Wallabies turn in shocker to open Eddie Jones era
The Wallabies have turned in a horror first Test under coach Eddie Jones, falling 43-12 to South Africa to continue their 60-year drought in Pretoria.
The Australians arrived at Loftus Versfeld, where they have never tasted victory, looking to usher in a winning era under Jones in his second stint as Wallabies coach.
Duane Vermuelen charges forward on one of the Boks’ many rampaging runs. Reuters
But their plans of opening the Rugby Championship with a victory on Saturday were left in tatters with few Wallabies boosting their World Cup stocks.
“We were outplayed everywhere, beaten in every department,” Jones conceded.
“Really disappointing but no excuses. We got a realistic appraisal of where we are as a team.”
Co-captain James Slipper described it as a “tough start”, the veteran prop lamenting his team’s discipline, incurring 11 penalties and two penalty tries, which saw hooker Dave Porecki and winger Suliasi Vunivalu both given yellow cards.
“Discipline, playing at the right end of the field… it’s a tough start, but we’ve got a long year ahead of us so we’ll keep working hard,” Slipper said.
They started with a bang, as star winger Marika Koroibete barrelled across the line in the seventh minute before the home side piled on 41 unanswered points.
Debutant five-eighth Carter Gordon scored in the final minute, putting his hand up to replace Quade Cooper in the No.10 jersey next week against Argentina.
But the Australians’ defence was in disarray throughout, making more than double the amount of tackles with the burly Boks winning the collisions to control possession and territory.
The Wallabies also looked clueless in attack, with Cooper failing to put his stamp on the game and their opponents under any pressure.
They
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