‘Didn’t want to show too much’: Wallabies will debut ‘different game plan’ at World Cup

The Wallabies may have an ace hidden up their sleeves going into the Rugby World Cup, with prop Taniela Tupou revealing the Aussies will go into the event “with a different game plan.”

With coach Eddie Jones at the helm, this year hasn’t gone to plan for the men in gold. The Wallabies fell to their fifth defeat from as many starts when they were beaten by France on Sunday.

Australia showed plenty of potential, promise and character during their 41-17 loss to Les Bleus at Stade de France, but rugby is a results-driven business. The scoreboard is the stat that matters.

But the Wallabies, who are still supremely confident ahead of rugby’s showpiece event, are looking ahead to an “interesting” challenge against minnows Georgia in a couple of weeks.

“We didn’t want to show too much before the World Cup,” Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou told The Sydney Morning Herald after the Test in northern Paris.

“We came into this game against France with a different game plan, just for this game. We only had a week to look at it.

“At training, we’ve been working on our game plan for the World Cup. It’ll be interesting coming out against Georgia with a different game plan.

“I guess we didn’t want to show too much before the World Cup started. Training was hard this week but then again, for us to be able to play the game plan that he wants us to play… we need to be fit.”

The Wallabies collected the wooden spoon after The Rugby Championship, having lost all three Tests against South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand.

Australia also fell heartbreakingly short of what would’ve been a famous win across the ditch earlier this month as they went down swinging against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

Wins continue to allude the men in gold, but coach Jones is still “proud” of the young Wallabies and the improvements that they’re making.

“He was proud of our effort,” Tupou added. “At the end there we could have let the game go, but we fought back and that’s something we can keep working on and be better at. There were some silly mistakes that let us down.

“We’re a pretty tight group. Not winning games is hard, but I feel like we’re all helping each other and there are good vibes.

“What can we do? It’s done now. We’ve got tough games coming up (against) Georgia, Fiji and Wales.”

The Wallabies will also play Portugal in Pool C.