By Matt Hardy
Eddie Jones’s first match in charge of Australia was never going to be easy given the state the Wallabies were left in, but having to front up against South Africa last weekend looked brutal.
Their 43-12 loss to the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld would have been crushing for the team given the positivity Jones has been pumping into the side.
But Jones also took the first opportunity he had to go after the press following the loss. It’s good to see that nothing’s changed in that respect. Jones always did bring the theatre to the international game.
Australia afforded losses
The reality is that Jones can afford to see his side lose a couple of games this summer while they’re building towards the World Cup in September.
Australia begin in France against Georgia and Fiji and, while those two will provide stern opposition, it’s a whole two weeks before they clash with Wales in what many expect to be the most decisive match in Pool C.
Contrast that to Argentina, who open against England; New Zealand, who begin against hosts France; and South Africa, who start against Scotland.
Some teams have huge clashes in their opening fixtures and those sides will need to be up and running as they get to the tournament. Australia can almost grow into it.
Argentina coach Michael Cheika, for example, will have been seething at his side’s 41-12 loss to New Zealand in their own back yard at the weekend.
He coached me at Stade Francais and one thing is for certain, he will have spoken his mind in the changing rooms. Cheika is an honest man, brutally so sometimes, and he’ll expect a reaction from his side this weekend when they take on the Wallabies.
The Rugby Championship doesn’t match up to the Six Nations as a product but there are such quality sides in it that some of the logistical downsides can be overlooked.
The Springbok team to take on New Zealand this weekend is monstrous; it could quite easily win a World Cup final, and it doesn’t even include some of the stars from Saturday’s win.
But as I said last week, you can never write off the All Blacks.
World Cup fever
I cannot deny that this year’s World Cup is an exciting one. The winner could come from three pools and there are bound to be upsets throughout.
But as I have previously stated, some teams have much bigger openers than others, and I do worry about the choices some sides have made in terms of their preparation fixtures.
England, for example, play Wales home and away and Ireland in Dublin and then a lighter – arguably non-contact – match against Fiji before their huge World Cup opener against Argentina.
The Boks and New Zealand have their Rugby Championship fixtures before they play each other at Twickenham at the end of August – a huge game just a couple of weeks out from a World Cup.
Ireland have handed themselves a pretty calm summer before they play Romania in their opener – they’re almost at risk of going in under-prepared and urgently needing to fire themselves up during the tournament.
Every country will have different approaches, but at least Australia and Jones have the odd extra game to perfect their plan given their big game is not up first. And boy do they need the time.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development and behavioural change. Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
