World Cup-winning former Wallabies hooker Jeremy Paul has claimed that Australia made a mistake by sending their leading players on the November tour, and has urged head coach Les Kiss to answer with the hardest training week of the year.
“Why is it that every other side can send their third and fourth team on this tour and we stupidly go and send all of our top players that you can see they are tired,” Paul said on The Good, The Bad & Rugby Australia & New Zealand.
Rest them or flog them: what should Kiss do with the Wallabies this week?
Paul was speaking alongside host Andy Rowe and former All Blacks captain Kieran Read, in an episode published on 10 November.
Australia lost 45–22 to England at Twickenham on Sunday 8 November. It was the third Test in a row in which they conceded more than 40 points, after two defeats to New Zealand in October.
READ MORE: Wallabies defence leaks 138 points: can Kiss fix it in a week?
‘They are tired’
Rowe asked when questions should be raised about Kiss and his coaching staff. Paul would not go there, but said the squad should have been managed differently from the day the coach took over.
“He’s not seven years in the job, bro. He’s only nine games into it,” Paul said. “So there’s none of those conversations, because what he should have done was, when he came into the job and knowing that this was going to be the tour, he should have had the conversation with the CEO, Phil Waugh, and said, ‘Mate, I’m going to rest these eight players’.
“I said before the tour, why is it that France can send their third, fourth team?
“Now, that’s no excuse. Look, this is no excuse.”
Australia were unbeaten in Kiss’s first five Tests in charge. The three defeats since have cost 138 points.
‘Flog them even more’
Rowe put it to Paul that a tired squad could hardly be worked harder. The former hooker did not move.
“Now you’ve got to push through. You’ve made that choice, mate. You can’t rest them. Now you’ve just got to flog them even more,” he said.
“From a training point of view, I would do the old-school drills … just have a go for 30 minutes. Test match Wednesday.
“These are sessions that we need. We’ve passed the point of really putting together a game plan. It’s almost coming down to personalities now, in terms of the character of the players.”
‘Going through us’
The 49-year-old’s main complaint was the defence, and where the tries are coming from.
“They’re not just going around us, they’re going through us, which is the biggest concern,” Paul explained.
“When you can defensively stop teams for long periods of time, you build your confidence and you will win games.”
He also questioned the decision to start back-row Rob Valetini on the bench at Twickenham.
“I like Jeremy Williams as a player … but he’s no Rob Valetini in terms of that gain-line specialist,” he added.
Australia play Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday 15 November and Wales in Cardiff a week later.
READ MORE: Kieran Read Says The Wallabies Just Gave Up In Sydney
Comments
No one has weighed in yet.
Be the first - what did you make of it?