{"id":901361,"date":"2026-09-22T14:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901361\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T14:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:14:10","slug":"wallabies-name-the-area-they-are-definitely-growing-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901361\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies name the area they are ‘definitely growing’ in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Donnelly has high hopes for his improving Wallabies pack against the Springboks<\/a> in Perth this weekend. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cosier outlook than what existed in the final part of Joe Schmidt\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

They suffered four away defeats in last November\u2019s Autumn Nations Series (England, Italy, Ireland and France) before losing two more at home in July\u2019s National Championship (Ireland and France).<\/p>\n

\u2018Real focus on some of our fundamentals around that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely growing,\u201d he insisted. \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cJosh 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\u2019s some real competition for places in there and it\u2019s bringing the best out of the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallabies: Taniela Tupou\u2019s \u2018dead right\u2019 verdict on the Springboks and his honest admission about his \u2018first few months in France\u2019 with Racing<\/a><\/p>\n

Trying to wield an influence at the lineout won\u2019t be the Wallaby<\/a> pack\u2019s sole aim as they, of course, must also find a way to neutralise the power of the Springbok<\/a> scrum. This authority was witnessed across the recent Greatest Rivalry<\/a>, with Rassie Erasmus\u2019 forwards doing a number on the All Blacks at set-piece to help win the series 3-1.<\/p>\n

That outcome has given Australia plenty of food for thought. \u201cFirst of all, we sort of probably (have to) get our mindset right,\u201d Donnelly reckoned. \u201cWe know what\u2019s coming. If we can front up there physically and then be accurate with how we want to execute, then that\u2019ll give us a chance to match it with them really.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve 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\u2019ll have a crack at.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of intensity is something we\u2019re probably going to experience at the World Cup next year. We\u2019ve seen the level of intensity in the Test matches against the All Blacks<\/a> in the last four games, just that never sort of relenting pressure that\u2019s going to come with playing the world champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springboks team: Rassie Erasmus rotates for Wallabies showdown with new captain named in Siya Kolisi\u2019s absence<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia originally announced a 34-strong squad for the upcoming one-off Test match against the Springboks, but they are now preparing for Sunday\u2019s match without the services of international rookie Charlie Cale.<\/p>\n

Capped twice against Wales in 2024 under Joe Schmidt, the Brumbies back-rower didn\u2019t add to that tally for two years due to shoulder and back injuries.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> where he scored.<\/p>\n

However, a training ground shoulder injury in Perth last weekend will need an operation, ruling him out for the rest of the year. \u201cPretty disappointed for Charlie,\u201d said Donnelly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe 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\u2019ll lose a little bit of that.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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\u2019ve brought in, but yeah, disappointed for Charlie\u2026 It was something at a breakdown, just a recurrence of one of the injuries he had during Super Rugby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry that we\u2019re 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\u2019s next for me, go and nail that.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, he\u2019s still a young man; he\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Springboks team: Winners and losers as Rassie Erasmus rewards \u2018egoless\u2019\u00a0warrior and the \u2018unluckiest\u2019 snub<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Donnelly has high hopes for his improving Wallabies pack against the Springboks in Perth this weekend. Now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,129946,818,1182,44,760,1183,85,469871],"class_list":["post-901361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-charlie-cale","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-tom-donnelly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901361","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=901361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}