Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones concedes that his side are underdogs for next weekend’s Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup clash with the All Blacks.
Australia have lost their opening two games under Jones after he took over from Dave Rennie.
Meanwhile, New Zealand swept Argentina aside in round one before romping to victory over South Africa a week later.
A win for Ian Foster’s side at Melbourne Cricket Ground next Saturday will secure the Rugby Championship title and see the All Blacks again retain the Bledisloe Cup.
Embracing the underdogs tag
With the Ashes currently ongoing, Jones was asked if he would be drawing any inspiration from the England cricket team, who are fighting to level the Series.
“I don’t get any inspiration from English cricket,” Jones replied.
But he added that they would be embracing the underdogs’ tag ahead of the first Bledisloe Cup clash of the year.
“Well, in this situation, we need to cause we are the underdogs,” Jones said.
“But generally speaking, we want to be a team that can cope with any sort of tag that gets put on us, whether it be favourites or underdogs.
“You just don’t want to be a team that only fronts up when you’re underdogs, but you know, in this situation this week, we’re massive underdogs and that creates an opportunity.
“We know if we can put pressure on the team that’s that’s labelled as red hot favourites, then sometimes that pressure can turn into increased pressure on them and stress within the team, and that’s our aim.”
He added: “If you look at Australia at the moment, probably no one outside our immediate squad thinks we’ve got a chance of winning, which sometimes can drive a bit more closeness within the team, a bit more purpose about what we’re doing.”
Building to the Rugby World Cup
Jones’ first game in charge was against the Springboks at Loftus, where his side went down 43-12 to the world champions. That result was followed up by a heart-breaking 34-31 loss to Argentina.
After the rocky start, Jones admitted that they had fallen short of expectations, but he had learnt a lot about the team and identified teething problems.
“I’ve got no doubt we’re not as clear about how we want to play as we want to be. The only problem I see with that is we’re not performing as we’d like to perform,” he said
“The only problem I see with that is that we’re not performing as we’d like to perform.
“But in the build-up to a World Cup, these are the sort of teething problems that are sometimes the best problems to have, and sometimes you find out more about your team in these situations than you do when you think things are going along swimmingly.”
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