John Eales: Former Wallaby on the team's recent performances, Bledisloe Cup matches

The Wallabies gave the All Blacks an almighty scare last week.  

They look to build on that performance to pull off an upset against the All Blacks in Wellington.

One of the Wallabies' greatest ever players was John Eales, and he joins the show to discuss how the team can keep improving 

“What I hope to see is consistency and just building on, building on the performance of last week,” he told Piney. 

“And just less of those bad moments where, where they let the All Blacks in.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
But let's bring in a true Wallaby's legend. John Eels
eighty six Test matches in Green and Gold, fifty five
of those as Wallaby's captain, Rugby World Cup winner in
nineteen ninety nine and again in nineteen ninety one and
again in nineteen ninety nine, the best lock and in
the eyes of many, the best players player in the world.

(00:34):
For a decade. Under his captaincy, the Wallabies became the
number one rugby team in the world. In nineteen ninety
eight he lifted the Bledisloe Cup as the Wallabies of
that year became the first Australian side since nineteen twenty
nine to beat the All Blacks three nil in a series.
Under his stewardship, Australia also won the Try Nations for

(00:54):
the first time in two thousand and Among his many honors,
he was made a Member of the Order of Australia
for services to rugby, inducted into the International Rugby Board
Hall of Fame, the wall Hall of Fame and the
Legions of Australian Sports. So so many accolades and as
mentioned in the year two thousand, right here in Wellington

(01:17):
he did this.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
How about this.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
For stepping up to the mark, Johnny is he's going
to take the kick himself? Well he has to because
turning Mortlock's off the field, and I guess he's the
only other goalkicker recognized goalkicker Joe Roth.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Perhaps on occasions.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
This kick were the side the frights of the Brenoslowk.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Jeniss Kich has retained a bitters. Yeah, it was twenty
four years ago. John Iills is with us on weekend sport. John,
I'm sitting here looking out at the patch of grass
on which that happened. I'm looking at what I reckon
is the spot from which you kicked that winning penalty
back in the year two thousand. Where does that game

(02:28):
sit in your memory banks?

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Well, it's deep in the memory banks because it's so
long ago, sadly, because it's look at some look Obviously
it was a great moment for our team at that time. Yeah,
we had obviously very good team at the time, and
that week had happened to be me other week, so
there was other people who took up those moments, but

(02:52):
it was a very special moment in a very special team.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, tell us about that Wallaby's team that we remember
so fondly over here, especially the back end of the
nineties and into the two thousands, where you never knew
from week to week who was going to come out
on top between the Wallabies and the All Blacks. What
was so special about that team that you led.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
I think I'll probably put it down to it was
an experienced scene. But we did actually have a fair
bit of change through that team through that era, and
and because we had very strong systems in the team,
I think we were quite composed in the ways in
the way that we hit it and the way that

(03:34):
we put things together on the field, and the way
we didn't panic when things weren't necessarily going our way.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
So new players coming into the environment were pretty quick
to understand and to grasp what was required. There wasn't
a lot of initiation required for the new players coming
into the environment.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Now, I think that's right. People understood what they had
to do, they understood their responsibility, their place in the team.
And then we had very strong patterns of play, but
also were a team that were smart enough to read
the game and what was in front of us and
then adjust to how we play the game. As a results,

(04:17):
you played.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
The All Blacks twenty times in your career, eleven wins
in those twenty games, so very tightly thought obviously were
they your would you call them your favorite opponent? Were
other games you look forward to the most?

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Now, there were certainly games you'd get nervous about because
they meant more than any other games for Australians. Playing
against New Zealand for the waters like Cup, we're in
the big games. But I think you did look forward
to them because the great thing about playing against New
Zealand is they would always back themselves, and that backed
themselves to play good rugby, So therefore you knew it

(04:52):
was the game if your best rugby against their best rugby.
It wasn't guess so were physical when you played them,
but it wasn't quite like playing against the spring Box,
where the spring Box would almost want to win the
physical battle before they'd even consider about winning the game,
whereas the All Blacks would guess physical battle was part
of it, but it was more about how do you

(05:12):
win this game? And they would be trying their best
against our best, so it was always good and as
it said over that career is roughly fifty fifty so
it was always very close and.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Often close matches which were won right near the end.
I look at your very final test, John, the twenty
nine to twenty six win over the All Black Stadium,
Australia two thousand and one total carefu scoring a late try.
It felt for a while there as though late tries
and late points were the order of the day. Did
it always feel like you had to play for the
eighty minutes sometimes the eighty five?

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Well, no one beats the All Blacks in sixty or
seventy minutes. You beat them through an eighty minute effort.
You can never be you can never relax against them.
And you see that all the time. So yeah, we
knew it was going to always come to that, and
we were ready for that, and we tried to make

(06:08):
sure that we approached it in exactly the same way
each time. And then whether it was the first minute
of the game or the last minute of the game,
we had to focus on the same things, getting the
execution of your basic stuff correct.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
If we fast forward to the present day, what do
you see says that as the Wallabies state of being
right now, how do you assise where they are at
the moment.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
I think they're on a journey towards building the confidence
they need to compete regularly at this high level. Now
they've got the skills that can match it in the
best moments, but we've got to lock in the downside
of our play. And its generally not bad minutes or
it's not a bad group of ten minutes or something.
It's just the bad moments where we're just not where

(07:00):
we let ourselves down through it just that breath and
gets away for a second. They were all months or
a try or Argentinas or a try. But we're generally
competing for most of the games. We just have to
make sure we keep that intensity, keep the skill level,
and therefore keep the pressure on for larger components of
the game.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Does that come largely with experience? John?

Speaker 3 (07:24):
A lot of that is experience, the ability to read
certain parts of the game, know what's going on, and
be able to react, but have the composure to not
get worried if something is not quite going your way.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Do you think Joe Schmid's the right man to take
this team forward?

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yes, I do think he is. I think from a
coaching perspective, He's got experience dealing with dealing with teams
that are trying to change the way they do things.
But also what he did with Ireland, I think he
got a lot out of a system that wasn't necessary,

(08:06):
verily the deepest system in the world, and I think
he helped create a very strong structure that then was
reliable for developing players to come in and step into
that structure. Now he's starting from early stages with the
Wallabies that I think he's the right person to be
leading this drive all right.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
And just to finish, what would you like to see
from the wallabiests tonight? You mentioned before, you know, the
big moments and maybe the moments where they don't quite
get to the level that they need to be. What
are you hoping to see from the Wallabies and Wellington tonight?

Speaker 3 (08:45):
What I hope to see is consistency and just building
on building on the performance of last week, and just
less of those bad moments where they let the All
Blacks in. Like if you start well, the Wallabies came
back into the game, they showed a lot of character,

(09:06):
a lot of courage, commitment and skill. So making sure
that they can show that from the start. I'll give
you one example. I think there was three or four
I can't remember exactly. You'll probably be able to correct me.
Three or four lineouts that we lost attacking lineouts in
the all blackness twenty two through the game. Then that's

(09:26):
a classic example of a moment where you've got an
opportunity to turn the screws and apply pressure. But if
the opposition knows that that's fifty to fifty ball in
those moments, well they're not going to feel the same pressure. Now,
all teams struggle to some extent under pressure. The Wallabies

(09:46):
has to learn to build and apply that pressure for
longer periods of time.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Fascinating time, Bey on both sides of the Tessman, John,
you broke our hearts on more than one occasion, particularly
here in Wellington. We're on broadcasting today. Really appreciate you
taking the time for a chat this afternoon.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Thanks. It's a pleasure and I hope it's a great
game there today.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, we hope so too, John. Thanks in date, John
Eels there Wallaby's legend. They used to call them nobody,
didn't they because Nobody's perfect. What a terrific nickname and
what a player just generational and I think the greatest
Wallabies player ever.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
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