After a golden week atop the Rugby Championship ladder, the Wallabies are back in the doldrums after their 48-17 walloping by Michael Cheika’s Pumas on Sunday. On the strength of their courageous comeback win in the opening round, Australian rugby fans had dared dream the men in gold might repeat the dose in San Juan before marching over South Africa (as they did in 2021), then vanquishing a sickly All Blacks.
But the fumbling nature of their game in San Juan and the brutality of the scoreline has snuffed that hope and now, yet again, there is only tunnel at the end of that light. Defenders of the faith will find excuses in the departure of captain Michael Hooper before the first Test and the glut of injuries that has beset the side these past months, but the bare bones of this heavy defeat are the Wallabies were outplayed, out-enthused – and perhaps most worryingly of all – out-coached.
