we had - they are of a similar ilk.

"We have to get better at taking those opportunities."

Ireland got their noses in front with just two minutes left on the clock, with Thomas Clarkson scoring after Wallabies debutant - and Brumbies lock - Lachie Shaw was shown a yellow card.

"I know this will really frustrate him, the fact he got pinged for a skinny old hand on a ruck while he is defending," Schmidt said. "He'll learn from that."

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The Sydney Morning Herald

Peter FitzSimons - 6 min read

Wallabies produce a ‘Gallipoli’ epic but Ireland snatch win

This was another “Gallipoli” for the Wallabies, a magnificent performance but... still a loss in the end. A 33-31 loss to a team as strong as Ireland, currently ranked third in the world, with the game in the balance to the final whistle is no shame, but the frustration remains that it was SO close to fame!

Let’s go to the good stuff first.

The big news is that the Wallabies have finally solved the halves issue. Mark these names down for next year’s World Cup: Ryan Lonergan and Carter Gordon. Like every brilliant halves combination, in this match they added up to 1.25, not 1.00 – each one complementing the other’s game. Lonergan’s pass was fast and accurate. (When Lonergan was injured, Tate McDermott came on and was equally strong, his every dart hitting the bullseye - and one scoring a try.)

Carter Gordon, newly returned from a disastrously injured spell in the NRL, was a revelation. He was what we have long needed, a fly-half who not only fed his outside backs with quick hands, but also regularly broke the line himself, and had a judicious kicking game.

Outside him Joseph Aukuso Suaalii had his best and busiest game in at least a year. And they don’t call Len Ikitau, “Flikitau” for nothing. His no-look flicks were fabulous, and constantly put his wingers, Dylan Pietsch and Max Jorgensen into glorious space. I told you Pietsch would be great, and he was! He tackled, he scored, he leapt high, he was in Ireland’s face the whole game.

Jorgensen was what he always is: world-class.

At full-back Jock Campbell had a great return to the Wallabies for his first Test since 2022 debut, including scoring a great try.

In the forwards, there were more great revelations.

The lineouts worked! Actually, they worked better than ever – and though they nicked one of ours, we nicked three of theirs.

The scrums worked.

The mauls worked.

Clearly the Wallabies forward coach has done a great job.

Individually, Harry Wilson had a great captain’s knock, which was always coming from the moment he broke away from the final line of the national anthem, Advance Australia faiii…. with a pat to the tummy of Angus Bell, in the manner of “Let’s do this!”

Angus Bell himself? Don’t even speak. How many props in the world can do what he does, hold down the scrum, tackle himself red-raw, do no-look passes of his own, and constantly wrong-foot the defence to break through. Ditto Rob Valetini, who was as great as ever in breaking the line and got through an Everest of work, in a performance that was close to man of the match.

The two locks, Jeremy Williams and Josh Canham, had magnificent games, each scoring a try and doing a great deal of both tackling and ball carrying. (We knew they had to be good if they were strong enough to keep Nick Frost out of the side.) Josh Nasser and Fraser McReight also had great games, with Nasser’s accurate throwing a feature, bar that one occasion.

But enough bouquets, for what was, after all, a loss.

Where can the Wallabies improve?

Let’s go to Phil Gould, first. In his NRL commentary Gould has two mantras. The first is said with world-weary sagacity, “It’s a funny game rugby league.” (Add water, and repeat 50 times until everyone’s nose bleeds.) The second one, said with even more world-weary sagacity – it’s his personal specialty - is apposite here. “If you let the ball bounce, you’re inviting disappointment into your life.”

Thrice, the Wallabies let the ball bounce, and thrice they suffered disappointment as a result, with Ireland regathering to do us damage. For ruck’s sake, youse blokes, it is permissible to go up for it and bobble it or knock it on. It is NOT permissible to have no-one shout out – like we were taught in the under-12s – “MINE!” and go hard after it. In similar fashion, a couple of times the ball was loose on the deck and just needed someone to dive on it to secure it. But the ball went undived on, and Ireland got what was not properly theirs.

The next thing is this: once the Wallabies cross the stripe, they need to look to run it around closer to the posts. We lost this match by two points, and on two occasions we missed difficult conversions that might have been made if the try-scorers had made the effort to run closer to the posts. Conversions see a 40% premium on the scoreboard, but in the rush of scoring we too often squander our advantage and hope the kicker can salvage the premium. Against Ireland that didn’t happen, and cost victory!

Thirdly, we need to put more pressure on them from the kick-off. I’ll say it again. In our armoury bag, we have Joseph Aukuso Suaalii, who we know can sail a metre higher than any forward in captivity when he rushes up from the kick-off. In his debut match for the Wallabies against England at Twickenham, he did it three times, and that, too, was the difference between winning and losing. Why on earth is he not doing that every kick-off? Why do we have an unused guided missile in our armoury that we are not regularly firing?

Lastly, with a backline working as well as ours did, the box-kicks were overdone, particularly in the last two minutes when it was crazy to kick away possession.

All up though?

All up this match proved beyond all doubt that this generation of Wallabies is a magnificent team in the making. The personnel is there. The skills are there. The will-to-win and great captaincy is there. They are capable of taking on the best teams in the world and dusting them.

But right now they remain Gallipoli meets Maxwell Smart.

They were great, but they missed it... by that much.

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The Sydney Morning Herald

It is time Australian rugby started to throw some punches

Paul Cully - 5 min read

In the spirit of the Nations Championship format, it is time to choose a camp.

North or south? Or, more accurately, the Rugby Championship versus the Six Nations, as for the purposes of the Rugby Championship, Japan have somehow jumped the equatorial line into the southern hemisphere.

It will be a clean sweep for South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina (SANZAAR) in round one of the Nations Championship, followed by another in the World Rugby Junior World Championship in Georgia.

No pressure Wallabies or Junior Wallabies, but by the middle of next week SANZAAR nations could be 4-0 up in the Nations and all through to the semifinals of the juniors.

Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies team to face Ireland has rewarded form in most selections, and the bench looks strong.

Chris Whitaker’s Junior Wallabies have been impressive and the French under-20s, whom they will play in the semi-finals next week, don’t look as strong as previous iterations.

As for Ireland, their under-20s were put to the sword 62-40 by our Argentinian comrades on Thursday night, and Andy Farrell’s senior side is at the end of a long season without key individuals.

The presence of Tadhg Beirne and Nick Timoney on Ireland’s bench should give the Wallabies a case of the cold sweats, especially with no Carlo Tizzano to counter them at the breakdown. But the injury-enforced absence of No. 10 Jack Crowley is a big one after the Munster playmaker reclaimed the jersey ahead of Sam Prendergast during the Six Nations.

Farrell has also cleverly compensated for the Japan-bound James Lowe in the No. 11 jersey by picking Jamie Osborne, who has a similarly big left boot, while Hugo Keenan is one of the best players in the world to watch, in any position.

Yet, new Wallabies No. 9 Ryan Lonergan was arguably the best Australian player in Super Rugby this year and the fit and in-form No. 10 options of Carter Gordon and Ben Donaldson are a big upgrade from the corresponding period last year, when Schmidt lost Noah Lolesio in the Fiji Test in Newcastle and was forced to turn to a not-yet-ready Tom Lynagh.

Incidentally, the Wallabies owe Ireland captain Dan Sheehan one for his horrible clean out on Lynagh during the British and Irish Lions series last year. Hopefully, that incident has been stored on the memory sticks of some Wallabies.

Turning to the other games, the All Blacks take on Brumby/Waratah-turned-Frenchman Tom Staniforth in Christchurch, where France’s depth will go under the microscope as much as new All Blacks No. 10 Ruben Love.

We keep hearing how many good players the French have, so they should cope without their Toulouse players unless their depth has been over-hyped.

They certainly have developed an appetite for Australian players to plug the holes in their development systems. So, it will be an All Blacks win in the south island, possibly by 13 plus.

In Johannesburg, the locals haven’t bothered to turn up for the visit of England, saving their money for the All Blacks later in the year.

With plenty of empty seats predicted at Ellis Park, the Springboks should thump the English, who are without their warrior-captain Maro Itoje and have a couple of key injuries in the front row. Good luck with that against the Springboks’ mighty scrum.

Jetting over to Cordoba in Argentina, the Scots will fancy themselves to fly the Six Nations flag against the Pumas. However, they are missing their brilliant No. 10 Finn Russell, while Argentina will be run by the outstanding Tomas Albornoz and the dangerous Mateo Carreras and Rodrigo Isgro on the wings.

If they get a roll-on in front of their passionate home fans, they will be hard to stop.

In Cardiff, where Fiji are playing their “home” game against Wales, the Fijians have been installed as warm favourites - and deservedly so. Their backline is outrageous, and the crisis-torn Welsh will do well to contain the likes of fullback Salesi Rayasi.

The “south” might even go 6-0 as Japan host Italy in Tokyo. Eddie Jones has named a university player at No. 10, Ryunosuke Ito, but Japan’s advantage might be in the grunt provided by Warner Dearns, Harry Hockings and Ben Gunter.

The SANZAAR sweep will probably rest on the Wallabies getting the job done in Sydney. Australia has a poor recent record against Ireland and has no right to go into the Test with high expectations.

But with a home Rugby World Cup not too far away, it is time Australian rugby started to throw some punches.

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Bench press: The Wallabies’ tactical ploy to fix Spring Tour problems and upset the Irish

Iain Payten - 5 min

The Wallabies are banking on a bomb squad-style bench to fix the second-half fadeouts that proved fatal on the Spring Tour last year, and power Australia home to victory over Ireland in Sydney on Saturday.

After some impressive form in the first half of the Test season, the Wallabies went off the rails in a big way last year, ending with a winless four-game tour of Europe.

Ireland provided one of those defeats with a 46-19 win in Dublin, but the game followed a similar script to most of the games on the Spring Tour.

The Wallabies were in the contest at half-time, trailing 19-14, but then conceded 27 points in the last 25 minutes.

The same thing happened against England, when a half-time score of 10-7 ended up as a 25-7 loss, and a 12-9 half-time lead over Italy became a 26-19 loss. The Wallabies and France were locked at 19-all at the break, but Australia ultimately went down 48-33.

Even in beating Japan on the way to Europe, the Wallabies were outscored 12-5 in the second half.

In each game, most of the damage was even more narrowly incurred, in the final 20 minutes. Of 160 points conceded on the five-game tour, 69 of them came in the last quarter of matches – a disproportionate 43%.

Defence wasn’t the only issue, however: the Wallabies’ attack also went missing after oranges.

Australia averaged 13.2 points in the first halves, but only managed 6.2 points per game after the break. Combined with the huge spike in average points conceded – from 12 points in first 40 minutes to 20 in the second half – it all spelt disaster for the Wallabies.

“We’re 19-14 at half-time and we’ve had far less of the ball, far less of the territory, but we’re still in the game,” Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said of the Ireland clash in November.

“Then in the last four minutes, they score those two late tries when we over-chase the game. But before that, it’s 32-19 and we actually had a couple of field positions that if we maximise what we can get out of them, you become a chance when you’re only 13 points off.

“You get a score and you’re close enough. So we don’t feel like we’re miles away.”

The perplexing part to the Wallabies’ Spring Tour fadeouts is they had the exact opposite problem earlier in the year, when they routinely started slowly and finished strongly.

In the Lions series, and in two-Test swings against the Springboks and Argentina, the Wallabies – on average – trailed 16-9 in first halves but then won the second halves 16-8.

But on the Spring Tour the famine-feast equation flipped.

“We definitely learned from a few of those moments over there,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said on Friday.

“In all those games we were sort of in there with 20 minutes to go, but we didn’t finish the games as well as we did, which we probably did really well at the start of the year, when our bench came on and made massive impacts. They were the difference in a few of the earlier wins.

“We’ve got a really strong bench this week. Players like Tom Hooper, Tom Wright, James Slipper, Taniela Tupou on the bench.

“They’re going to come and make a big impact. Hopefully if the game’s in position for them to make a big impact at the end.”

Crucially, the Wallabies bench also contains veteran halfback Tate McDermott, a key second-half attacking weapon who missed the Spring Tour due to a nasty hamstring injury.

All up, the Wallabies’ bench has four players with more than 40 Test caps, while Brandon Paenga-Amosa (25) debuted in 2018 and Hooper (22) is in career-best form. The average number of Test caps on the Wallabies bench is 47, and though that figure is heavily slanted by James Slipper’s 151, it also contains Lachlan Shaw’s zero caps.

The Aussie bench has the edge, experience-wise, on Ireland (32 caps average) but the visitors are well ahead in the starting side, with an average of 42 caps per man. Australia have just an average of 28.5, and that’s the gamble Schmidt has seemingly taken; backing his starters to keep the Wallabies in the contest until the last half-hour rolls around.

“We feel like we’ve got a good plan and now it’s on us to go there and execute against them,” Wilson said.

“I guess we’ve been versing them in their backyard and now they’re coming to ours. In those games, we saw a few opportunities where if we grabbed them there, the game could have went one or two ways.

“We’ve definitely looked at that and we know in those big moments we need to step up and grab it.”

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The Sydney Morning Herald

‘That will be his legacy’: How will Joe Schmidt be remembered by Australian rugby?

Jonathan Drennan - 9 min read

Two and a half years ago, Joe Schmidt put away his fishing rod and golf clubs in Lake Taupo, New Zealand and prepared to cross the ditch to take on a far less peaceful project.

He had been tasked with reviving the Wallabies after their disastrous 2023 World Cup under Eddie Jones.

Since then, Schmidt has coached the Wallabies in 28 Tests, winning 11. As he prepares to hand over the reins to Les Kiss at the end of the month, how will his tenure in Australia be remembered? To understand Schmidt’s legacy, it is important to look beyond the win-loss column.

The appointment

After the Wallabies failed to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup in October 2023, the task of rebuilding the team began in earnest before Christmas.

On his return from France, Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh knew he needed a coach who could not only build morale in a playing squad whose confidence had been shot to pieces, but also help the Wallabies become competitive in time for the arrival of the British and Irish Lions in 2025. It would be the toughest challenge of Schmidt’s coaching career.

“It was obviously a very disappointing and disruptive period for Australian rugby, coming out of the Rugby World Cup and, obviously, the results of the tournament,” Waugh said.

“Certainly, ensuring we had the right leader with the right experience to make the right connection with the group was really important.”

RA had appointed Peter Horne as their high-performance director in December 2023, and tasked him with identifying the next head coach. Horne was confident that he knew the right man for the job, but it wasn’t going to be an easy sell.

Horne and Schmidt had become close friends during their time working together at World Rugby during the Covid pandemic after Schmidt had finished upa successful six-year stint coaching Ireland.

“When I applied for the RA role, I was using Joe as a person that you’d have a chat to and get some sort of checks and balances on things,” Horne said.

“In those conversations, I said, ‘Is there ever a place where you’d be interested in working again together?’”

Schmidt and Horne agreed that the Wallabies needed to become competitive again. The difficult part for Horne was persuading the New Zealander that he was the man to do it.

Eventually, Horne won and Schmidt agreed to take over as coach, but only up until the British and Irish Lions series.

Ultimately, Schmidt would decide to extend his time in charge beyond the Lions series to help facilitate the handover to another rugby friend, Reds coach Kiss.

The work

Schmidt did not officially start with the Wallabies until March 2024, but he started pulling late nights and early mornings in January.

By his own admission, Schmidt didn’t know Australia’s players particularly well. He had previously graduated to the Ireland job after three year of immense success with its most successful province, Leinster. That change had been organic, but rebuilding a broken Wallabies squad in just 18 months was an entirely different challenge.

Waugh believes Schmidt’s work ethic is a large part of what makes him so successful.

“It’s not surface level, he goes to a level of detail for every interaction that he’s having with any of the players,” Waugh said. “You cannot fake hard work, and Joe’s worked as hard as I’ve seen anyone work in a rugby system.”

It was not unusual for RA staffers to receive emails from Schmidt in the early hours of the morning concerning particular game plans or players. Last November, on tour with the Wallabies in London, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii joked that he wasn’t sure Schmidt ever actually slept.

A regular attendee at Super Rugby training sessions, Schmidt also regularly visited clubs, schools and coaches across the country to develop his knowledge of Australian rugby.

A Super Rugby player not necessarily anywhere near Test selection might nonetheless receive a phone call with a detailed analysis of his game, simply to help improve his performance.

“I don’t know many other coaches that go to that amount of detail where it’s not just about the immediate group, but it’s also about the extended group and then taking enough time to give them feedback that actually can make them better,” Horne said.

“And I just think that’s a huge amount of work that actually lifts the base. You could [just] invest in the top 38 or top 40 players, but the reality is he’s doing way more than that.

“He’s investing in a cohort of players that are going to lift not only Super Rugby, but the national team.”

The results

Schmidt’s win record in charge of the Wallabies stands at 39 per cent, but Horne believes that figure needs some context.

The Wallabies defeated the British and Irish Lions in the third Test last year and only lost the decisive second Test at the MCG 29-26 after a contentious late try. They beat South Africa at their Ellis Park fortress for the first time in 62 years.

But in November, at the tail end of a gruelling year, the Wallabies lost all four Tests on their spring tour of Europe, against England, Ireland, Italy and France. Those four defeats did little for Schmidt’s win ratio and obscured the good work earlier in the year, when the Wallabies could rightly claim to have made real progress.

“I’ve described last year as a good year, but a bad month,” Horne said. “He’s been so impactful across the game [in Australia]. Not only with people and communities, but on players and them actually individually getting better... he has helped Australia believe again in itself, and now a lot of the players trust each other to deliver on the performances that are required.”

The players

Schmidt has given Test debuts to 24 players during his time at the helm. Harry Wilson, Len Ikitau and Tom Wright have been transformed from World Cup rejects to key Wallabies.

Second-rower Jeremy Williams debuted in Schmidt’s first Test, against Wales in July 2024, and will win his 26th Test cap against Ireland on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Test against Ireland at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, back-rower Rob Valetini insisted the systems and methods put in place by Schmidt would continue to bear fruit long after his departure.

“I would probably say as players, probably just through training, I think our habits and things that we’ve been trying to work on have changed a lot,” Valetini said.

“I’d also say our mindset as well going into games. When we first came in, and we started training, he pulled us up a lot on things and I think we were just trying to drive a lot of high standards.”

The legacy

Ireland coach Andy Farrell is uniquely placed to appraise Schmidt’s Wallabies tenure, having worked under him as an assistant for three seasons before replacing him as head coach in 2019.

Farrell has coached against Schmidt’s Wallabies five times: three as Lions head coach and in two November victories in 2024 and 2025 in charge of Ireland.

Though he left in 2019, Schmidt’s presence is still felt at Ireland’s training centre in north Dublin, where players hold each other to account on every detail of their games – a legacy of the Schmidt years. Farrell believes the New Zealander’s time in charge of the Wallabies will, similarly, create a solid foundation that will benefit Australian rugby in the long term.

“It’s not just how he coaches the side, but how he’s grown Australian rugby as a whole,” Farrell said.

“I suppose that was his remit, to hand the baton over in a healthy place. I’m sure he’ll have a connection there, right through to the World Cup and maybe beyond that. I don’t know, but I think the same thing will happen, like it happened in Ireland.

“People will feel the effects of what Joe’s done for years to come, and I suppose that’ll be his legacy to Australian rugby.”

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The Sydney Morning Herald

New Nations Championship the perfect global testing ground for Wallabies

Michael Hooper - 5 min read

The Nations Championship has finally arrived. Twelve countries, two groups, two series of games in July and November, and the eternal pub question will be answered once and for all: who is better, the northern or the southern hemisphere?

On Saturday, the Wallabies take on Ireland at a sold-out Allianz Stadium, then next Saturday in Brisbane they play France, who will be without their injured star halfback Antoine Dupont. The final Test will be on Saturday, July 18, in Perth against Italy.

The Wallabies will then travel to the northern hemisphere to round out the championship in November, taking on England, Scotland and Wales. The last weekend is reserved for finals at Twickenham.

Each nation will be involved in the finals, starting with the sixth-placed team from the north taking on the sixth-placed from the south, and so on until the showpiece final on Sunday between the top two teams from each hemisphere.

The Nations Championship is unique because it pits the very best players in the world against each other more often.

I was involved in initial discussions about the Nations Championship as a player and, to be honest, I had some doubts about whether it would get off the ground.

Ireland’s Hugo Keenan scores the winning try for the British and Irish Lions against Australia at the MCG.Getty Images

There are just so many different stakeholders to get across the line. Clubs, countries and competitions can all want different things at different times in rugby.

It is a huge logistical effort to get the calendars aligned, but Japan, New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, South Africa, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy, Argentina and France are all signed up and ready to play.

To ensure that rugby is best placed to evolve into the future, there is a willingness from each Test nation to provide more content.

One initial negative spin on the Nations Championship was that it would diminish the spectacle of the World Cup, but I think that a year out from the tournament, it actually enhances it.

We are going to get the perfect look at where all the major Test nations are in their preparation, and it will just generate more interest in what we are going to enjoy in Australia next year when the World Cup starts.

Last year, the Wallabies defeated the Lions in the third Test and ended a 62-year wait for victory at Ellis Park.

There was so much hope and promise for this team, which ended the year in November with four disappointing defeats against England, Ireland, Italy and France.

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is about to take charge of his final three Tests before handing over the coaching reins to Les Kiss.

I am excited about the squad that has been picked. Angus Bell, Taniela Tupou, Len Ikitau and Tom Hooper are all returning to Australia after a gruelling European season. All of these players will be able to bring back precious knowledge on July’s opposition.

Ahead of the World Cup, I believe with this group of Wallabies, rest makes rust. But equally, the Wallabies need to be really strategic about how they use players in these July Tests.

Playing 50 minutes is obviously entirely different to playing a full game. A young player will be able to handle minutes differently to a Test veteran. I do believe that if the Wallabies want to compete for a World Cup, they cannot count on just 15 players; they need to develop another set of players that can also win Tests.

Schmidt has decided to leave Lukhan Salakaia-Loto out of the Wallabies squad for the Nations Championship, which surprised me, given I thought he was probably the best lock in Australia. But equally, I am not seeing what the coaches are seeing day to day in terms of how they are approaching the three Tests against Ireland, France and Italy. It is a reminder of just how difficult it is to earn Test selection.

Against Ireland on Saturday, the Wallabies face familiar adversaries. Andy Farrell coached the British and Irish Lions to a series victory in Australia last year and Ireland fullback Hugo Keenan was the man who scored the match-winning try in the second Test in Melbourne.

The Wallabies go into this Test against Ireland as underdogs, but I think that will suit this squad. At their best, this Australian team knows it can compete against anyone in the world.

This Saturday at Allianz Stadium against Ireland is the perfect start for the Wallabies in the Nations Championship: familiar foes, a sold-out stadium and an opportunity to start the Wallabies Test season perfectly.

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Daniel Herbert breaks silence on controversial message and fight for rugby’s future

Amid courtcases, scepticism and a sold‑out Test week, Herbert’s message to the rugby public stays the same: rebuild together or keep falling apart.

Andrew Webster - 12 min read

As a player during Australian rugby’s golden era of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Daniel Herbert was someone coaches, teammates, and fans could trust. An aggressive outside centre, he ran the hardest and straightest of lines.

Something similar can be said of how he speaks as Rugby Australia chairman, a role he assumed in November 2023 after the state unions rolled incumbent Hamish McLennan. He talks bluntly and realistically. Unlike his predecessor, he isn’t the face of the ­operation, preferring to stay out of the headlines.

That’s been impossible in recent times as former Melbourne Rebels directors chase $30m in damages in the Federal Court, arguing that RA helped engineer – or at least knowingly allowed – the franchise’s collapse before removing it from Super Rugby at the end of 2024. A key plank of their claim is a WhatsApp message attributed to Herbert in which he allegedly said: “We shouldn’t take on Brumbies or Rebels debt, let them fall over.”

As the Wallabies prepare for their first Test of the year, hosting Ireland at a sold-out Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday, Herbert sat down with The Australian to discuss the health of the code, the existential threat from French and European rugby and a cashed-up NRL … as well as that Whats­App message.

You played 67 Tests for the Wallabies, won a World Cup, a British and Irish Lions series, and five straight Bledisloe Cups. With hand on heart, do you believe Australian rugby can scale those heights again?

Yes, I do. Look, it’s a challenge. The competition the Wallabies have now is stronger than what we had when I was running around. You had New Zealand, who were clearly No.1 for a lot of the time; South Africa would turn up at the World Cup in good shape; England would always be a real challenge in England. We lost against Ireland in 2002 but otherwise never lost to them before that. The competition then wasn’t as strong as what it is now … But I have a view that we’ve got plenty of talent in this country to be successful. You talk to people who have plied their trade in Japan and France and England, and they talk about the quality of Australian players. We’ve also got that Pacific diaspora that gives us a power game not many can match. If we get our system right, and if we get the states working collectively with the national union, then we can certainly get to that top tier again.

Can you understand if fans aren’t so optimistic?

It’s changed over the last two years. We get various data points, and one of the more recent ones was the brand health of the Wallabies. I understand there’s lots more to the game than the men. But their brand health, by this marketing agency, was as strong as it’s been. We’re selling out stadiums, which is great. We’ve got some of the best fans in the world, because we haven’t always given them a lot to cheer about, but there’s still something about that gold jersey that many other sports can’t emulate. There’s Australian cricket, there’s soccer, and there’s rugby; they really can bring a nation together like no other sports.

What do the rank-and-file supporters of Australian rugby tell you about how they’re feeling?

Generally, people are very enthused and encouraged, but they’re probably not going to say it to me if they’re not. I’m mindful that there’s a fair bit of scepticism and the only way you can turn that around is through results. I never thought it was a quick fix. If you look over the history of rugby in Australia, there’s been a couple of small periods of dominance. I was lucky enough to be part of one of those. But throughout history we’ve always been the battler punching up against New Zealand, South Africa, Wales, and England, outside of a two or three-year stretch in the 1980s and maybe a five-year stretch in the 1990s and early 2000s … Since then, we’ve had a period of decay that wasn’t addressed properly.

You’ve been a director since 2020 and the chair since November 2023. What do you consider to be your main achievements?

Getting the game working cohesively together. It’s been a badge of honour that rugby bodies would wear – going to war with the next level. A club would be at war with the state union, the state union would be at war with the national union. My view is that our competitors are on the outside – they’re not on the inside. We need to work more cohesively together. My proudest moment has been using that first 12 to 18 months to get everyone in a room to help build a strategy that they owned. We’ve built their trust, that takes a while … We’re starting to build a commercial portfolio back to what it has been and bigger than it’s been for a long time. We’re selling out a lot of the stadiums … Only six months (before the Lions tour) I was having conversations with some journalists from overseas who thought “your team’s going to get wiped off the floor”. I was proud that they weren’t. There’s lots of great things, but there’s still lots of work to do. If it was a 400m race, we’re probably 100m in. There’s a fair way to go.

Two significant decisions have been made during your time on the board: the signing of ­Joseph Suaalii as a player and Eddie Jones as coach. Has the first one been value for money, and as the former player on the board, do you shoulder some of the responsibility for the second?

I’ve never spoken about player contracts in my time on the board. I don’t think it’s appropriate. I know that’s not the answer you’re after but … In terms of Eddie, I’m on the record saying there were very divergent views on the board at the time.

You can’t say what your view was?

It’s not appropriate. What ­happens in the boardroom shouldn’t be divulged outside of that. A wide array of views was given, but ultimately every director has to wear that (decision to sign Jones).

I respect that the case between RA and Rebels directors is still before the Federal Court, but I wanted to ask a few questions about it. First, have you turned on the disappearing messages feature your WhatsApp yet?

(Laughs) Yeah, well, I’m not sure it was on my phone. I’m not sure whose phone it was on … I’ve got to be careful but what I will say is we had our own financial challenges at the time, and I didn’t feel we were in a position to be looking at any new challenges. We had enough on our plate. When we became aware what that level of debt was, there was no way we were going to be able to take that on.

So you’re comfortable with your comment in that WhatsApp message to “let them fall over”?

I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable with the comment, but what it doesn’t allude to is the team – it ­alludes to the debt. They are two different things.

Do you feel that your credibility took a hit during those hearings?

I’m probably not the person to ask. I don’t feel it has been. It’s not something that’s been raised with me by anyone. Most reasonable people on the street would see that it was not an unreasonable thing to feel or say in confidence at the time. It’s not something I would talk about publicly back then, but it’s a very reasonable position to take. It’s not only reasonable, but I also wouldn’t have been upholding my fiduciary duties if I’d looked at it in any other way. It’s not just reasonable, it’s the only position that you can take as a ­director.

It’s not a small amount in damages they’re asking for – $30m. Given the financial gains that RA has made in the past year or so, is this case keeping you up at night thinking about what a loss could mean?

No, it doesn’t keep me up at night … That’s probably as much as I want to say on it, because decisions are yet to be handed down. We’ve moved on, there’s a lot of positive things happening. And I don’t think it’ll come to that.

The hearings, though, have again brought into focus questions about a centralised model and the future of Super Rugby.

To a degree, we’re already centralised, and I don’t mean through our ownership of the Waratahs and Brumbies. It’s a philosophy of coaches, strength and conditioning trainers, and people who work within rugby sharing information and being respectful to one another and making sure we’re not deliberately sabotaging the interests of others. There’s always friction. You can’t get away from that in a sporting environment. It’s not like everyone you know holds hands and sings together. It’s really about communication, and to get that working you need the types of people working in your system who are going to be collaborative. It’s not about owning everything. It’s about forcing the parties to respect one another … You can get very insular. You get coaches, in particular, who worry about their tenure.

Power is difficult for some to give up.

It is. I worked in various roles at Queensland Rugby, and I took the view that it’s great if Queensland win or NSW win, but it doesn’t shift the dial for the rest of the country. We’ve got to be com­petitive against New Zealand. We’re in competition with the most winning rugby country in the world. We’ve put some markers down in the last couple of years, but we’ve been inconsistent. We can beat the best team and then go missing for a while. That’s at the Wallabies and Super Rugby level. We start the season, look like we’re tracking ahead of 50 per cent of wins against New Zealand teams. Then, once the depth starts getting tested later in the season with a few injuries, we just don’t have enough firepower. But we’re building. We’re seeing some good results in some of the underage teams coming through. That gives us some hope.

Can the Brumbies survive in Canberra? Are they about to be relocated to Western Sydney?

Nothing’s in front of us to say they should move to Western Sydney, but I’ve read it in the past. The value the Brumbies offer Australian rugby is different to the others. They’re the high-performance leaders for the Wallabies and Wallaroos. They’re doing a better job than Queensland and NSW in terms of producing high-quality players. New Zealand teams rate them as the hardest competition they face. But they’ve got commercial challenges now because the market isn’t as big as Sydney and Queensland, but I don’t think you would need to move them. I do think there’s an opportunity in Western Sydney that should be looked at now, whether the Brumbies or the Waratahs want to own that territory. If I was at either one of those franchises, I’d be trying to stake a claim on it.

The rugby world is getting smaller with more players migrating to European and Japanese rugby. There are 30 Australian players in the Top 14; we’re fourth behind Fiji, Georgia, and Argentina. Do you envisage a further loosening of restrictions for Wallabies players to stop the drain to other domestic competitions?

French and Japanese rugby is like the NRL to us – they’re just another big, strong competitor. The thing that bugs me most about French rugby is they’re going for really young players who aren’t ready.

They’ve taken 15-year-olds, for example … I know there’s a view that if you could just open up the floodgates and pick your best players from everywhere in the world, that would work … South Africa have done that, but they’re taking their players back to Africa now, because it’s been a real struggle.

Clubs that are paying players lots of money aren’t really wanting to release them all the time. A guy like Will Skelton. He’s 150-plus kilos. Moving a guy that size from north to south is fraught with danger. You need players like him on the ground, conditioned, and making sure they’re not going to get injured … For me, (the policy) is fluid. There’s nothing hard and fast. We’ve got to make sure we protect the domestic game. But it’s a furphy that you can just bring back the players from the other side of the world, particularly France and England, and just play them.

Australian rugby seems to be having the same existential crisis as Cricket Australia insofar as you want to preserve your domestic competition and national team while not restricting players from making the most money than can elsewhere around the world. Mark Nawaqanitawase has played at a Rugby World Cup, an Olympics, and a State of Origin – and about to join Japanese rugby. Is he the prototype of the future Australian rugby player?

It needs to be case by case. We know it wouldn’t matter if Mark’s playing league or AFL. We know he’d come back and still do well. There aren’t many other positions on the park where it’s as transferable as wing.

Your predecessor didn’t mind getting into a public slanging match with ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys. You don’t seem the type to do the same. But do you consider rugby league to be the enemy?

Not at all. I mean, I grew up watching both. My father favoured league over union when I was young and used to take me to Brothers League. I used to duck out under the fence at Crosby Road to watch Wally Lewis play for Valleys. My brother, Anthony, went to the South Queensland Crushers and played a couple of seasons before he got injured. And I was tempted at one point in time …

To join the Broncos?

And Penrith when Royce Simmons as coach. It was slightly more money, but I didn’t really want to move to Sydney. I was a student earning no money versus an offer of earning a lot of money. I met with (Broncos coach) Wayne Bennett a few times and could tell he was a coach you’d want to play for. I just felt there was more for me to achieve in rugby. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I hadn’t tested myself on the global stage. I thought, “Maybe one day”. But I just got to love the game and touring … The games have had to coexist for over a hundred years. The people who want to make it into a slanging match … I just don’t see the point. I don’t see how the energy is worth it. And I don’t see the point because all sports have fanbases who watch other sports. I don’t know what the latest data is but it’s probably 50 per cent of our fan base who watch theirs, and a big chunk of theirs who watch ours. It’s not a thing for me.

The NRL is set to announce a record $5 billion broadcast deal. You’re not worried about what they can do — and who they can buy — with that sort of money?

I’m not worried – but I’m not not worried. I mean, what’s the current one worth? $400m a year? I don’t see it as any different to the challenges we’ve had to date. We’ve had those challenges for a hundred years with the NRL. I look at AFL: they’ve had more money than anyone for a long time, and they’ve slowly infiltrated Queensland with a couple of teams. But our numbers are growing at the same time their numbers are growing. I just think it’s the same challenge. We’re constantly on guard with France and Japan and the NRL and AFL. AFL and cricket are competitors for our second-rowers. League is a challenge for some of our wingers and maybe some of our running forwards. France and England are real challenges for our tight-five. We’ve got those challenges on all fronts. There’s no doubt league will have a very competitive value proposition to put to young athletes. But so do we. It’s just a different value proposition.

The Wallabies play Ireland in front of a sold-out Allianz Stadium on Saturday. How are we tracking for next year’s World Cup?

We’ve got to get our skates on, but one of the most important things is how the players feel. Is their mentality in a strong place, and do they feel they’re heading in the right direction? When you feel like you’re heading in the right ­direction, that’s half the battle.

Christopher Reive - 5 min read

In his first test with the No 7 on his back, don’t expect Luke Jacobson to steer too far from his natural game.

The Chiefs captain was part of a surprising loose trio named by All Blacks coach Dave Rennie for Saturday’s test against France, alongside Peter Lakai – making his first professional start at blindside – and captain Ardie Savea, shifted back to No 8.

Explaining the selections, Rennie said the numbers on their backs only impacted where they packed down in a scrum and the players were given the nod based on the combination of their respective skill sets.

While he has not made a test start at openside, Jacobson spent more time in the No 7 jersey than at No 8 over the past couple of Super Rugby Pacific seasons.

Asked about the expectation that comes with the All Blacks No 7 jersey, in terms of involvement in the contest and the greats of the game who have worn it before him, Jacobson said he was looking forward to “having a decent crack” on Saturday night.

“There are plenty of other aspects that go to a seven as well. I think where my game is, it’s around the collision, trying to impact that,” Jacobson said.

“Yeah, it’s been around the ball and hunting out that when the opportunity is right, but it’s not selling out the rest of your game to just try and get turnovers.

“I’ll play my game. I’ve been picked for a reason, and I’ll keep it at that.”

Jacobson’s last test came against the Wallabies in late September of 2024, while his last start was on the blindside in the side’s win over Fiji in San Diego earlier that year.

Earning the start at openside on Saturday night, Jacobson will have made a start in all three positions in the loose trio.

“I don’t find too much difference between loosie roles,” Jacobson said.

“Sometimes there’s a little bit of difference around lineouts and scrummaging at eight, but as a whole I find them pretty similar.”

Jacobson’s selection at No 7 also sees the All Blacks have some flexibility later in the game when looking to inject Wallace Sititi from the bench.

Sititi can cover blindside or No 8, while all three starting loose forwards have experience in every position in the back row.

The All Blacks come into the test after a hurried preparation, with the full squad having limited time together after the Super Rugby Pacific final between the Hurricanes and Chiefs in late June.

Rennie said there were some players in the squad nursing minor niggles, and selectors decided “late last week” they wouldn’t be included in the matchday squad for France.

However, outside of lock Tupou Vaa’i, who is working his way back through concussion protocols, Rennie would not comment on who the other players were, only saying they had “a reasonably fit group to pick from”.

All Blacks team to play France: 1. Ethan de Groot, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Fletcher Newell, 4. Josh Lord, 5. Sam Darry, 6. Peter Lakai, 7. Luke Jacobson, 8. Ardie Savea (c), 9. Cam Roigard, 10. Ruben Love, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Jordie Barrett, 13. Quinn Tupaea, 14. Will Jordan, 15. Damian McKenzie

Reserves: 16. Asafo Aumua, 17. Xavier Numia, 18. Tyrel Lomax, 19. Patrick Tuipulotu, 20. Wallace Sititi, 21. Cortez Ratima, 22. Billy Proctor, 23. Fehi Fineanganofo

France team to play All Blacks: 1. Jefferson Poirot 2. Maxime Lamothe 3. Demba Bamba 4. Hugo Auradou 5. Tom Staniforth 6. Pierre Bochaton 7. Oscar Jegou 8. Marko Gazzotti 9. Maxime Lucu (c) 10. Matthieu Jalibert 11. Theo Attissogbe 12. Yoram Moefana 13. Fabien Brau-Boirie 14. Damian Penaud 15. Max Spring.

Bench: 16. Barnabe Massa 17. Reda Wardi 18. Regis Montagne 19. Mickael Guillard 20. Killian Tixeront 21. Nolann Le Garrec 22. Antoine Hastoy 23. Nicolas Depoortere