State of the Nation: More questions than answers for under-performing Wallabies

David Skippers

Now that the 2022 Rugby Championship is wrapped up, we delve into the state of affairs in each of the southern hemisphere nations. Next up, Australia.

After suffering a 2-1 series defeat to England in July, Wallabies fans expected an improved overall performance during the Rugby Championship but although there were some bright moments, especially during the early stages of the tournament, they failed to kick on and had little to crow about.

As usual, Australia caught the eye with their exciting style of play but despite all their attacking endeavour, they seldom hit their straps for a full 80 minutes and as the tournament progressed their campaign hit a downward curve.

In the end, the Wallabies failed to live up to expectations yet again and head coach Dave Rennie was left with more questions than answers. Their record of two victories and four defeats is a poor return which has seen them slump to ninth position in the world rankings which is a record low for the two-time world champions.

Leadership setback

On the eve of their tournament opener against Argentina, the Wallabies suffered a massive setback when their captain and star back-row Michael Hooper withdrew from their matchday squad due to a “mindset” issue.

Rennie hailed the courage and honesty shown by his captain, who headed back to Australia while the rest of the squad went ahead with the preparations for that first Test against their South American hosts and little did we know that Hooper would not be in action in any of his country’s Rugby Championship Tests.

The 121-Test veteran’s withdrawal did not have an immediate adverse effect on Australia’s fortunes as they registered an impressive 41-26 victory over Los Pumas in Mendoza, with Fraser McReight doing well as his replacement on the openside flank, while James Slipper also had a solid game as the replacement captain.

It wasn’t plain sailing during the rest of the competition, however, as the Wallabies’ inconsistency hampered them in their other games and they only notched one further triumph during the rest of their campaign.

After his impressive start in the number seven jersey, McReight continued to shine in the Wallabies next couple of games but went off the boil in the second Test against the Springboks with Pete Samu shining as his replacement in the last two Tests against the All Blacks.

Despite that, Hooper’s absence was keenly felt and although Slipper did an admirable job as the side’s stand-in skipper one can’t help but wonder what could have been had their first choice leader been in the mix to lead his troops during the championship.

Injury woes, poor discipline and some controversy

Although Australia will not use it as an excuse, one cannot ignore the impact that a huge injury toll had on their fortunes during this year’s Rugby Championship.

Despite that series defeat to England, they were still in a confident mood ahead of the Rugby Championship – despite losing quality players like Scott Sio, Tom Banks, Caderyn Neville, Izaia Perese and Samu Kerevi to serious injuries sustained against the English.

Although they were rocked by Hooper’s shock withdrawal, they did well to win that first encounter against Argentina. However, the mood soon changed as apart from Hooper’s departure, they also lost the services of experienced playmaker Quade Cooper, who ruptured his Achilles tendon during that victory over Los Pumas.

And their rotten luck with injuries continued as Dave Porecki, Rob Leota, Folau Fainga’a and Hunter Paisami were also sidelined with concussions during training in Argentina. That win was soon followed by a record 48-17 defeat to Los Pumas in San Juan but apart from bouncing back with a win over South Africa in Adelaide in their next match, there was no return to the victory trail as they lost all three their remaining Tests with Leota crocked again with the similar injury to Cooper’s.

A big reason for Australia’s inconsistent form is their discipline – or rather the lack thereof – as they had the worst record in that department of the tournament’s four competing nations as they had nine yellow cards issued to them in their six matches. Meanwhile, Argentina and South Africa received eight each and New Zealand four.

There were also some controversial moments with the biggest one being the decision by referee Mathieu Raynal to sanction Wallabies fly-half Bernard Foley for time-wasting during the opening Bledisloe Cup Test in Melbourne. That moment definitely helped the All Blacks to victory and it was subsequently proven that Raynal made the right call.

That decision and the dying moments of that clash is a good illustration how narrow the margins between winning and losing can be at Test level and the Wallabies – especially Foley – will be kicking themselves for their inability to close out that match, after they launched a stunning second half comeback.

Head coach under pressure

This is Rennie’s third year as the Wallabies’ head coach and after some impressive results during the early stages of his reign, they have been struggling in the Test arena of late.

Australia have played nine Tests so far in 2022 and been victorious on just three occasions. That means they have only won 33.3 per cent of their games and Rennie will be feeling the heat.

By contrast, they impressed with five consecutive wins during last year’s Rugby Championship and their defeats to England and poor Rugby Championship form means Rennie‘s win rate is at just 38 per cent from 29 Tests.

That’s simply not good enough and with a gruelling end-of-year tour to Europe – with Tests against Scotland, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales – lying in wait, Rennie will be desperate for improvement all round from his charges.

READ MORE: State of the Nation: Los Pumas only looking up after breakthrough Rugby Championship campaign

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