Former Wallabies head coach Ewen McKenzie has criticised the public messaging coming out of the Australia camp since the defeat to England, saying “it looks like everyone’s a bit lost”.
McKenzie was speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast with host David Pembroke, ahead of the Wallabies’ meeting with Scotland on Sunday 15 November in round five of the Nations Championship.
Australia were beaten 45-22 by England at Twickenham on 8 November. Pembroke said the performance had tipped a lot of long-suffering supporters “over the edge”, and noted that centre Len Ikitau had spoken during the week of a side that trained well and performed poorly.
READ MORE: Wallabies defence leaks 138 points: can Kiss fix it in a week?
‘The mood’s turned’
McKenzie said the Wallabies’ answers since Twickenham had not helped.
“I think some of the messaging coming out of the Wallabies has been a bit loose,” he said. “Obviously they’ve been having to answer questions, but … the messaging’s been a little bit loose in terms of the solution.
“The worst thing you want to say is, ‘I don’t know, I can’t explain,’ or whatever. [They] haven’t said that directly, but it looks like everyone’s a bit lost.
“So this is a moment to try and reinstate the fan base confidence.”
He agreed with Pembroke that supporters had lost patience quickly.
“If you read the fan comments on any news article, the mood’s turned,” McKenzie added. “It was all very positive post the win against South Africa and it’s shifted very quickly.
“There’s not a lot of positive comments at all, and a lot of finger-pointing.”
The Valetini call
Speaking before head coach Les Kiss named his team, McKenzie said he would change the back row. He wants Tom Hooper included and Rob Valetini restored to the starting side, saying the back-rower had been on the bench against England.
“Back row, they’ve been playing around, but they keep changing,” McKenzie explained. “I like Hooper, so I’d have him in the team. So then someone else has got to drop out.
“Valetini, he’d be good for a start, because he wouldn’t have enjoyed being on the bench last week. To watch that game and then come on and try and fix something that couldn’t be fixed.”
He added of Valetini: “He’s been our one consistent player for a long time.”
McKenzie also expected Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to return to the centres because of injuries, and said the lock pairing of Jeremy Williams and Josh Canham was “a good second-row combination”.
Kiss has since named Valetini at blindside flanker and Suaalii at outside centre, with Hooper among the replacements and Williams and Canham retained in the second row.
‘Fighting for ranking points’
The former Wallabies boss said Scotland were in a similar position, having stayed in games against the leading sides without winning them.
“Scotland’s got this ability to be in the game but they haven’t been able to finish it off. So they’ve got their own issues to deal with,” he said.
“It’s not like they’re going to get out there and just win the game. Australia’s going to have to make them work.”
McKenzie said the two sides were neighbours in the world rankings.
“They’re actually fighting for ranking points here,” he said. “If Australia wins, they might swap positions on the rankings, which would be something.”
He did not expect a classic.
“Scotland, they’ll be smarting, but again their form hasn’t been great. So both teams are in the same position,” McKenzie added, before predicting it “could be just a bunch of guys trying to make sure they don’t miss a tackle, trying to win”.
READ MORE: ‘I worry for them’ – Kieran Read fears for Wallabies against Scotland
Comments
No one has weighed in yet.
Be the first - what did you make of it?