Jones admits he has 'destabilised the team'
Eddie Jones insists the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign remains on track despite a fifth straight loss in what was Australia’s worst defeat against France in more than 10 years.
Jones remained upbeat after the 41-17 pummelling in the warm-up Test at Stade de France, where his side will tackle Georgia in their opening pool game on Sunday, September 9.
His gamble to rely on Carter Gordon for goal-kicking, when the rookie playmaker isn’t the first choice for his Super side, proved costly, as he landed one of five shots.
He missed adding eight easy points in the first half for the Australians to trail 16-5 at the break.
Penalty goals have always been crucial during the quadrennial tournament, evidenced by referee Luke Pearce blowing 26 penalties – with 14 against Australia.
Jones said 22-year-old Gordon would continue to improve – as would the other youngsters in the side with 12 of the match-day 23 having fewer than 10 Tests to their name.
“All we can do is work with the young kid,” Jones said.
“We’ve got young kids in this team. We’re backing them and he’ll get better.
“Obviously, we’d like to have a better win-loss record, but we’ve destabilised the team, we’ve taken away all the leadership that was there previously, we’ve got a new leadership team in place.
“We’re trying to play a different way and the results haven’t been good enough.
“I’m not hiding away from that but we do have a longer-term plan in terms of the World Cup, and that’s what we’re here for.”
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The veteran coach, who replaced Dave Rennie in January this year, remained adamant the Wallabies would eventually click, although he didn’t know when.
“We’re not a bad team, but we’re not a good team yet,” Jones said.
“And it’s just we’re going through the process of becoming a good team so we’ve just got to keep believing, keep working hard and it will come.
“It might be in two weeks time against Georgia, it might be three weeks against Fiji, might be four weeks against Wales, might be five weeks against Portugal – we don’t know when it’s going to come.”
As well as goal-kicking and discipline, the Wallabies’ defence in the outside channels was poor, with the French running in four tries, while the Australians struggled to convert their own attacking opportunities into points.
But Jones highlighted the positives for his side – namely the scrum, led by Taniela Tupou and Angus Bell, and the performance of ex-league winger Suliasi Vunivalu, who had his best showing in the gold jersey.
“Suli’s one who at Super Rugby level he couldn’t blow a candle out and now at Test level, he scored one good try and could have scored a couple more,” he said.
“He looks like he’s ready to play at the highest level.
“We’ve got a lot of players improving. What we haven’t got is that fit at the moment, that fit of everyone getting together.
“But we’ve got another two weeks to get ready for Georgia and we’ll move down that track pretty well.”
