'No reason why we can’t do that': Rassie gives Wallabies hope

SPOTLIGHT: Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones believes he will have the goods to replicate the Springboks’ success.

South Africa’s Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus famously guided the Boks to World Cup glory in 2019 after only being in charge of the team for 18 months.

The Springboks were in a bad place when Erasmus took charge and Jones sees some similarities with the current state of the Wallabies.

Jones, who was fired by England in December last year, was given the Wallabies job in January after Dave Rennie could only muster five wins from 14 Tests in 2022.

With the World Cup in France starting in September, Jones is looking to do a similar job Erasmus did, but with less time on his hands.

“The only thing I’m thinking about is the next nine and a half months, because in reality what I can control is to get the team ready firstly for the Rugby Championship and the Bledisloe Cup and then to the World Cup,” Jones told Newstalk ZB

“If you look at the history of the World Cup, I think one of the interesting things is what South Africa did last in the last World Cup.

“They were a bit of a mess, winning it under 40 percent. There was great disgruntlement with the way they were playing and Rassie Erasmus comes in and basically goes back to traditional Springboks rugby and they win the World Cup.

“So, there’s no reason why we can’t do that.”

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Despite the Wallabies’ poor form last year, Jones is adamant his team has enough firepower to be crowned world champions at the end of October.

“No doubt about it mate. There’s enough talented players here.

“Like any country we might be skinny in one or two positions. You look at Ireland, the best team in the world at the moment, but they lose Johnny Sexton and are they the best team in the world? And that’s a completely centrally contracted country.

“We’ve got some depth problems, there’s no doubt about it, but I think we’ve got enough talented players and I think under Dave [Rennie] the team has shown that they can compete with anyone in the world — take an Ireland to three points, France to three points, drawn with New Zealand, beaten South Africa.

“So, the track record is there. What the teams are unable to do is to do that with any of the consistency and to win a World Cup, you got to win seven in a row.”

Source Newstalk ZB