Nick Mallett’s Wallabies’ World Cup prediction after shock victory over the Springboks
Max Jorgensen and Ben Donaldson celebrate a try and an inset of ex-Springboks coach Nick Mallett.
Nick Mallett believes that the Wallabies will be “dangerous” for the All Blacks with the two nations colliding in the 2027 Rugby World Cup pool stages.
If the Springboks top Pool B next year, they are likely to face the winners of Pool A, which contains Australia and New Zealand, provided both teams progress past the round of 16.
Many pundits have predicted that the All Blacks would top the pool, setting a collision course with South Africa in the last eight, including Mallett, who has changed his tune following Australia’s shock 42-38 victory over the Boks in Perth.
Australia will be dangerous
While it was only a four-point margin of victory, late Morne van den Berg and Ox Nche tries made the scoreline look far more respectable, with Les Kiss’ side producing an otherwise compelling performance against a largely changed Springbok outfit.
Speaking on the Talking Boks podcast after Australia’s victory, Mallett pinpointed what improvements the Wallabies need to make in order to be a force at their home World Cup.
He pointed to the side’s discipline, with four players yellow-carded in the latter stages of the game, and said that Kiss needs to find a fly-half, as Ben Donaldson did not perform well against Rassie Erasmus’ charges.
“I will say that if Australia managed to get their discipline right, which was one of the only criticisms I would have of them,” Mallett said. “Because their lineout was good, their scrum was good, their contestables were good, and I don’t think Donaldson is a great fly-half.
“I thought he was pretty clunky; a lot of his passes went to ground in that first half, which was lucky for us, but if they get a fly-half there who understands how to play it flat and when to kick and when to pass and when to take it to the line, then they’re going to be very dangerous.
“Dangerous for New Zealand because New Zealand won’t be able to scrum them off their ball, and they are not as good at contestables as Australia is at the moment. So New Zealand have a big problem, in my view, in that pool game. We might be playing Australia in the quarter-final, not New Zealand.”
Wallabies’ connection
Following the match, Kiss praised the tightness of the Wallabies squad, saying: “These boys, what they have built in the locker room, the heartbeat of any club as I say, is that they are a tight group.
“Their connection piece is strong. They care deeply about what they are doing in this jersey, and we saw that tonight in that last 10 minutes.”
Mallett argued that the number of penalties and cards in the final quarter suggests that they are not that tight.
“They are talking about the connection in the team and how they played for each other and all that, but to be honest, they were all over the place in those last 20 minutes,” the former Bok head coach added.
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“They were just giving penalty after penalty away. They were trying hard not to concede tries, but they were doing so in a way that would be so damaging in a World Cup game.
“You can’t go in with shoulder charges to the head or high tackles to the head anytime during the game. And it’s one thing we’ve got better at. Our discipline has been very, very good.”
