Australian optimism growing with 100 days to go before kick-offCoach is ‘a wise man, he gets the game’, says Allan Alaalatoa
Once a week, Eddie Jones and his Wallabies inner-circle dial in for a Zoom meeting with one key focus – defying the odds and pinching the Rugby World Cup. Warming to the Wallabies coach’s ‘smash and grab’ theme, belief is growing Australia can win their first Webb Ellis Cup since 1999 and return to the top of the rugby hierarchy.
Jones has not yet named a captain for the showpiece event – which kicks off in Paris, France, on 8 September – but is leaning on veterans such as Michael Hooper, Allan Alaalatoa, Nic White and James Slipper to help build a team that could strike through a wide-open World Cup field.
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