Tuesday 20 October 2026

Good morning team and welcome to another Tuesday news. Unfortunately it is a Tuesday after the Wallabies were thoroughly outplayed by the All Blacks, but there is always the northern swing of the Nations Championship to look forward to. I won’t recap the wekeend’s games, but lucky for you all Bris did exactly that in his massive Monday news article, where he covered something like 8 games of Rugby, which you can find here.

Credit to RA for doing something a bit different and putting on the festival of Rugby with the Wallaroos, Womens and Mens Sevens, and Wallabies all playing. If you haven’t watched the Wallaroos game, It was very good, I recommend it.

Emily Chancellor calls time

Talking about Wallaroos, one of my favourite players to watch, Emily Chancellor, will call time on her international career after this weekend’s test match against Scotland in Canberra. There are a couple of articles about Chancellor over at Rugby.com.au, and like all of the long term Wallaroos players her story of commitment to the team, and team mates in a semi professional setup is inspiring. From a first national squad in 2015, to a playing debut in 2018, Chancellor has been a diamond for the Wallaroos, and has certainly set an example for the current and next generation to follow.

Chancellor has earned 41 caps for the Wallaroos since 2018, including playing in 2 world cups and becoming the 19th captain of the Wallaroos. 2026 also saw her get a run for the Barbarians, and it looked they were embracing the best of that’s club traditions.

Chancellor will rightly go down in history as a Wallaroos legend, the team is definitely better for her contributions, and I have enjoyed watching her play and compete so fiercely against all opponent. Congrats on a wonderful career, and good luck with whatever comes next, even if it is playing for the Waratahs again in 2027. Cheers

Wallabies Player Ratings

It’s a Tuesday after a Wallabies test match, so it’s time to look at some Wallabies player ratings from the second Bledisloe test match. As a reminder, these are my ratings, based on watching the game on Saturday and re-watching the ball in play version on Stan, with some consultation with the G&GR crew. As always, we’re using the G&GR scoring system.

10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – a pass mark
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
0 – Didn’t make it on, or no meaningful involvement.

Similar to last week, it was hard to do player ratings this week, as the All Blacks destroyed the Wallabies in the first half and then the Wallabies looked more competitive in the second half, but ultimately were well beaten by 43-21. Were the Wallabies more competitive in the second half, or did the All Blacks understandably switch off when they had the game won. After some reflection, I reduced my initial ratings by 1 to reflect that we got beaten by 22 points, and that shouldn’t represent a pass mark for the team. So here goes.

Wallaby Player Ratings

Aidan Ross – A few tests into his Wallabies career and probably his best performance to date. A few more involvements in terms of carries than previous weeks, and the scrum was solid. 4

Josh Nasser – plenty of tackles and carries by Nasser, and good lineout work. 4

Allan Alaalatoa – Not his best game in Gold, a couple of missed tackles and seemed to struggle in the loose. 4

Jeremy Williams – One of the Wallabies best again when he was on the field, but also copped a yellow card for being offside and running through the wrong channel. The All Blacks scored twice when he was sitting down. 5

Lukhan Salakai-Loto – Played his 50th test on the weekend, and obviously would have wanted a different result. Was subbed early for Canham. 5

Rob Valetini – Was his usual damaging self with the ball in hand, and made some good tackles, but also missed a few in the first half. Was subbed for Carlo Tizzano. 4

Fraser McReight – The All Blacks coach talked about how they succeeded in keeping McReight quiet, but he did put in a big shift in defence and attack, some of his support play was exceptional. Led the way in carries and tackles for the Wallabies, but I’m sure he would like his time again when he was held up just before half time. There are only so many points available though when your team is beaten so thoroughly. 6

Harry Wilson – The Aussie skipper left everything out on the field with plenty of carries and tackles. His loose play in connection with Fraser was on show as well. 6

Ryan Lonergan – Is super important to the Wallabies with organising the attack. Won a turnover and tried hard, but missed 5 tackles, and his kicking strategy or execution was not on point. 4

Declan Meredith – A few errors early with kick offs, but really brought his running game and his support play was excellent throughout the game. Unlucky not to have scored a try, and hopefully this is a performance that gives him confidence to kick on in the games up north. 6

Harry Potter – Seemed to have the invisibility cloak on a bit because the game just didn’t find him in attack. 3

Isaac Henry – Is starting to look at home in Wallabies Jersey. Carried well, including some very physical contacts. Offers a triple threat at 12, and hopefully gets a chance to play inside Ikitau in the northern tour games. 6

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – Was moved into 13 to cover the Ikitau injury, and then swapped to the wing when Daugunu came on. He looks a bit lost on the field, seems to have lost the natural instinct that we saw in his first season, and hasn’t learned enough to make up for that. 3.

Max Jorgensen – A really mixed bag for Jorgensen, some amazing attack, but some poor choices to throw an offload or a poor pass when taking the tackle and keeping possession would have been better. Plenty of missed tackles as well. 4

Tom Wright – John Denver certainly lived up top the rocks and diamonds this game. Some amazing play and his vision to set up the length of the field try with a short restart, was top class, but too many poor passes taints his efforts. 3

Billy Pollard – Replaced Nasser, and looked to be trying hard. 5

Angus Bell – A great game off the bench, added plenty of energy and was one of the Wallabies best with dominant carries and tackles. 6

Massimo De Lutiis – It’s important that De Lutiis gets more game time to deliver on his obvious talent and natural attributes. 5

Josh Canham – Got involved with carries in his time on the field, but gave away a couple of penalties. 4

Carlo Tizzano – Plenty of effort and energy when he got on the field. 5

Kalani Thomas – Was good off the bench with crisp passing and some good support play. 5

Harry McLaughlin-Phillips – Congratulations to HMP who made his debut and he was positive with his involvements. Ran the ball well, and provided shape to the attack. Deserves another chance on the northern tour. 5

Filipo Daugunu – Was very good off the bench, got involved, carried the ball well, made good tackles, and tried to get involved in the ruck contest. Scored a great team try that should be a contender in the tries of the year. 6

Wallabies player of the match

A few contenders, but Harry Wilson gets the nod this week for his efforts throughout the game and signing autographs afterwards.

Thats’s a wrap

That’s it for this week. As always, thanks for making it this far, hope you all have a great day, and look forward to the comments.

Cheers, RAWF

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