Australia will face neighbours New Zealand in the final RWC fixture of the tournament this weekend after the Wallabies convincingly win their last four round matchup against the Pumas, who will battle for third place against South Africa on Saturday.
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With the All Blacks also possessing a potent backline which has helped them score more tries than any other nation this World Cup (36 to Australia’s 26), it highlights just how important it will be to deny Carter free shots at goal through ill-discipline at the breakdown, scrum and anywhere else in their own half.
A little over a year on and he will join the likes of Michael Cheika and Stephen Larkham in the Wallabies coaches’ box for the World Cup final.
Australia lock Kane Douglas tells Sports Mole that Sunday’s semi-final against Argentina was the Wallabies’ toughest match of the Rugby World Cup.
Highlighting Australia’s win rate in recent games, he added: “They’ll be feeling they’ve got our measure and it’s going to be up to us to do something special, something extra just to be competitive”.
“We knew they would play from everywhere in the field and they did that tonight”, he said.
Ashley-Cooper scored a hat-trick thanks to a few good lead up work from his inside men, and his last try was courtesy of a superb Drew Mitchell run that beat eight defenders before getting the ball to Ashley-Cooper.
Cheika pictured before the Rugby World Cup semi-final at Twickenham.
“You are seeing a lot of TMO calls, yellow cards and seeing teams staying in games with ill-discipline”, he said.
“Everyone will agree that we should be very proud of this team”, Hourcade said, reports World Rugby.
Australia’s previous RWC titles came in 1991 and 1999, while New Zealand were 1987 and 2011 champions. They never gave up, always looking to score a try.
With 16 World Cup games over three tournaments, Ashley-Cooper stands behind only fellow former captain George Gregan, who played 20 Tests in four appearances at the global showpiece.
The early signs were not good as the Wallabies lost successive matches to France, Ireland and England, leaving Cheika with a monumental job to turn things around.
Now, if Pele can just himself to a Brazil match and start downing drinks, we can get back to that “greatest ever” debate…
Now they are a form team, rated as worthy opponents to New Zealand. We see them on a regular basis over the years now in the Rugby Championship and so we’re not surprised at all at their position now. I know that’s the same for all footy players, soccer players, AFL players, you aren’t going out there to lose.
Cheika said the All Blacks would also have a physical advantage over his team because they had enjoyed a much smoother path to the final.
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Argentina won many admirers for their thrilling attacking style of play, and while 70 times-capped Lobbe has vowed such a refreshing approach will continue, he could not mask disappointment that they came up short.
