Wallabies without captains for return Test

July 31, 2023
1014
Ultimate Rugby

Australia will be without captains Michael Hooper and Allan Alaalatoa for Saturday's return Bledisloe Cup Test in Dunedin.

Tighthead prop Alaalatoa had a ruptured Achilles tendon injury confirmed after the 7-38 loss to the All Blacks in Melbourne on Saturday. At the same time, flanker Hooper remained in Sydney to deal with his calf muscle injury when the team headed to New Zealand.

Prop Taniela Tupou suffered a rib injury in Melbourne but is with the team to prepare for the Test, although whether he played would be touch and go.

Coach Eddie Jones said there was a lot of hard work to be done for his side to achieve the potential he believes it has.

He accepted the blame for the performance.

"That's my responsibility and I'll take it on the chin."

However, he said he had been in the same position with teams before, and it was possible to turn things around.

"I saw enough to know that we can be a bloody good team – it doesn't look like it at the moment, but I'm telling you we can."

The first 20 minutes of the game showed what they could do, but that needed to happen for 80 minutes.

"When you put teams under pressure, you've got to be able to convert that into points, and we're not good enough to do that at the moment.

"My experience is that when you're trying to play a different way, you can do it for periods of time and then you can't as it's not automatic enough."

Jones pointed to the 21-50 loss they suffered at the All Blacks' hands in 2003, and then later in the year, they beat them in the Rugby World Cup semifinal.

"I saw enough to make me believe that we can [turn it around], but there's a lot of hard work to do.

"Transforming a team from where they are now to a team that's capable of beating New Zealand takes a lot of hard work and the clock's ticking, but we've still got time."

All Blacks vs Australia: Saturday 5 August, 2.35pm, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin.