Wallabies suffer surprise Rugby World Cup blow

Story by Sam Worthington • 23m ago


The Wallabies have suffered a blow to their Rugby World Cup plans with assistant coach Scott Wisemantel surprisingly resigning just eight months out from the tournament.

A Wallabies statement said Wisemantel made the decision "effective immediately."

After working alongside Eddie Jones with England, Wisemantel re-joined the Wallabies in 2020 and was responsible for the team's attack.

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A replacement is yet to be found for the highly regarded coach.

The statement said Wisemantel made the decision to turn his focus to his family, including three young daughters, as well as business interests outside of rugby.

"Scott's a top man and one of the best coaches I've ever worked with," Wallabies coach Dave Rennie said.

"He's hugely respected around the world, has a mountain of experience at International level and an incredible rapport with our players.

"While we did all we could to try and keep Scott, we respect his decision and wish him, Gabs and the girls all the best.

"He's been a massive part of this group for the past three years and we'll miss him."

Wisemantel was also quoted in the statement.

"While this has been a very difficult decision, it's one that's best for me and my family at this point in time," Wisemantel said.

"The World Cup is the pinnacle of our sport and requires 100 per cent commitment and that's something I'm unfortunately unable to give at the moment.

"I've loved being with this team under Dave and wish them all the best for their season and in the World Cup later this year."

https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/more...c99226c9d0f602

Has anyone noticed our attack being better over the last 3 years, with Wisemantel in place as attack coach?

From 2017-19 (so the last 3 years of Cheika's reign, not a high point of Australian rugby) we played 37 tests, with a 17-2-18 record and scored 952 points @ 25.7 per game.

Since 2020 we played 34 tests, with a 13-3-18 record and scored 765 points @ 22.5 per game.

Oh, and we dropped to 9th in the IRB rankings in 2022.

So did Wisemantel jump, or was he pushed?

Bloody stupid if that's the case. We aren't losing games because of our attack. We are losing due to poor discipline and poor ball security/breakdown work. Neither rest with Wisemantel. I wouldn't say I'm a massive fan, but I don't like scapegoating.

The attack was the one good thing we really had going

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James

wouldn't say I'm a massive fan, but I don't like scapegoating.

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Unfortunately scapegoating is business as usual at rugby Australia.I actually wouldn't be looking at Dave Rennie as the bloke being protected. When you look at our faults, most of them are within the purview of Dan McKellar, who you would assume is also the cause of the number of Brumbies players who have continued selection despite massive underperformance.I assume this is an outcome of the extensive review