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Eddie Jones faces World Cup injury crisis amid Wallabies' MCG walloping

Australia's Taniela Tupou gets medical attention during the Rugby Championship and 2023 Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on July 29, 2023. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE -- (Photo by MARTIN KEEP/AFP via Getty Images)

The Wallabies’ Bledisloe loss to the All Blacks in Melbourne turned into a nightmare as Eddie Jones’ side now face a potential injury crisis at tighthead just weeks out from the Rugby World Cup.

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The All Blacks recorded a resounding 38-7 victory over a troubled Australian side in front of over 84,000 people at the MCG, handing Jones his third loss in a row as new head coach of the national team.

The match took a sour turn in for the home side in the first half when Wallabies captain, Allan Ala’alatoa, was carted off the field with what looked like a significant knee injury.

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As the second half commenced, the Wallabies’ hopes of a comeback were dealt a further blow. Taniela Tupou, who had stepped in as Ala’alatoa’s replacement, collapsed in pain with an unspecified injury. He carried on gamely for several minutes, even though it was clear that he was struggling badly, the camera capturing the burly prop wincing in pain.

Jones appeared to kept the tighthead on despite it be clear that he was in not fit to continue, possibly fearing that Wallabies would be forced to play with 14 men if they couldn’t come up with a solution for the right-hand side of the scrum.

To add to their misery, the replacement prop was given a yellow card for a no-wrap challenge right after leaving the field. Referee Wayne Barnes then sent the incident to the TMO Bunker for review. The timing of the card left the Wallabies in disbelief, as Tupou had just been subbed off for Angus Bell, who had originally started the game at loosehead.

Bell was then forced to sit in the sin-bin in lieu of Tupou, for a dangerous tackle he had no part in.

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As the match continued, the Wallabies’ resistance began to crumble, with the All Blacks piling on the tries against 14-men, scoring two tries in quick succession with Bell in the bin.

With both Alaalatoa and Tupou potentially facing long stints on the sideline, the winless Jones is left with a major problem at tighthead. Both his first and second choice No.3s could now be unavailable, leaving a gaping hole in the team’s front row with the Rugby World Cup just around the corner.

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Comments

18 Comments
J
Joseph 730 days ago

Eddie is continuing the losses from England.

m
micheal 731 days ago

Drop Papalili & bring in that Choat dude

S
Shane 731 days ago

Not a bad win considering how average they played

A
Another 731 days ago

It was a good match to test them out after a big win against South Africa. Australia were determined to not let them play their preferred game. It was a slow, grinding performance where they had to defend against an emotional, motivated (and very large) Aussie pack who were intent of tacking everything that moved.


Yet, the All Blacks didn’t concede much after the early stages, kept their discipline, kept winning their set pieces (especially the scrums), started to pick off errors and ultimately let the Wallabies run out of steam.


Under those terms, it was a very good performance.

R
Ruby 731 days ago

Hopefully Tupou is okay, it wasn't a ligament, maybe a cracked rib? If so he might be okay by the later stages of pool play.


I gotta say, what an awful game, god that was a mess, Aaron Smith played bizarrely, it wasn't clinical in the slightest.


Roigard was good, definitely better than Christie and also much better than Aaron was this game. Will Jordan was great on the wing and validated my arguments for never playing him at Fullback, took one kick in open play after the switch and it went backwards 5 metres. The only players I want at Fullback are Beauden, DMac and Jordie in a pinch, hell I'd rather have Dane Coles there.

G
GP 731 days ago

Agree, the ABs were a much better team when Aaron was subbed for Roigard. A Smith fell off tackles, very slow to the breakdown and did the odd aimless kick. Roigard is our best halfback by a mile, he can dart through holes and has a long left footed raking kick which Smith would dream to have. Roigard handled the atmosphere well.

P
PA 731 days ago

Bang on Ruby, Aaron gives away far too much ball by kicking on attack..then defending his stupid kicks..he threw a ball out and was too slow to a breakdown...I think his days are over...ABs could have scored 40 plus points.

Wallabies XV is a shambles...2nd match will be a demolition job.

D
Digger 731 days ago

I think the All Blacks are the ones who will be worried. Only time they looked in control was when the Wallabies were down to 14.

F
Flatcoat 729 days ago

Nope..the Wallabies never looked liked winning

They are rubbish and Jones is no saviour.

A
Another 731 days ago

You have to take into account that the yellow cards conceded by Australia were largely down to All Blacks pressure. If you are sent off the field for illegally preventing tries being scored, for example, don’t be surprised if your team then concedes tries when you're off!

c
criag 731 days ago

That's hilarious

G
GL 731 days ago

very worried 🤣

T
Tim 731 days ago

Yes we are terrified.

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J
JW 40 minutes ago
Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

“In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

30 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

147 Go to comments
LONG READ
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