He had many chances and never really nailed them with the Wallabies. Never too bad but never decisive. Hopefully Edmed will join the Brumbies to replace him.

Different values. Pasifika players will always put their future financial security first so will be keen to accept offers from overseas fairly young. Usually their only opportunity to make big money and secure the financial future of their family. A few will stay but the lure of a big contract will always come before the All Black jersey.

I totally disagree with your views. World Rugby has miserably failed to promote the XV version of the game which vegetate with the same group of nations. All efforts are done to prevent Georgia to access the higher level, we have lost Samoa due to their internal incompetency, Wales is going down at an incredible speed and is seriously challenged by soccer. Canada, which was an interesting candidate has now totally fallen off the radar.
With the Sevens program, we have seen nations like Fiji, Kenya, Uruguay, Spain now emerging and getting an exposure they would never had gotten. The female version has been a breath of fresh air and has allowed world stars to emerge. Make no mistake, without the Sevens circuit, the Maddy Levy, Charlotte Casslick and other would all be playing League. China and Brazil are growing. We need to extend the footprint of rugby and , if it is with Sevens, so be it.
Maybe World Rugby needs to be smarter around the funding of that circuit but, reducing it to 8 teams and a couple of tournaments will not solve the problem.

Yes, it should have its own sponsors!

RA was stupid enough to engage in a costly legal battle. So the blame should be shared. But I also think that the train has past and Izzy Folau does not deserve a place in the team that will play the Lions. Younger players should get their chance.

Euro converted to AUD

Not sure where you are getting your numbers from. France 2, that broadcast the game on Saturday, had a peak audience of 8.2 millions viewers in France. This place it on par with the French soccer team.

Olly, to give you an idea, Toulouse, that won the Top 14 and the European Cup, used 59 players during the season. During the test window, they had around 14 players unavailable due to international duties. The importance of having depth but also development players that can “hold the fort” and those young players gain massive experience. They also bring that extra level of enthusiasm as they don’t want to “let the club down”.

What type of doctor was that? Was he asleep during the game?
Next, it will be the cleaners that will request a player to be suspended for having spat in the tunnel leading to the field.
The doctor failed to perform his duty of care at the right time. He is the one who should be suspended.

Is that a joke? The guy can’t even step on a rugby field without getting a concussion or picking up an injury. How is he going to do it in NFL? Oh yes, they have got big helmets and paddings but I am not sure this will help him get a contract. When a guy like Louis Rees-Zammit, a far better player than Petaia, can’t even crack it, I don’t see how he can make it… Too hard physically for him

Overall C rating is fair I guess, considering the depth of mediocrity the Wallabies were coming from. Though showing some signs of improvements, the defence remains a major concern as the Wallabies are very passive and give too much ground to the opposition by constantly being on the back foot. In that case, any individual mistake is paid cash and we have seen many…
The real issue is the lack of big ball carriers. Agree that Salakaia-Loto has shown that he can play at test level. I would have thought that Frost was going to impose himself but he lacks that power required against the best nations. Nigel Williams is probably more a 6 than a 2nd rower. That raises the question of where are the ball carriers – Shelton is stuck in Top 14 and will only be available for the November tests; I would have like to see what Hocking really looks like at the highest level before he is eligible for Japan. What happened to the Matt Philip of this world? Why has Staniforth always been ignored whereas he is one of the top 2nd rowers in Top 14? Where/when is the new generation of big guys coming through?
From the attacking point of view, this is work in progress but, can we, at the very least, stop throwing those “hail Mary” passes to no-one in the hope that we keep the momentum? It is putting the entire team on the back foot when they all have to retreat to recover those blunders.
Finally, when will we stop seeing the useless box kicks from the scrum halves (especially Gordon)? what is the purpose of those kicks as the Wallaby wingers are NEVER in a position to contest or win those balls. Australia is not South Africa that made that phase a major weapon thanks to du Preez, Habana and Pietersen in 2007 and continues to use it as an attacking weapon.
Overall, work in progress but not sure that, domestically, we have the cattle to be competitive.

Thank you for that analysis. The good thing is that the defence is probably the easiest thing to fix as England showed in 2023 where, after being hammered at home by France (10 – 53), managed to finished 3rd of the Rugby World Cup based on a great defensive effort. It will take time to fix all of the Wallabies’ problems but the defence should be the prime focus and should be reasonably easy to fix.

Ben Youngs has a very short memory. The 1998 Australasian tour of the English rugby team was not that flash with a 76- nil defeat against Australia and large defeats against a number of New Zealand sides, including the All Blacks. No-one, at the time, said, let’s stop playing against the English team as they are useless. 5 years later, that team won the World Cup. During the 6 Nations 2023, England was humiliated at home by France, 10 – 53 and managed to finished 3rd in the 2023 World Cup. So, a bit of moderation from his part would be good. It is obvious that the Wallabies team is in a complete rebuild phase and patience is required.
As per Mils’ comments, maybe the NZRU decision to kick out the South African teams from SR should be blamed for weakening the tournament. Also, there is a need for a rebuild phase after losing players as influential as Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith or Richie Mo’unga all in one go. Maybe Mils should also look at the weakness of the under 20 unable to win the Under 20 world championship, meaning that the young players are not up to the expected level compared to France and the UK….

Harsh but a fair reflection of the game and its outcome. The defensive play of the backline was absolutely dismal and the backs were outplayed like juniors.

When you look at the South African team that beat the AB, most of the overseas based players come from Japan which tends to prove that the Japanese League is not that bad and protects the physical integrity of the players. So we could easily look at players like Hocking, McMahon or Rory Arnold (if he comes back to his best)…

Hoy, you are making a very point. It is at the junior level that the key effort needs to be made to ensure a strong rebuild. That is when they acquire the skills and also some of the attitude required to play at the highest level. Unfortunately, since the 2019 generation, beaten finalists of the under 20 championship by France, that age group has not produced scintillating performances and we can feel that at the highest level. When we look at the French side, their multiple winning under 20 side has seen many of its key players promoted to the highest level like Ntamack or Woki, with a young wave coming up (Nouchi, Castro-Ferreira, Gailleton, Bielle-Barray…). Australia had a great generation in 2019 (McReight, Lolesio) but since then not too many game changers.
Unfortunately, the Australian coaching ranks have taken a battering. Widely appreciated and successful in the early 2000s, the Australian coaching has suffer a major decline. Time to give the emerging young coaches a chance to grow their skills and to focus on the junior ranks before they are totally pilfered by the rugby league clubs.

And, at the same time, the country is fascinated by the aerial ping pong show called AFL….

That second half capitulation was embarrassing to say the least. Totally outplayed in the collision phases, at the breakdown where we turn over so many balls. The defensive line proved very feeble and the Wallabies were lucky that Argentina was denied that first try.
I am still baffled by the poor kicking game of the Wallabies – when you compare the kicking game of the Boks, where each and every kick is contestable or purposely aimed with the Wallabies kicking game that aims at surrendering the ball to the opposition…
The restart phases are a major issue as the Wallabies put themselves immediately under pressure after a score. Koroibete is still a danger for the team as some of his actions are so reckless. Luckily, no yellow/red card yet, but it is a question of time.
Unfortunately, the under 20 are not really a shining light. There is a strong focus that should be put on the development of young players as there is a need for more depth in Australian rugby.

France cannot afford long tours due to their never ending Top14. They have now decided to send “development” teams for their summer tours. We saw that in Australia during covid, they did it again this year when their team toured Argentina, so they can protect their top players.

A true reflection of where Australian Rugby is at – not a top tier nation any longer and the South Hemisphere top dogs are now running away with their own tour. It will do nothing to help world rugby but, at least, the money should flow. Now, Will the public be interested to see the same teams playing again each other over and over? Dan Herbert and the RA board will have to quickly find ways to put Australian rugby back on track. At this stage, Australian Rugby will be left with hardly anything – the English players are already playing a lot of rugby so won’t be keen on a long tour; the Argentinian players are all playing in Europe, so won’t be keen to play more games; France has a very long season and now sends development teams on tour… That leaves Australia trying to find a place in a rugby landscape that will more and more ignore the Australians. And, if moving away from Super Rugby may be a good idea, it will finish isolating Australia which will only play in its own backyard and see the others playing competitive rugby. The demise of the Rugby Championship would be the final nail in the coffin. It is time to have rugby administrators with a vision but, that is very difficult to achieve when your first task is to try to keep Rugby Australia solvent.

James Slipper may be right that the players have to take accountability but I seriously question some of the tactics that were employed: the Wallabies keep on persevering with an idiotic kicking game that keeps on giving the ball back to the opposition without much effort. The box kick only works when it is perfectly executed and your wingers are competing. That is how Fourie du Preez was playing with Habana and Pietersen. The wallabies were never good at chasing those kicks. The kicking game from Lolesio was also useless as not putting any pressure on the Boks’ back 3. Result, the Wallabies kept returning the ball back to allow the Boks to put pressure on a defensive line that held as long as possible but was overwhelmed in the end. The second half saw the end of that stupid kicking game and the Wallabies able to apply more pressure on the Boks defence though lots of handling mistakes and poor execution prevented any more positive results. I am worried that the leadership team doe snot have a strong rugby brain to change the course of play during the game. If one thing does not work, let’s do something different. Hopefully, the return of some key players will improve the performance of areas such as the scrum. But, let’s face it, this is going to be a long rebuild and there is no magic wand here.

I don’t see it as a sign of disrespect. Rassie knows that he has an ageing team, especially upfront, and that he needs to bring on new players to make sure they have the necessary experience to take over from real monuments of the game. The South Africans are a rugby playing nation, so I do not have too much worry that they will do well. Now it is up to the wallabies to raise their game and be able to compete against a team that, on paper, looks weaker than the previous one.

Can we stop with that ridiculous GOAT debate? A poor creation of pundits when they do not have anything to write about.
It is undeniable that Dupont is a great player and has proven decisive in a number
of games, whether for his club, Stade Toulousain, or for France. He has now proven himself on the 7s circuit. He has been central to the victoires in the semi-final against South Africa and in the final against Fiji. Quite a number of great rugby players have not been able to cut it in the 7 format. So, he must be recognised for that.
At the same time, rugby is a team sport and no single player can be dominant without the 14 others. So, let’s stop that non-sense – Dupont is a great player, so were Gareth Edwards, Carter, McCaw, Etzebeth and many other players that we have had the pleasure of admiring through generations…

Can you amend the French team as Hugo Auradou is NOT going to play. You mentioned, in the article, that Briatte will take his place.

1 game under Scott Robertson and you are already jumping to conclusions? That is a bit hasty and not true. England has a team that is improving and not an easy opponent as they showed during the 6 Nations, beating Ireland and getting close to upset France. Though not at their best, the All Blacks produced some interesting things for that first outing. The scrum was strong, they had the overall domination of the game. It is not easy to replace players of the calibre of Arron Smith, especially when your designated replacement, Cam Roigard, is out for the season. It is not easy to step in the shoes of a Richie Mo’unga who finally found his form in his last 2 seasons with the AB. Replacing a world class second row pairing of Whitelock/Retallick was never going to happen overnight. So give us a break and wait for a few games before making such definitive statements.