Why a Wallabies loss against France won’t matter if they tick other boxes

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If the Wallabies lose this weekend, they’ll head to the World Cup with a 0-5 record.

That’ll make some headlines, given Steve Hansen’s arrival in camp and the Wallaroos’ arched eyebrows at the spending on the men’s and women’s programs (quite what the Wallaroos make of the Australia A side also playing in France this weekend can only be guessed at).

But a loss to the French in the early hours of Monday (AEST) has limited relevance to the Wallabies’ World Cup, as long as they achieve some in-game goals in Paris.

The Wallabies and the French are in two different places, and not just in the World Rugby rankings. Comparing the two at the Stade de France will be an apples and oranges exercise given not just their World Cup pool draws, but – just as importantly – their schedules. The Wallabies have a beautiful schedule – Georgia, Fiji, Wales and then Portugal. You could hardly design it better. It gives Eddie Jones the chance to use the France match as a way to build minutes into his wider squad – which we have noted previously is badly underdone – before what are likely to be the pool-defining games against Fiji and Wales.

That’s no disrespect to Georgia, who will be physical and play with a chip on their shoulder, but France have the All Blacks in two weeks, and they have selected accordingly.

They have, in effect, been obliged to roll the dice with their best players to get them match-hardened for New Zealand. The same thing applies to the All Blacks, Springboks and Scotland. The Scots play the Boks in their opening game, and have therefore picked Finn Russell at No.10 this week for a warm-up against Georgia. Gregor Townsend will be saying a quiet prayer before that one.

Taniela Tupou needs more game time before the World Cup.Credit: Getty

France will be at full noise and they will be desperate for a win against a southern hemisphere side before the All Blacks clash. A loss would be damaging. But, for the Wallabies, the victory just isn’t that important.

So, what do they want out of it?

They’ll use the game to provide much-needed opportunities to players such as Suliasi Vunivalu and Ben Donaldson, who haven’t played much – or at all – in months.

Langi Gleeson and Rob Leota are among those in the same boat, as are Taniela Tupou and Angus Bell. Big men need collisions and match fitness.

An avoidance of red cards and injuries would obviously be a good outcome, but that won’t be a goal as such – players never go into internationals with a view of holding back, they’d just get chewed up and spat out otherwise.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones at a training session earlier this month.Credit: Getty

However, the Wallabies will be very keen to win some of the games within the game, especially at the set-piece – with Georgia in mind.

France were highly effective at the maul against Fiji last weekend – it’s a big part of their weaponry. The Wallabies’ maul defence and attack wasn’t outstanding during the Rugby Championship, and certainly not where it needs to be.

Regardless of the result in Paris, if the Wallabies front in that area, then Jones will be happy.

Then, there is the attack. Jones made a remark after the loss to the All Blacks in Dunedin that has flown under the radar in a big way. The coach said the Wallabies had started working on their attack only that week – before that, they were trying to nail down their defensive systems.

If that’s true, then the better shape the Wallabies showed for parts of Bledisloe I and a good 40 minutes of Bledisloe II should be starting to become far more familiar to the players.

What does that look like? A lot of runners off No.9. If this is the Wallabies’ blueprint, it’s Tate McDermott’s team. He will be making most of the pass-run decisions around the ruck, with a heavy responsibility on the wingers to provide a running option for him.

Carter Gordon comes into the picture when a determination is made that there is room wider out, but if the Wallabies are going to be a team that looks for lazy defenders in and around the ruck, McDermott is the man. Priority No.1 in Paris? Maul work and scrum. No.2? Energy around the ball and McDermott. The victory? In the context of the World Cup, it probably ranks somewhere between No.3 and No.5.

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