LAST WORD: Wallabies in need of positive Georgian gallop to curb World Cup nerves
COMMENT: Eddie Jones believes his ‘Datsun’ Wallabies have evolved into a Formula One car ready to perform: now it’s time to see it in action.
The Wallabies have slowly evolved but still are in metaphoric first gear waiting for the breakthrough win.
It’s almost like they were in pre-season testing trying to find the right balance and tweaking with every component of the plan.
The first line of Jones’ first squad announcement reads as such: "Every pre-season testing in Formula One is a fresh start," said Jones. "New ideas, new cars, new drivers, new support staff. It's the same for us.”
Jones is right when he says the last five games mean little once that opening whistle blares in the coming hours.
“We are ready to go, mate. We’re like an F1 car now, a fast one at the start of the grid," he remarked.
"There’s been a really good progression. We went through a period where we had to almost de-structure the team to get ourselves in the position where we think we can win the World Cup. This is the first step against Georgia, a very important game.
“In the latter part of the Rugby Championship and the France game here, the team were really starting to come together. It would be unfair for me to say that I knew where the team were going to end up because we are just starting to understand what our strengths are as a team and to play to those. We’re going to play a reasonably unique style, which suits us. We are ready for the lights."
When you dive into what Jones says, it evokes memories of Bart Cummings and his stranglehold over the Melbourne Cup
There are comparisons to be made between the pair: both wily characters who are long-distance specialists, with Jones making his name as a coach that rides the wave of World Cup doubt and comes out dry, saying ‘I told ya so’ in the manner only Jones can.
It’s why he was so vocal about the supposed negativity around the team: he understands better than most you don’t win World Cups in July or even in the first game - Just ask South Africa
But with the squad picked, Jones has gone for a hungry pack of thoroughbreds that Australian fans are hoping are ready to break out and gallop
Vice captain Tate McDermott alluded to it, admitting he felt the over-excitement at the start of the week.
Jones will be pulling on the reins and keeping them in stride before the whip comes out.
The Wallabies have done excellently in taking the uncontrollable out of play. Their base just outside of Saint Etienne, a quiet town in its own right, is nearly impossible to get to by public transport whilst their base for Paris is an hour out of the city on a golf course.
It’s something Dave Rennie would’ve had in place for a while and he deserves credit for how he has moulded this team.
He created a team that can attack 1-15 and Jones is looking to add the polish onto that.
However, the time is now for results.
It’s all well and good to sandbag - whether by design or not - but this is the time that it needs to come together.
Georgia’s wins over Italy and Wales proves they can take advantage of a team off its game.
The Wallabies need a convincing performance and a win for fans and players just to take that deep breath to solidify that belief Jones has preached.
From here, it’s just being good enough to finish the 80 minutes with a ‘W’ in the win column.
When that happens, 0-5 gets forgotten really quickly. How quickly was the Matildas’ loss to Nigeria put aside when they swept past Denmark and France?
The horse that generally goes into the Melbourne Cup with the favourites tag is often not the one that wins a long distance event in the build up.
That may be an unbeaten team (Ireland), a home track favourite (France), a recent medium-length title winner (New Zealand) or even the one that shows the most promise in its last start (South Africa).
There’s a reason Melbourne Cup is one of the better days for bookies: it’s rarely the favourite that gets up at the end of the day.
Jones knows that best.
“It’s not really about me, it’s about the team and what we can do for Australia," he pondered. "We went to Arnhem Land [in Australia's Northern Territory] because we wanted to feel where Australian society first started, where the indigenous people started our great country. We went to Villers-Bretonneux [in the Somme, in northern France] to see what people had given up to protect Australia.
“Now we have got an opportunity to be ambassadors for Australia on a huge stage. I think the game’s sold out, 80,000 people. Who would have thought 10 years ago that Australia playing Georgia at the World Cup would have sold out? This is the magnitude of the World Cup.”
