{"id":310930,"date":"2025-11-26T23:21:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T23:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/310930\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T23:21:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T23:21:04","slug":"im-watching-them-play-and-im-frustrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/310930\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m watching them play and I\u2019m frustrated\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Wallabies outside back Cameron Shepherd<\/a> has delivered a blunt assessment of Australia\u2019s attacking identity, suggesting the real frustration isn\u2019t the results themselves \u2013 but how the national team is playing in those defeats.<\/p>\n

In last weekend\u2019s Quilter Nations Series clash with France<\/a> in Saint-Denis, the Wallabies went into the break level at 19-all on the scoreboard. It was an inspired, vastly improved first-half performance that had Australian supporters daring to dream of an upset.<\/p>\n

Thomas Ramos and Louis Bielle-Biarrey<\/a> helped Les Bleus run away with a 48-33 win at Stade de France, during a clinical second term in favour of the home side. With that result, unwanted records began to tumble.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies failed to win a Test during a four-game European tour for the first time since 1958, and it\u2019s also the first time in 126 years that they\u2019ve lost 10 Tests in a calendar year. It was a gruelling international season for the Aussies, and one that started with such promise.<\/p>\n

After defeating the British & Irish Lions<\/a> in Sydney and the Springboks in Johannesburg, the Wallabies won two of their next 10. There were moments of brilliance even in defeat, but results aside, Shepherd explained why \u201cit\u2019s not the best\u201d the men in gold can play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the frustration? Just losses? You can\u2019t just go, \u2018oh I\u2019m angry that they lost on the weekend\u2019\u2026 the Wallabies are playing a really good brand of rugby and we\u2019re losing, I can live with that,\u201d Shepherd said on Stan Sport\u2019s Between Two Posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the moment, I\u2019m watching them play and I\u2019m frustrated because I\u2019m like that\u2019s not the best that they can play. I know it\u2019s not the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere would you put Joseph Suaalii as far as the best ball runners in the world? Like honestly, top five, top 10? He\u2019s probably in the top 10, right, if you just put him in a one-on-one situation. He carried the ball four times on the weekend. He\u2019s got to be carrying the ball more than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a game recently, I think it was England, where Max Jorgensen<\/a> carried the ball once in 73 minutes or something like that. That is not playing to your strengths and putting the ball in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe picked Corey Toole<\/a> on the wing against Italy\u2026 he\u2019s rapid, he\u2019s probably the quickest guy on the park. I think he touched the ball six times the whole game, and four of them he was covering back on kicks and didn\u2019t do much with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the way we\u2019re playing and I think that is what\u2019s got me the most frustrated and I think it\u2019s probably got the Australian public frustrated as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt will remain in the role for the July international window in 2026, before current Queensland Reds<\/a> boss Les Kiss takes over. This was announced earlier this year, during the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies will face Ireland, France and Italy<\/a> in the all-new Nations Championship before Kiss takes over, setting up two clashes with Eddie Jones\u2019 Japan. Australia<\/a> will also face South Africa<\/a> and New Zealand<\/a> on home soil before their Spring Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if you can just expect that to change instantly next year and if that will become more consistent,\u201d Shepherd added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is time for something new. It\u2019s not an attack on Joe but I feel like it\u2019s time for some fresh eyes on the Wallaby attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year, with Les coming in, and building towards the 2027 World Cup, it\u2019s going to be a good time to bring a new coach in with a group that is a lot more settled, and just try and do something a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Wallabies outside back Cameron Shepherd has delivered a blunt assessment of Australia\u2019s attacking identity, suggesting the real…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-310930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}