Behind-the-scenes Eddie Jones drill shows Wallabies are destined for red cards
Eddie Jones will be all too aware that if his Australia side do not front up in the tight quarters against the Springboks this Saturday at Loftus Versfeld, it is going to be a very long afternoon indeed for his side. As expected, that has obviously been a focus of the Wallabies’ this past week leading up to the Rugby Championship.
Fortunately for Jones, he is blessed with some absolute units in his pack, none more so than the returning Will Skelton. Behind-the-scenes footage has recently been shared online of the team training, and a key area on Jones’ is clearly the ruck, where the Wallabies will be hoping to give the Boks a taste of their own medicine.
Enormous player after enormous player clattered into each other in this drill, as the players were working on their clearing out at a ruck. A clip shared by the Wallabies on social media showed prop Taniela Tupou rucking, which will be a positive sign to all Australia fans seeing as he has been out since November with an Achilles injury. What will not be a positive sign for Australia fans is that his rucking leaves a lot to be desired, and could end in disaster.
The clip showed Tupou smashing into No8 Rob Valentini, who was holding the pads. However, there was almost no attempt to wrap his arm in this clear out. Best case scenario in a match, this would just be a yellow card. But worst case scenario, and very likely, it would be a red card for a shoulder charge.
Of all montages to put online, it probably does not send out the best message when a 135kg prop producing an illegal clear out is in the opening seconds of the video.
Take a look and judge for yourself:
View this post on Instagram
