Wallabies: Fraser McReight’s ‘tough conversations’ from Dave Rennie’s time in charge and why ‘belief won’t just cut it’ against the All Blacks
Fraser McReight on the carry for the Wallabies and, inset, All Blacks boss Dave Rennie
Fraser McReight has recalled his difficult introduction to Test-level rugby when current All Blacks boss Dave Rennie was at the Wallabies.
Now a veteran of 46 appearances, the 27-year-old has become a regular in the Australian back-row and is in line to start against Rennie’s New Zealand in Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup opener in Auckland. However, selection wasn’t something easy for McReight when Rennie succeeded Michael Cheika as Wallabies head coach following the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Rennie gave McReight his 2020 debut off the bench against New Zealand in Sydney, but there was just one further appearance until he made a proper breakthrough in 2022, starting six times before Rennie was controversially sacked and replaced by Eddie Jones.
Four years later, Rennie is now plotting the downfall of a Wallabies side where McReight is a first-choice Les Kiss pick, and the back-rower can’t wait to see what unfolds in Auckland against an All Black team coached by his former mentor.
“They really gave me critical things to work on…”
“He gave me and a lot of the other boys a debut,” began McReight, recalling the Rennie era at the Wallabies. “Obviously very thankful, but at the time, personally I wanted to play as much as I can. But having Michael (Hooper) in front of me, biding my time, they really gave me critical things to work on.
“I was able to use that and now, looking back on it, it was probably something that I’m very appreciative of, being able to have those tough conversations as a young bloke at 20, 21, being really able to dial in and understand what training and your prep looks like in a Test match week. A few years later, a bit older, I was able to kind of just have that week in, week out sort of ability.
“I guess the way that Dave is going to approach this game, he’s going to understand the threats in our team and where we can be targeted. But, you know, he loves counterattack. He loves spreading the ball. You look at all the threats that New Zealand have. They are a great team, so he will probably want to unleash that against us. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of running rugby.”
Although the Wallabies have travelled across the Tasman for the start of the two-match series on the back of a six-match unbeaten run that includes a win over the Springboks, history is heavily against them going into the weekend opener.
It was 2002, 24 years ago, when Australia were last in possession of the Bledisloe Cup, while it is 1994, 32 years ago, when the All Blacks were last beaten in any match at Eden Park.
McReight suggested that the Wallabies have the belief to cause an upset but admitted belief alone won’t win them the game. “Belief is strong, but we are understanding of where we’re at and how much better we need to get.
“You know, we just don’t want to talk the talk. We want to walk the walk and be able to deliver it. For us, it’s all about having good training. We had a great day today [Tuesday], had a good prep yesterday [Monday].
“And throughout the week we’re going to get better, do some more reviews and obviously have another session on Thursday before we play Saturday. Belief is strong, but belief won’t just cut it. We have to go out there and perform, and to do that we have got to get our minds right, get our bodies right and start to dial in when we need to.
“I take each game on its own merits week by week, but definitely Bledisloe is a huge game for us. We get to play against a really quality opposition. It’s something obviously that we value, and we haven’t touched or had the cup since what, ’03.
“It’s always a goal of each Wallaby team to try to get it back, so that’s probably why it’s such a special contest for every Wallaby that gets a chance to participate in those games.”
McReight continued: “Everyone in the squad is a bit different depending on how many times you have played the All Blacks and faced Eden Park. I guess you can look at it two ways.
“We’re really trying to win and get the win over here and be the first side, but they’re also defending it, and that has to play in their psyche as well. That’s probably how we’re trying to frame it. We’re just trying to attack every moment, and we’re still just trying to get better really.
“Like, we’re working hard for each other. We care a lot about each other and about the group, with everyone involved. So, we just really want to put in a great performance for the fans and for our family.
“To do that, we have to have a really good week. You can’t really think about Eden Park and trying to win the Bledisloe or trying to break the curse or the hoodoo, whatever people call it.
“You just kind of focus on each moment and if that takes you to the 80th minute and whether you win or whether you lose, you have got to stand by that, so just try to be present as much as you can.”
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
Assessing the All Blacks’ style of play with Rennie at the helm, he added: “Cam Roigard can kick well; they have got Richie Mo’unga, some good 10s there. They’ll probably use their kicking game, and they have also tried to run it under Dave.
“I assume they’ll love to counterattack and try to get their weapons involved, which is great because we like to play that way too, right?
“If you look back as well, even last year and the year before that, the Test matches were very competitive. There was some great running rugby, and I look forward to that sort of Test match because all Australians love playing that sort of footy because that’s how we play.”
