This is not acceptable: Wallabies woes paint bleak World Cup picture

1 day ago 6

Opinion

November 16, 2025 — 11.23am

The Wallabies vs Ireland Test match in Dublin?

The staggering news, early, was that the Australians scored five – count’em – FIVE tries in the first half!

Less good was that it was Ireland’s fullback, and Canberra boy, Mack Hansen, who scored three of them – the first seeing him go over completely untouched to score under the posts, after clever Irish razzle-dazzle to frazzle the Wallabies’ defence.

But forget that! Our blokes were able to absorb those disasters and still come back into the match - despite our line-out continuing to malfunction, and so many unforced errors it’d kill a brown dog – by scoring two tries to make it 19-14 down at the break. It was further proof of what this year has already established - this generation of Wallabies has character and ability.

The only question as the second half began was whether they could go on with it?

Could they pull off another upset by beating Ireland in Dublin, just a week after a completely dispiriting loss to the Italians? The portents were good.

Mack Hansen in action for Ireland against Australia.

We had the wind behind us, everything to play for, and a seasonal record of being much stronger in the second half than the first half. But I knew it, and you knew it. Ireland might have thought they had a rendezvous with destiny, but we knew they had an appointment with disappointment.

Alas, the second half was, if not quite catastrophic for the Wallabies, at least deeply disappointing. This was not just for the fact that in that second half Ireland scored another four tries, to blow out to a 44-19 win.

It was that pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and nearly all of them were of the Wallabies’ making.

Time and again, when we had a lineout in their quarter and were able to threaten for a try, Ireland stole the ball through the throw going amiss.

Put simply, this is just not acceptable if we are to threaten for the World Cup in two years. (You heard me. Despite this result, it can be done. We have the talent and the will. It is the execution at key moments that is lacking.)

More frustrating was the Wallabies’ poor reception of the high ball, just as it had been against Italy. Whenever the Irish halfback Jamison Gibson-Park or their fly-half Sam Prendergast put it up, green jerseys poured through, and more often than not Harry Potter or Max Jorgensen found themselves isolated, hammered, and the ball was lost.

What was worse still, the Irish high ball was twice allowed to bounce with no one under it – something that would see you blasted for by the under-12s coach. Not even the scrum was solid, and crucial penalties were given away.

James O’Connor, back at five-eighth, was the embodiment of yin and yang. His presence did liberate the backs outside more than we’ve seen in recent Tests when he was not there. But he also made frustrating, unforced errors just when it seemed like the promised land was at hand.

It is not that the Wallabies didn’t try hard. They exhausted themselves in their efforts – and they still did pull out the odd great play, that had Ireland scrambling. For all their problems and despite being up against one of the best teams in the world, playing at their home, the Wallabies were good enough to still be in the game with just 10 minutes to go.

It was just so frustrating that they were let down by the most basic of all basics – awry set plays, needless forward passes, and dropped balls – just when they really had the chance to pull off a great victory.

It is not quite “back to the drawing board” for next week’s Test against France. They still have the talent and will to win, with fabulous skill on offer.

They just need to fix the basics, that right now are letting them down.

In sum: bugger, bugger, bugger. But it still can be done.