"Always Great to Shut Up Critics" – Fraser McReight hits back at Wallabies doubters after dramatic win against England
11/12/2024 06:19 AM
It has certainly been a turbulent 13 months for the Wallabies, dating back to their first ever Rugby World Cup pool stage elimination last October. What followed was the rather unceremonious parting of ways with head coach Eddie Jones, who immediately took up a mantle with the Japan national team.
Former All Blacks and Ireland coach Joe Schmidt was then brought on board to turn around the sinking ship, yet it took some teething before the Wallabies started to witness any progress, as they finished bottom of the 2024 Rugby Championship with a string of disappointing results. However, the most recent win for Australia could well prove to be the tide-turner they were looking for, as they snatched a dramatic victory against England in the Autumn Nations Series.
Australia rallied back to find a way to win at the Allianz Stadium, after going behind in the penultimate minute of the match thanks to a late try from England lock Maro Itoje. The Wallabies were able to regather possession and shipped the ball wide, as 20-year-old flyer Max Jorgensen dove across the try-line to secure a memorable win. The Wallabies weathered the storm, and back row Fraser McReight was delighted to finally ‘shut up’ the critics.
“I mean, it’s always great to shut up critics, right? I think for us, it’s again, there’s a lot of people going to have their opinions whether we win, whether we lose. There’s always going to be someone out there. And for us, you know, like I said that before, it’s about winning the next moment.
“We had Joe (Joseph Suaallii) playing his first game. We had, you know, Wilso (Harry Wilson) captained his first game over here. I thought everyone did their job really well tonight. You know, no one was let down. No one got let down, or let their teammates down. We went out there as a 15 and a 23 and happened to achieve something that we haven’t done for almost 10 years. So it was pretty special to be part of it.”
As McReight alluded to, the Wallabies had not beaten England at the Allianz Stadium in almost a decade. The last time that Australian managed to record a win at the home of English Rugby, was in the 2015 Rugby World Cup pool stages, with the win handing then Stuart Lancaster’s side the unwanted accolade of becoming the first World Cup host nation to be eliminated in the first round.
However since then, it has been one way traffic of results in favour of England. The two sides had met a subsequent eleven times, with England getting the win in all but one of the matches. McReight recognised how the Anglo-Aussie rivalry had been heavily favoured towards the English, and hopes that the narrative has now shifted for his side as they continue upon their Autumn Nations campaign.
“I mean, there’s been a lot of negativity from English rugby to Australian Rugby recently, and you know, it’s just for us to be able to win and see our effort. What we’ve been putting in, especially this week, it was a tough week, and to get that result regardless of the opposition, and what we want to achieve this tour, was, it was great.”
“We’ve always had the belief, for sure, always had that confidence, we just haven’t really been able to string full game together. But whilst we probably didn’t even do that tonight, we stepped forward again, which we’ve been trying to do all year. So it was electric out there as well. Took me to really turn it on, and it was my first time playing there (Allianz Stadium), so didn’t really know what to expect. It was a classic game for sure.”
Whilst the 82,000 in attendance were either stunned into silence or ecstatic in celebration, McReight was unsure as to what was going on as he found himself pinned at the bottom of a ruck. The scrum-cap donning back row had his head amongst the pile, and did not witness the magical offload from Len Ikitau or the explosive burst of pace from Jorgensen to score in the corner.
“(I had) No idea! My job was just getting around to secure that clean ball. So I had my head down a lot of the time looking back. I was looking back myself (in the ruck). I didn’t see anything else. I was a bit confused, but it worked out in the end, with Lenny (Ikitau) having a bit of magic there and put Max (Jorgensen) away.”
“I feel like that’s Australian Rugby. we’ve got skilful people in our team. We back their skills, and they make a judgment on the day, and then you’ve got to back your mate in.”
One such skilful player who made a statement in the famous gold jersey, was the newest Wallabies star Joseph Suaalii. The former Sydney Roosters rugby league player had a solid impact upon his first professional game of rugby union, and has since solidified his code switch with a move to the Waratahs. McReight was certainly impressed by the Player of the Match debut from Suaalii, as the centre stepped up to the plate with the spotlight firmly upon him.
“Obviously it was a baptism of fire. You know, he’s put straight in, and but he was great, you know, he did his job, and he’ll learn, and he’ll get better.”
“What’s been working us for us all game was to get Joseph up in the air, and he did that very well, and we were able to get the ball back. So, it was pretty quick out there, and Joe (Schmidt) has been very hard on us about the next moment, or win the next moment.”
Ever the hard taskmaster, Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt looks to have levelled up the Australians proficiency upon the Test match stage. McReight attributes the New Zealander’s attention to detail in what makes him such a world renowned coach. Whilst the likes of Suaalii, Ikitau and Jorgensen take the headlines for their outlandish pieces of skill and exciting bursts of pace, McReight is excited to see how the Wallabies work on the gritty aspects of their game, to continue to grind out results this Autumn and beyond.
“Joe’s focusing on detail and and the small fundamentals of the game. He backs us players, and he’s given them confidence, you know, time in the seat and time to build. I believed, always had, as have the players, but we are getting that confidence.
“We’re building the fundamentals, the basics of the game and seeing that game plan evolve. It wasn’t going to be something that just happened, you know. And as you’ve seen in our test year, we’ve been able to develop. So hopefully, you know, the next few games, it’s going to continue
“Joe is always tough on us about it. It’s probably not the glamorous stuff that gets looked at from the media or the highlight reels, but when we review, it’s the tough stuff that we pride ourselves on.”
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