Matt Williams goes in hard on Australian Rugby after defeat to Fiji 

When Fiji beat England, they said England is at their lowest right now. The same they said about the Wales team. Now that they have beaten Australia, they say Australian rugby is at their low. And if Fiji go on to lift the World Cup, they will say that this year, and only this year, World Rugby is at its low... How many years did Fiji prepare for this? And what were the others doing?

Horrible for Australia but honestly a great boost for Fiji and Pasifika rugby in general..it shows that with more investment..not only Fiji but also potentiallly Samoa and Tonga can improve their game and become legit competitive rivals for Australia and New Zealand..thus building southern hemisphere rugby. Super Rugby Pacific is already a great platform in my view and i think they should give further attention to it.

I agree that rugby in Australia has been declining over the past 20 plus years and I miss the old days when the Bledisloe Cup rivalry with NZ was an exciting event that could go either way. But, gotta give credit to Fiji. They've been improving consistently over the past few years and they played extremely well deserving the win.

Instead of going on about how bad Australia was. Why not congratulate Fiji on how good they were?

Well said Matt,ignoring juniors and regional for decades brought about gradual and solid demise in the code.

Finally somebody speaking complete and utter sense about Australian rugby. It is a disgrace what the administration has done to the grass roots of this game in Australia.

Bula Fiji 🇫🇯 very impressive 👊keep it going✊️much respect🖤from NZ😝

It's the end of 20 years of neglect. 20 years of poor administration. 20 years of poor technical coaching!!!!!! how about Fiji PLAYING BETTER AND BEING THE BETTER TEAM

Fiji playing unbelievable rugby . Facts!!

On behalf of the NRL I'd just like to congratulate the ARU on their continuing support and growth of Ruby League in Australia, couldn't of done it without you!

Matt Williams speaks the truth - as a Kiwi living in Australia -heavily involved in local club rugby - it's a fucking wasteland. Rugby Australia has gone out of their way to destroy the game here.

Couldn’t agree more. When I left Oz to live in Toronto 22yrs ago it’s like we just started losing, lost consistency, lost legacy. It’s a shame. Hopefully this is the start of the next gen.

I moved to Aus from South Africa. Australia will never be top again, the support for NRL and AFL is too big . Very few care about rugby union and such there is very little ground root development.

I wonder how Hamish McLennan is feeling right now. Rennie should send him a 'thinking of you' card.

New Zealand is in the same predicament, collapsing financially and in deep, deep trouble. The writing has been on the wall for a number of years, but very few people won’t to see it. Falling participation numbers, families not allowing their kids to play. A drastically changing ethnicity base within New Zealand has seen to this as more kids wanting to play other sports. Look at the studies that have been undertaken by the likes of football organisations who have grave concerns around young kids heading a football, good grief and you wonder why parents are stopping them playing rugby? Clubs collapsing under the strain of trying to cover the costs of running an NPC match at a stadium (hundreds of thousands per game) while a couple of hundred turn up to watch. Many rural folk may tell you otherwise but the reality is far, far different in the larger urban areas around New Zealand. The sport is dying……

Give Fiji some credit man. Played phenomenal rugby. Well balanced team with a mobile forward pack to compliment a star studded backline. Pasika rugby is on the come up 🔥

I miss the great nz vs aus tight rivalry we use to have when we meet. 20 years holding onto the bledisloe cup is way too long for nz. I Hope Australian rugby gets back to its former glory and reignite that nz/aus tight rivalry

Ah yes, the Wallabies never cease to disappoint.

Jones never ceases to disappoint.

The main problem for rugby union in Australia, it's that this sport is ranked 5th in popularity, behind, in this order: Australian Football, Rugby League, Cricket and Soccer. For decades, this main problem of rugby union in Australia, was hidden under the carpet, because of some great players coming from Rugby League, or because many young Australians learned basics of rugby because of this sport. Which is some kind of a sport brother of Rugby Union. There's no other pair of team sports, that you are able to get players from one sport into another sport with such an ease. In the past, until mid 1990s, despite popularity, the rugby sports were not even professional around the world, they were all amateur, or at most semi-professional. Rugby union, simply started to look like a real professional sport, in 2000s. The real decline of Australia rugby union came after winning silver in 2015 World Cup. Now all big nations in rugby union are 100% professional, with rugby union being more (or much more) popular than rugby league(e.g. S. Africa doesn't even compete in Rugby League World Cups), so the details related to the differences in the 2 rugby codes are now much more visible in the final performance. It's simply not possible anymore for Australia, to take some good Rugby league players overnight, paying them well, to make a competitive good rugby union team.

Very disrespectful to imply losing to Fiji is a total disaster. This is *not* the same old Fiji from the 2000s and the 90s. Fiji are playing in Super Rugby, they are playing in top French clubs and they are fantastic athletes with great technical skills.

I like to see the small island nation do good in big games. Well done Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

It’s pretty simple…the best rugby footballers in Australia play the other code!!

I think you can add England to the list of Australia and Wales who've seen a structural decline in their rugby.All three countries need a radical overhaul to avoid being left behind.

Australia is already a Tier 2 Rugby Nation.

This sits on Eddies selection… Michael Hooper, Pete Samu, Quade Cooper, Len Ikitau, Reece Hodge and Andrew Kellaway all sitting around watching Aussie lose. Then he talks after the game about it being a young team like he had no other choice. Does anyone remember how good Cooper, Kerevi, Ikitau and Kellaway were as a backline? It’s not like those players have disappeared off the planet.

Well played Fiji. Very good team

Wallabies were never criticised, always protected, seriously virtually nobody in Australia cares about rugby, always was a rich kids sport, now there in the world spotlight and everyone sees how pathetic they really are.

Didn't Samoa beat them like 8 years ago?

The issue is in the 1970s the sporting market in Australia was in a place where it was possible for the revival of the wallabies and to get the public interest back. The fact is, Australia has the most bloated winter sports market in the world and rugby Union is at the bottom of the heap, below AFL, NRL, soccer now, etc. - everything is against them, the lack of playing stocks, the lack of money, the lack of interest. Unless something radical is done the wallabies may well be done forever from being a tier 1 nation. People overseas really don’t understand how dire it is (and has been for the last 10 years).

Huge respect to fiji.

Rennie would've def never let that happen😂

Here’s some comments about Eddie Jones from John Connelly (ex wallabies coach that took over coaching from 2006-2007 with a 64% win record vs Eddie Jones record from 2001-2005 of 57.89% win record): Eddie Jones is a a 'charlatan'. John Connolly succeeded Jones when the outspoken rugby coach left his post as Wallabies coach in 2006, having guided the Aussies over a four-year spell. Jones went on to coach the Japanese and English national teams before making a return to the Wallabies earlier this year, but after losing to South Africa and Argentina in his first two games in charge, Connolly fears the appointment is a backwards step. 'How did we end up with Eddie again? He is full of it. He talks a great game but plays a terrible one,' Connolly, who labelled the comeback a 'bloody disaster', told the Telegraph 'He is a charlatan, he is a failed selector. He was the captain's pick by the chairman who just came into the job. When I took over from Eddie, the players were like beaten down sheepdogs. If you walked in a room they would have their heads down and were scared to do anything. 'There was no leadership. There was no development. It was a total void that took nearly a year to rebuild. I can't believe we have made the same mistake again.' Shame on the ARU for kicking out Rennie on his backside. Pack of crooks. Bring back Rennie

Keep in mind A fijian winger in the Australian team scored a try for Australia, Koroibete prevented a try by Habosi and Kerevi created a try for Australia😂😂

Well done Fiji 🇿🇦

Not an Aus fan one bit, but i can 100% agree with neglect, Aus was a team to feared as much as us, boks NZL and Eng back in the hayday.

Tough times for Aussie sport.Yesterday lost 50 over cricket series against SA.Know they will bounce back as Aussies are very resilient.

Wow, Australia in real danger in this World Cup!

Fiji had a great goal kicker!

Matt Williams pretty much summed up Aussie rugby woes that one wonders why league has always had the upper hand on the grassroots.

Come on Wallabies. Support from Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬

All Blacks supporter here. Fiji, Tonga, Samoa are getting better and better through tough competition. It’s only a matter of time before they beat the All Blacks.

Growing rugby in the Pacifica will prevent NZ from harvesting a talent pool they've been sucking dry for decades.

Fiji will always be thankful to Australia for fighting to put our Drua team in the NRC and also in the super rugby. It really helped grow local players who are in the Drua, now in this world cup team boosting performance in this world cup and mixing it up with other Fijian players who play professional rugby in Europe, the end result speaks for itself.Go Wallabies 🇦🇺🐨!!!! Fight is not over yet in this world cup.

How are the new group of people in charge of Australian Rugby doing the right thing? They literally just spent millions on poaching a NRL player.

Wales grass roots is in a dreadful place, masked by relative international success. If your a rugby man in Wales you know we are heading for if not already a tier2 rugby nation. Best outcome this world cup is not to get out of tne group. Sounds like the same is happening in Oz.

Matt Williams is bang on Australia had the best ball play and backline moves in world rugby they forced All Blacks to level up. Gone are the days of Gregan, Larkam, Joe Roth John Eales etc to name a few, that's the true Australian rugby identity that's completely disappeared over the years it's sad to see because it was such beautiful rugby to watch.

I predicted years ago that if and when SA teams exited super rugby, there would be a decline in the standards of New Zealand and Australia. Years and years of being robbed by poor or crooked officiating and unfair traveling schedules have caused that the SA teams to decide to join the URC. and it is so enjoyable watching a game where the referee doesn't have the biggest say in the result.

Valid comments. What we also saw today is that without Skelton and Tupou the engine room of the Wallabies fell apart and destructured the team. 18 penalties suggests a lot of pressure applied at the breakdown. Fiji won by punting the ball after penalties, but were dominant in every play. Not many positives for the Wallabies and they should have been up for this game. Skelton will be out and that means the Wallabies are up against it with Wales. Definitely the Wallabies worst game recently. I support Eddie Jones revival with new players though did not anticipate the intensity of the pain in this era.

I think this was the point that Matt Williams started referring to Ireland as his own I.e. we, us etc. 😂

Give credit where it's due guys. This hypocrisy and bias to the utmost. You see this in every sport now. Countries are focusing and funding more to this sport and the players are buying in. More attention to diet health and fitness. The competition is fierce. Fiji played amazing and that's why they won. Don't discard it even in the nicest way. Unacceptable as a Fijian. Shame on you guys. Go Fiji Go...uro...

Well bounce back strong together 🇳🇿🇦🇺

I’ve been following rugby from NZ for almost 50 years and recently with the world cup I’ve been watching a few more international rugby shows for their interviews etc. Who is Matt Williams? I’ve never heard of him before. Suddenly I’m seeing him on Irish tv panels and the guy can barely string a sentence together.

hehehehe "the Fijian coach deserves all the credit he gets, born and bred in Sydney" nice little reminder there for the rest of you in the world, the Fijian coach is born and bred Aussie, thats where he learnt the game so well, the Aussies have dropped the ball over the last decade or so, as this fella says

You wait till you see the Wales result 😂😂😂

Having watched and supported the Wallabies since the 1987 world cup, I have never seen such a woeful preparation and tactics. Everyone was hailing Eddie as the Messiah for Aussie rugby and none of them can be found now. I've watched grass roots rugby wither and die. Proud old rugby clubs close and no money to develop against league constantly poaching talent. And what does rugby australia do - pay millions to bring them back - for this. There are hundreds of young guys and girls who would give anything to play rugby as a career and represent their country, but they have to go to league to have any chance. Nearly 2 million Sydneysiders have no proper rugby structure in place and no support. AFL, league, soccer, basketball and every other sport is poaching. I love seeing the passion in Fijian rugby. They play for each other and their country. While our chattering private school city suit financial types hold meetings and wonder why it is all going wrong. Maybe they will apologise to Dave Rennie. More likely Putin would apologise to Ukraine than that ever happening.

Eddie's appt was a panic move and it really showed against a very talented commited Fiji group The kicking at crucial moments was embarrassing

For once I agree with Matt. No player role models, no interest in the game already competing with other codes. Sad if you look at the facilities they have. The best in the world. Also look at the wallabies- looks like they have been trying to entice talent from Fiji, Tonga etc rather then actually build from school boy level. Finally leaving Hooper at home was stupid. He is actually a role model and a fantastic player

Saffa here, advice to Australia, build high school rugby into something massive. In South Africa there isn’t much between high school and national side for interest and passion. My 10 cents.

Imagine how we South Africans felt when we lost to Japan 😂 At least Fiji are certified ballers. They outplayed Australia and are going to beat other big teams too

Whoever didn’t see this coming is blind…….. Eddie Jones is not the saviour of Australian Rugby, band aid solution at best & shouldn’t be blamed for this….😳😳😳🏉😖

“People not listening” camera cuts to old mate missing an ear 😂😂

It's not just about administrators ignoring grass roots. It's also about appointing a rubbish national coach. Rennie was making progress, and Eddie has come along and destroyed everything. The Wallabies are gonna be flat out beating Portugal. If Eddie and Hamish survive this trainwreck, there'll be no hope for Australian rugby, and we might as well gift the Bledisloe to Aotearoa for the next hundred years.

The problem with Australian grassroots is the NRL have scouts out at those games and are poaching like crazy.

"loss of inter-generational knowledge" -brilliant

Matt Williams is right. But here's the truth: Australia have the player stocks and talent. And once they get rid of Eddie, Matt Williams and Nucifora can go home and reform the system even more. Look at what Ireland have done - with a strategy, resources, and a sharp focus on youth development, the turn around has clearly been hard work but the results speak for themselves. The Wallabies will be back.

yeah - kudos to Matt, even when Australia lose you can find a way to kick Wales! Good for you, mate.

Fiji playing unreal rugby. Australia too focused on League and Aussie rules, union just isn't a priority.

ITS TIME to accept that other once considered minnow nations, are catching up with, and even surpassing tier 1 rugby nations, and I think it's down to the success of things like the rugby sevens program

RA executives reside in corporate luxury at Moore Park. Yet some panel/expert/pen pusher defunded Australian Schools Rugby 10 years ago. This foundation stone of Australian Rugby was defunded and the conveyor belt of top class Wallabies ceased. Just one of the many nails in the coffin of RA.

22 - 8 to be honest. Some weird opportunistic try based on rugby league rule inclusion doesn’t really represent the beating the Aussies received. Official score 22 - 15. “Representative” score 22 - 8. Well done Fiji. I’m hoping they exit the pool and give the Springboks the same treatment.

Replace Australia with England and this would be the same.

Full credit to Fiji, but I disagree its the worst loss in Australian RWC history. The loss to England in the '07 quarter-final was far worse.

It's no surprise that Fiji beat Australia....they beat England and should have beaten Wales. To be honest Fiji play a brand of footy with their physics and agility. Obviously alot of countries and club rugby have your typical Fijian on the wing. Also look at our sevens. Fijians play a different brand of footy. Let's Go Fiji. 🇫🇯

Aus isn’t that bad. As a South African you still beat us regularly. New coach. We have just been building for years. Every side goes through rough patches. Before Rassie we where ranked like 7th or something

Ireland has 8 foreign-born players. 6 of them born and produced in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. While every Springbok at RWC 2023 was born and raised in South Africa

So, how does this analysis equate with their hammering by Wales? If Wales is in the mire, where are Autralia?!

"Its the worst defeat in Australian history" Hold on. Next minute. I spoke too soon

It was not a shock at all. I expected Fiji to win. Fiji is full of top players who are playing in the French Top 14 and the Prem.

😭😭😭😭more even proud to be Fijian. The years of unfairness. Now humbleness and striving forward is the way forward

He has made some important points

Wait until he watches tonight's game

You fired Dave, he won games overseas with severely depleted team.They had plenty of injuries and still won some games. If you stop kicking the ball close to the tryline you could win

Springbok supporter here. We have the utmost respect for you, but from the outside in, your issues started when the ARU got that Raelene Castle CEO in. Sport and politics started mixing, and you lost huge players in the process (Folau was one of the best in the world). Clearly, behind the scenes, everything started deteriorating.

Completely agree continually buying NRL players an not investing in grass roots is resulting in Wallabies slide . On the other side Fiji Drua in super rugby is now coming to fruition .

Until its played in government state schools, because that's where the best talent always comes from whatever sport it is, Australia will just be overtaken and slip down the world standings.

I could never understand why Australia rugby league teams and players are so high quality ( even the game speed), yet their Union teams is nothing compare to that

Australia and Australians simply don't care about Rugby Union. We care more about League as that is what we grow up with it's sad considering who Australia were say 30 years ago but those days are gone.

Nah old timer, Fijian usos just outplayed a tier 1 team😂 CHEEEEHOOOO!!!

Folks Fiji deserved praise for winning and I agree that they should have won against Wales - many poor refereeing calls there. However, the state of Australian rugby is a separate matter and it has been in the doldrums for some time. I'm not pointing the bone at any one group but things have deteriorated to the point where it is affecting my interest in Australian rugby. Administration in the game has been a long-standing issue and is multi-faceted and will only be seriously addressed when the parties involved put aside self-interest, factionalism and even pettiness in their approach. It is sad that many human beings are only prepared to change when they are largely forced to.

First Stage: Denial 😂

What a pain to listen to. The facts show the better team won. That why we have a World Cup to separate the sheep from the boys.

when the Wallabies arrived at the airport in those flashy suits with the crocodile dundee hats I knew they were going to lose. They're all style and no substance!

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 The Aussies doing what they do best….fumbling!! Well played Fiji🖤

Dunedin NZ 23-20 Australia just over a month ago, then be called a bad side. How can Australia nearly beat NZ just over a month ago then be called the worst Aussie teams. This Aussie team are a good side but the celts have a superb league with Bok teams now as well, that’s why Wales were No.1 last WC and Ireland are No1 side now in the world and Scotland are a good side also.

The moral of the story is never right off Fiji.Well done fiji

I agree with Matt 100%

Don't forget Fiji owes Australia big...it is the Aussies who supported & pushed for Fiji b included Super Rugby (Drua), & also 4 the women's rugby.

These critics have truly identified the problem just as the calling of Mr. E. Jones to try put some magic in a 20 yrs fallout as mentioned.. Let's see the professional players workout strategies to beat Wales and make a quarter final spot even to the finals. Fiji usually play semi professional. Now Australia has helped a lot in Fiji's transition to professionalism. Most in Fiji are Wellabies fans. Let's support them. Last RWC Japan beat South Africa. Upsets is healthy and bad refereeing is sick. Go Australian Wellabies go.

Nick White should have done his late "footballers dive" to get the opposition carded.