As everyone, including former Springboks captain Jean de Villiers, writes the Wallabies off, captain Allan Alaalatoa says they’re not listening to the outside noise and are confident they are on the right track under Joe Schmidt.
Last month de Villiers poured cold water over the Wallabies’ hopes of challenging for The Rugby Championship despite their unbeaten start under Schmidt.
Put to him that South African-born Irish back-rower CJ Stander thought Schmidt was the man to turn Australian rugby around, the Springboks great laughed off the prospect of any great revival.
“Well, then they need to try find a woman because he’s not changing it,” de Villiers quipped on a panel alongside Schalk Burger on Boks Office.
“I don’t see him changing it around. Name one player in the Australian team that becomes a part of the conversation for a world team?”
Continuing his scathing assessment of Australian rugby, de Villiers, who won 14 of his 24 Tests against the Wallabies, added that Schmidt’s side needed to rediscover their fight to add to the TRC.
“You need them to be competitive against New Zealand and South Africa,” he said.
“They need to put up a fight and I think that’s what you don’t see from this Australian team. I struggle to see how they’re going to fix it.”
Alaalatoa, who started during the Wallabies’ embarrassing first-up showing in Pretoria last year where the Springboks won 43-12, played down de Villiers’ comments, saying they were fully behind Schmidt.
“I wouldn’t know,” Alaalatoa responded after being asked if de Villiers’ comments were a sign of disrespect.
“Internally, the boys have so much respect for Joe. The experience that he has and the way that he carries himself around the group.
“The boys have really gotten around him, especially the coaching staff as well. We all know the rugby IQ and the knowledge that our coaching staff has.
“Being a part of that, as players, we’re grateful. To be a part of a group that has that knowledge onboard, so we can continue to learn. Especially guys who are leaders, who have been around for a while, still learning, still growing. That’s exactly what we want.
“Internally, there’s a lot of belief in our coach. We don’t really listen to what other people have to say about our group.”
Eben Etzebeth takes on Allan Alaalatoa during the Springboks’ big win over the Wallabies at Allianz Stadium on September 03, 2022. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
One day earlier, Schmidt cared little for what the bookies think about the Wallabies’ hopes of starting their Rugby Championship campaign on a successful note.
“I would be fairly pragmatic,” he said.
“When I started with Ireland it was really easy to be underdog but it wasn’t necessarily relevant to the way we performed. We just wanted to get our process right and remain really process driven.
“Coaching with the All Blacks, there’s always a massive expectation with the All Blacks. Again, that can weigh heavily but I think they live with it all the time. Just like the Springbok live with it all the time.
“There’s a real expectation when the Springbok go out that they’re going to be incredibly hard to beat.
“For us, we haven’t really talked about it to be fair. We’ve just talked about getting this right and that right and trying to put enough things together that are accurate so that we can get the process right rather than be affected by the perception.”
Where Eddie Jones’ tried to throw convention and structure out the window last year, Schmidt, who is widely considered one of the game’s great tacticians, has empowered the rebuilding Wallabies group by bringing clarity back into the game.
It’s one of the reasons why the Wallabies are confident they can deny the bookies and continue their superb record in Brisbane, where the Springboks have won just one of 13 Tests in the city.
“There’s definitely a lot of clarity in our game, especially in the basics of our game,” Alaalatoa said.
“Those are areas that the leaders and the coaching staff have been driving day in, day out. For sure, everyone’s on the same page.
“Understanding where you need to be in the field and what role you need to play. That’s been a massive step forward.”
Allan Alaalatoa speaks to the media after the Wallabies captain’s run at Suncorp Stadium on August 09, 2024 in Brisbane. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
Although the Springboks have the game’s best tight-five and the “bomb squad” to bring off the bench, Alaalatoa said his young team, including rookie loose-head prop Isaac Kailea, weren’t intimidated by the prospect of taking on Rassie Erasmus’ back-to-back world champions.
“I think it’s more just letting the boys know that nerves are normal,” Alaalatoa said.
“You’re a bit worried if you’re not nervous before a Test match. It’s no different tomorrow.
“We spoke about the beginning of the week. For you to stand out here and sing that anthem and relieve those nerves, you think back to the way that you prepared.
“We’ve poured everything into our preparation, into what we’ve done in the July series, for us to know that we’ve got to be confident to go out there and to deliver our best and to deliver the plan that we put forward.”
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