{"id":319836,"date":"2023-07-29T14:45:55","date_gmt":"2023-07-29T14:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=319836"},"modified":"2023-07-29T14:59:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T14:59:41","slug":"keep-praying-eddie-faces-music-as-critics-emerge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=319836","title":{"rendered":"'Keep praying': Eddie faces music as critics emerge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones insists Australia are on track to mount a competitive Rugby World Cup campaign despite another humiliating Bledisloe Cup loss on Saturday night.<\/a><\/p>\n

Jones is now 0-3 in his second coming as Wallabies coach after New Zealand turned on the second half style in a comprehensive 38-7 victory at a packed MCG.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffAdding to the pain were injuries to tighthead props Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou<\/a> while Jones also gave a surprisingly ominous update on co-captain Michael Hooper.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of the 2023 Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Brutal<\/p>\n

Alaalatoa, who captained Australia in Melbourne, suffered what Jones described as likely a "serious" Achilles tendon injury, almost certainly ruling him out of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Tupou battled on manfully before succumbing to a painful rib injury in the second half.<\/p>\n

Australia were competitive early on but were unable to maintain the rage.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Emotional prop says Wallabies 'let down Australia, let down Eddie'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Wallabies captain's beautiful boomerang response to All Blacks haka<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:\ufeff<\/strong> 'Horrible scenes' as Wallabies skipper in doubt for Rugby World Cup<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Wallabies<\/p>\n

"Where's there's life there's hope. I've coached teams like this before and you can turn it around," Jones said.<\/p>\n

"I saw enough today to know that we can be a bloody good team. You're sitting there thinking 'shit, what's this bloke talking about?' But I'm telling you boys, we can turn it around and be a very good team.<\/p>\n

"So for the fans, they've got to keep being hopeful. Keep praying, whatever God they've got, keep praying that we turn it around. We will."<\/p>\n

\"All<\/p>\n

Australia now have just two more games before the World Cup, starting with another date against the All Blacks in Dunedin next Saturday.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The starters did a really good job and we came off at halftime 19-7 (down), and the first 15-20 minutes of the second half we dominate. But the scoreboard blows out and it's hard to be positive about a result like that," Jones told Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

Giving Australia World Cup life is the fact they have been placed in the soft side of the draw.<\/p>\n

\"Injured<\/p>\n

They are favoured to top their pool ahead of Wales and Fiji which would likely set up a winnable quarter-final against either Argentina or England.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Jones is known as a World Cup master – who has reached two finals – but fans are already losing patience.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The only thing that changes is the way you train, you've just got to train better," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Blinding<\/p>\n

"You know, our only opportunity to get better is through training. We don't have any other opportunities. There's selection, but I think the starting guys did pretty well and we'll see next week. It's not experimentation, but we need to find a squad of 33 that can go to the World Cup."<\/p>\n

Jones said he was happy with backs Samu Kerevi, Mark Nawaqanitawase and \ufeffMarika Koroibete but was disappointed in his side's ineffective mauling.<\/p>\n

"We didn't get anything out of that. We're doing a lot of work. So we've just got to find out what we've got to fine tune there."<\/p>\n

\"Brutal<\/p>\n

Former Wallabies star Drew Mitch\ufeffell declared it was time to "pick and stick" with selection.<\/p>\n

"It's disappointing. It's not where we want to be and where we need to be at this point of a campaign this close to a World Cup," Mitchell said on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

"Eddie Jones needs to pick his best XV and give them some time together in these next two Test matches to start getting some combination and cohesiveness together."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/AndyGoode10\/status\/1685260592330780674?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

Two-time World Cup winner Tim Horan said the players should be "gutted."<\/p>\n

"No one wants to see the Wallabies beaten by that much. But I saw enough in 56 minutes to give me and hopefully the fans, hope leading into next Saturday and the World Cup," Horan said.<\/p>\n

"I thought they were more physical at the breakdown, defence was a lot better and they needed to score a try in that first 16 minutes in the second half."<\/p>\n

\"Wallabies<\/p>\n

Before the game kicked off, former Wallabies coach \ufeffJohn 'Knuckles' Connolly launched an extraordinary attack on Jones.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Telegraph in the UK, \ufeffConnolly – who succeeded Jones as Australia coach in 2006 – described Jones' homecoming as "a bloody disaster."<\/p>\n

"How did we end up with Eddie again? He is full of it," Connolly claimed.<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/p>\n

"When I took over from Eddie, the players were like beaten down sheepdogs. If you walked in a room they would have their heads down and were scared to do anything.<\/p>\n

"There was no leadership. There was no development. It was a total void that took nearly a year to rebuild.<\/p>\n

"I can't believe we have made the same mistake again."<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

All Blacks coach Ian Foster said "the scoreline flattered" his side.<\/p>\n

"We clearly deserved the win but I thought there was enough in that Aussie performance that they will take away some good points from that," Foster said.<\/p>\n

"But they will regret they couldn't put prolonged periods of pressure on us."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones insists Australia are on track to mount a competitive Rugby World Cup campaign despite another humiliating Bledisloe Cup loss on Saturday […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":319838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=319836"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319844,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319836\/revisions\/319844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/319838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}