Rugby Championship preview: Wallabies to continue revival under ...

Next in our set of previews ahead of the upcoming Rugby Championship we examine the prospects of last year’s bottom-placed finishers, Australia.

After experiencing an annus horribilis under the guidance of Eddie Jones in 2023, Australia are on the road to recovery with Joe Schmidt taking over the coaching reins in 2024.

The early signs are that the Wallabies are moving in the right direction but they face tough assignments in the Rugby Championship against well drilled and organised opposition.

With it being a Rugby World Cup year, the 2023 version of the Rugby Championship was a truncated version of the competition as each country only played three matches.

Unfortunately, it was not a tournament which Wallabies fans will remember fondly as they struggled throughout and eventually finished with the wooden spoon after losing all their fixtures.

Australia made a forgetful start against the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria as they were outplayed in most facets of play and eventually suffered a humiliating 43-12 defeat.

They were expected to bounce back in their next match, as it was against traditional Rugby Championship strugglers Argentina, but despite playing on their home turf Jones’ troops suffered a shock 34-31 defeat at the CommBank Stadium in Sydney.

Following that result, they hosted New Zealand in a highly anticipated Bledisloe Cup clash in front of 84,000 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. But just like against Los Pumas, home ground advantage did not work in their favour as the All Blacks cruised to a 38-7 victory.

That meant the Wallabies finished at the bottom of the table with just one bonus-point picked up in the final standings as Jones was left with more questions than answers ahead of their Rugby World Cup campaign.

While they have a new man in charge in Schmidt, whose ideas and coaching methods have already yielded positive results, the Wallabies will only truly know how much progress they have made once they have completed their Rugby Championship campaign.

Their clashes against traditional heavyweights New Zealand and South Africa will be crucial and they are up against the Springboks in back-to-back Tests in Brisbane and Perth.

Although the world champions will head into those encounters as favourites, the Wallabies will fancy their chances of causing an upset, especially in Brisbane where they have won 12 out of 13 Tests against the Boks since 1993.

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Next up are Los Pumas in Buenos Aires and Santa Fe – away matches which Wallabies teams from years gone by won comfortably, but one expects Schmidt and his charges to be involved in much trickier assignments against their hosts this year.

They then face their trans-Tasman rivals the All Blacks in Sydney before heading to Wellington for another clash with the men in black to bring an end to their campaign.

One player who will play an important role in this campaign for Australia is the country’s current John Eales Medalist Rob Valetini, who is one of the world’s best back-rowers.

Equally adept at number eight and on the blindside flank, Valetini is solid on both sides of the ball and he will be expected to give his side attacking momentum with ball in hand while his high work-rate on defence should also keep opponents in check.

Meanwhile, the backline duo of Noah Lolesio and Marika Koroibete will also be players to keep an eye on as both are brilliant attackers. Lolesio cemented himself as the Wallabies’ first choice fly-half with solid performances in the two Tests against Wales and will be determined to kick on, while Japan-based Koroibete is one of the game’s best attackers once he builds up a head of steam.

Schmidt handed the Wallabies captaincy to Liam Wright ahead of their two-Test series against Wales in July but he sustained a shoulder injury which has kept him on the sidelines. Since then the front-row duo of James Slipper and Allan Alaalatoa have skippered the side.

With Australia being in a rebuilding phase, Slipper and Alaalatoa’s leadership skills will be crucial – especially in tight encounters – but they also need other senior players like Valetini, Koroibete, Nic White and Taniela Tupou to step up in that department if the Wallabies want to continue improving.

The Wallabies have already won their first three matches of the year under Schmidt which is a massive positive – after they only won two out of nine Tests under Jones in 2023 – ahead of the Rugby Championship.

After a winless campaign in last year’s tournament, things can only get better this year and although their campaign gets underway with two matches against the world champions, both those games are in Australia which should give them some confidence.

Although they are up against Los Pumas in Argentina, they will fancy their chances against the South Americans before those last two matches against the All Blacks. Third.

Saturday, August 10 v South Africa (Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane)
Saturday, August 17 v South Africa (Optus Stadium, Perth)
Saturday, August 31 v Argentina (Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi, Buenos Aires)
Saturday, September 7 v Argentina (Brigadier Estanislao Lopez Stadium, Santa Fe)
Saturday, September 21 v New Zealand (Accor Stadium, Sydney)
Saturday, September 28 v New Zealand (SKY Stadium, Wellington)

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