Eddie Jones claims the Wallabies are like an ‘old car’ that keeps breaking down after dramatic loss to Argentina…but Aussie coach is confident his team can hit form before the World Cup ahead of two Tests against the All Blacks
Eddie Jones has compared the Wallabies to an old car that keeps breaking down after Australia lost a thrilling Rugby Championship match 34-31 against Argentina in Sydney on Saturday night.
The defeat is Jones’ second consecutive loss since taking charge of the Wallabies for a second time in January, following a 43-12 hammering at the hands of South Africa to open the Rugby Championship in Pretoria last week.
While the performance at Allianz Stadium was much improved from the dismal display the Wallabies served up seven days ago, Jones admitted his side still had plenty of work to do.
‘You fix the handbrake and then the next day the windscreen wipers break and we’re a bit like that at the moment,’ the former England coach said.
‘Last week our set piece wasn’t good this week our set piece was good.
Eddie Jones likened the Wallabies to an old car that keeps breaking down
The Wallabies lost a thrilling match 34-31 against Argentina in Sydney on Saturday
‘Last week we didn’t attack this week we did attack but our decision making around the ball was poor.’
Jones, however, remained confident the Wallabies would improve before the upcoming Rugby World Cup, which begins in France on September 8.
‘So this is a bit of a process we’ve got to go through, as painful as it as hard as it is, and the team we are today is a long way from the team we want to be tomorrow, but you know we’ll keep working on it and we’ll get it right.’
The Wallabies looked to have secured a dramatic win of their own as Mark Nawaqanitawase ran 95 metres to score an intercept try five minutes from time, but conceded with 50 seconds left to play as Juan Martin Gonzalez crossed for the Pumas.
‘We’re all really disappointed mate. We put a lot into that, though we just couldn’t put enough pressure on the opposition,’ Jones said.
‘Every time we got in position to put pressure we either gave the ball back or didn’t defend hard enough.
‘So there’s a couple of things we need to fix which we can fix with a lot of hard work.
‘Sometimes what you’re doing doesn’t come out in performance and it takes another game or one moment in the game.
Jones insisted the Wallabies can turn their fortunes around ahead of the World Cup
The Wallabies are in action on July 29 next when they host the All Blacks at the MCG, before travelling to New Zealand a week later for the second Bledisloe Cup Test in Dunedin.
Should they fail to beat the All Blacks in either Test, the Wallabies will arrive in France on the back of a four-game losing streak.
Australia open their World Cup against Georgia on September 9 at the Stade de France, before taking on Fiji in Saint-Etienne on September 17 and Wales in Lyon on September 24.
The Wallabies’ last pool stage game is against Portugal on October 1 back in Saint-Etienne.
