Tom Donnelly has high hopes for his improving Wallabies pack against the Springboks in Perth this weekend.
Now under Les Kiss, the Australians will go into the match with a five-game unbeaten run, having beaten Italy, Japan (twice) and Argentina (one win and a draw) in their recent outings.
It’s a far cosier outlook than what existed in the final part of Joe Schmidt’s tenure. The Kiwi did sign off with a win over the Italians in Perth, but they had endured a six-match losing streak prior to that.
They suffered four away defeats in last November’s Autumn Nations Series (England, Italy, Ireland and France) before losing two more at home in July’s National Championship (Ireland and France).
‘Real focus on some of our fundamentals around that…”
Things have since started to click better and Donnelly, the former All Blacks lock who is now the Wallabies forwards and set-piece coach, has enjoyed seeing the green shoots.
“We’re definitely growing,” he insisted. “I thought, particularly back end of last year, our lineout struggled a wee bit in the north, so we had a real focus on some of our fundamentals around that when we first came into camp.
“Yeah, we’re growing each week and the players are really clear on the expectations that I have for what we need to do to make sure that we can be accurate around our set-piece.
“Josh Canham is doing a really good job running our lineout, Jeremy Williams is helping all our locks and having Lukhan (Salakaia-Loto) back in as well has brought in some experience. Within that group there’s some real competition for places in there and it’s bringing the best out of the players.”
Trying to wield an influence at the lineout won’t be the Wallaby pack’s sole aim as they, of course, must also find a way to neutralise the power of the Springbok scrum. This authority was witnessed across the recent Greatest Rivalry, with Rassie Erasmus’ forwards doing a number on the All Blacks at set-piece to help win the series 3-1.
That outcome has given Australia plenty of food for thought. “First of all, we sort of probably (have to) get our mindset right,” Donnelly reckoned. “We know what’s coming. If we can front up there physically and then be accurate with how we want to execute, then that’ll give us a chance to match it with them really.
“We’ve got to get our stuff right, and if we get it right, then we go a good way to us getting the performance that we want and we need against them, particularly on the set-piece. So, yeah, trying to limit them, trying to limit their ability to play is something we’ll have a crack at.
“The level of intensity is something we’re probably going to experience at the World Cup next year. We’ve seen the level of intensity in the Test matches against the All Blacks in the last four games, just that never sort of relenting pressure that’s going to come with playing the world champions.”
Australia originally announced a 34-strong squad for the upcoming one-off Test match against the Springboks, but they are now preparing for Sunday’s match without the services of international rookie Charlie Cale.
Capped twice against Wales in 2024 under Joe Schmidt, the Brumbies back-rower didn’t add to that tally for two years due to shoulder and back injuries.
Kiss, though, called him back into the fold in August, and the 25-year-old featured in four successive matches, three off the bench as well as a start against Japan in Townsville where he scored.
However, a training ground shoulder injury in Perth last weekend will need an operation, ruling him out for the rest of the year. “Pretty disappointed for Charlie,” said Donnelly.
“He had a very good Super season and has been really, really good in our environment. His speed in the air, his aerial skills are a real strength of his, so we’ll lose a little bit of that.
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“But at the same time, Nick de Crespigny is a pretty similar player, very good aerial skills as well and pretty physical, so replacing a little bit like for like with the guys we’ve brought in, but yeah, disappointed for Charlie… It was something at a breakdown, just a recurrence of one of the injuries he had during Super Rugby.
“The industry that we’re in, there are injuries all the time and the sooner as players you learn to accept them and just get on with what can I control now, what’s next for me, go and nail that.
“Like, he’s still a young man; he’s got a massive future ahead of him. A little bit of silver lining is that if it needs to be repaired, it can get fixed and he can hit the ground running in the Super Rugby next year and give himself a great run into being available for the World Cup.”