Wallabies star savours ‘shutting up critics’ after recent ‘negativity towards Australian rugby’
Fraser McReight in action for the Wallabies against England
Wallabies flanker Fraser McReight is savouring the feeling of shutting up the critics after a memorable 42-37 win over England on Saturday.
Australia arrived at Allianz Stadium off the back of a run of five losses in six Tests during the Rugby Championship but clawed their way back from 15-3 down to record a famous victory over Steve Borthwick’s side.
“It’s always great to shut up critics”
Speaking to members of the media after the game, McReight, who played an influential role in the victory, said it was a just reward for their progress in recent months, despite the ‘negativity towards Australian rugby’.
“It feels great,” he said. “There’s been a lot of hard work been put in this year and to get the result was great.”
“There’s been a lot of negativity towards Australian rugby recently, so for us to be able to win and see our effort – especially in this week, it was a tough week – to get that result was great.”
“It’s always great to shut up critics, right? There’s a lot of people who have their opinions, whether we win or lose, there’s always going to be someone out there.”
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The Wallabies are a fairly fresh group at the moment. Star back Joseph Suaalii made his Test debut after switching from Rugby League, Max Jorgensen – the eventual match winner – won just his fourth cap in the win and even captain Harry Wilson and McReight himself are 24 and 25 years of age respectively.
“We had Joseph Suaalii playing his first game,” he continued. “It was Harry Wilson’s first game as captain over here, and everyone did their job really well tonight, nobody let the team down and we went out there as a 23 and we were able to achieve something we haven’t done for nearly 10 years. It was pretty special to be involved.”
With such a young core of players, the recent run of losses might have led to a slump, but McReight feels his side never let their heads get down, and will be wanting to kick on from here.
“We’ve always had that belief and that confidence, but we’ve not been able to string a full game together. We didn’t even do that tonight, really, but we took a step forward again tonight which we’ve been trying to do all year,” he said.
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The Wallabies now prepare for a visit to familiar foes Wales, who come into the game off the back of 10 consecutive defeats.
Turing around under Joe Schmidt
Whilst the Rugby Championship might not have gone according to plan, results have certainly improved since new boss Joe Schmidt took the reins.
The New Zealand-native has won four of his 10 matches in charge of the Wallabies, double that of Eddie Jones during his torrid second spell in 2023, and they have also posted decent showings against New Zealand and South Africa in that time.
Commenting on the former Ireland boss’ reign so far, McReight had nothing but good words.
“Joe’s (Schmidt) focusing on detail and the fundamentals of the game,” he said. “He’s backing us and giving us confidence and time to build.
“I’ve always believed we had the players, but we’re getting that confidence and building the fundamentals of the game.
“It wasn’t going to be something that just happened, but this Test year we’ve developed and hopefully that’s going to continue in the next three games.”
