‘Eddie could pull this off’: Why the World Cup gives Aussies ‘hope’

Australia hasn’t won a Test all year, but a former Wallaby believes Eddie Jones “could pull this off” and take the underdogs to the semi-finals of the upcoming Rugby World Cup.

When Rugby Australia made the decision to replace Dave Rennie with coach Jones in January, fans genuinely believed that that was the start of something positive.

Jones, 63, helped rugby return to mainstream sports headlines by reigniting the formerly fierce code war between rugby union and league. Change was coming, or so fans thought.

But at least on the scoreboard, the Wallabies have continued to struggle. After losing to France in their final World Cup warm-up Test last weekend, Australia are 0-5 under Jones.

The disastrous losing streak must have some fans feeling quite pessimistic ahead of rugby’s showpiece event, but others are taking the half-glass-full approach.

“Australia actually has the best group at the World Cup, you’re probably aware of that,” former Wallaby Greg Martin said on The Platform.

“As long as we can beat Fiji, and Georgia and Wales, even Australia should be able to beat them, (then) we’re in the quarters and we’ll play England and we might win that.

“We could find ourselves in the semis, it’s possible! Eddie could pull this off.”

Wins continue to allude a young Wallabies outfit under coach Jones, but they are improving.

With a new captain in Will Skelton at the helm, and a promising halves duo of Tate McDermott and Carter Gordon, the Australians have shown plenty of fight, resilience and passion in the face of defeat.

Playing against World Cup favourites France at Stade de France on Sunday, the Wallabies were met with a simply incredible cheer as they made their way out onto the field.

But the fans weren’t there to see them, they were there for Les Bleus. The Wallabies attempted to silence the more than 80,000 in attendance early on, though, but failed to convert pressure into points.

Les Bleus made them pay and went on to register a comfortable 41-17 victory.

But that Test is in the past. Looking ahead to their World Cup opener against Georgia and beyond, Martin spoke about the “beauty” of international rugby.

“You never know and that's the beauty,” Martin added. “Footy, before it starts, offers hope to all of us.

“We can dream and we can believe that something strange could happen and it could.”