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Wallabies flop exposes shocking truth for Rugby Australia after embarrassing history

Eddie Jones' side will miss the knockout stages for the first time in Rugby World Cup history.

Adam Lucius
·Contributor
·3-min read
Wallabies players, pictured here at the Rugby World Cup.
The Wallabies will miss the knockout stage for the first time in Rugby World Cup history. Image: Getty

The Wallabies spent part of the lead-up to their must-win clash with Wales working with a sports psychologist. But it's Australian rugby supporters in need off a good lie down on a shrink's couch to work through, step by painful step, the worst World Cup campaign in our history.

Monday morning's embarrassing 40-6 loss to the Welsh is as bad as it gets. Imagine travelling all that way to France, buying tickets and all the merchandise, and being served up this insipid slop.

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Every one of those Wallabies fans, many of whom exited Lyon's OL Stadium well before full-time, deserve a full refund. If there' a term to describe below rock bottom, this is it.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel. It's a complete dead-end. Australia simply does not have the talent to compete at the top level, no matter how many times we hear about the "green shoots" coming through.

When the blowtorch is applied, they go MIA. Now they have a coach looking to disappear as well, if reports out of France are to be believed.

He won't be short of volunteers should he need help packing his bags. This is not a happy and cohesive team and they played like it. Selections were made as if pulling tickets for a meat raffle, game tactics were baffling and the execution of rugby's simple skills beyond poor.

Wallabies players, pictured here after their record loss to Wales at the Rugby World Cup.
Wallabies players look on after their record loss to Wales at the Rugby World Cup. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images) (PA Images via Getty Images)

Wallabies being deserted by most loyal rugby supporters

But rugby's problems in this country go way beyond scorelines and early World Cup exits. When AFL and NRL chieftains meet, do you honestly think they think of rugby and start choking on their after-dinner cigars?

The 15-man a game barely registers, apart from a sporadic "raid" on NRL players which only damages rugby's reputation further. Of greater concern, Rugby Australia is losing its most loyal subjects.

Those devoted grassroots types who have supported the game through the good times and the bad have had enough. They're sick of hearing about elite pathways, private school players getting leg-ups in front of state school kids, raids on rugby league talent and the childish statements from the game's bosses in the media.

There is a massive disconnect. Former ARU boss Bill Pulver famously stated his organisation would not hand out money to clubs because "they'd just piss it up against the wall".

Most clubs would be happy for a wall to piss against, operating on a hand-to-mouth existence totally reliant on volunteers, sponsorships, gate takings, fundraising lunches and match day beer and BBQ sales. I asked one Shute Shield general manager how often he'd heard from RA in his four years in the job.

"A big doughnut if you mean asking for our thoughts or how they can help," he texted back. Says it all.

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