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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Angus Fontaine

Youthful Wallabies must find belief if not victory in warmup Test with France

Eddie Jones RA Wallabies Test France Rugby Australia Steve Hansen World Cup Will Skelton
Eddie Jones watches at Wallabies players warm up before their Bledisloe Cup match
Eddie Jones will not be deterred by the fact some in his Wallabies squad lack Test experience ahead of Australia Rugby World Cup warmup match with France. Photograph: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP/Getty Images

The French invented the amuse-bouche and aperitif to prime the palate before a great feast. The Wallabies will be of similar service when they whet local appetites for the Rugby World Cup in the one-off warmup Test against host nation France on Monday.

The Stade de France clash is the fruit of a deal hatched over lunch between the RA chair, Hamish McLennan, and former French rugby boss and World Rugby vice-chair Bernard Laporte in 2021. On the menu in Saint Germaine that day was hare-in-hare-blood-gravy. But the rabbit in the headlights this weekend is Eddie Jones who needs to improve on a dismal 0-4 record since returning as head coach this year. Victory would also inject much needed belief into his youthful 33-man squad before the Wallabies’ “smash and grab” mission on rugby’s greatest prize begins on 10 September.

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