Stirling Mortlock remembers the last time the Wallabies played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was 2007, a World Cup year, a Bledisloe Cup opener. Mortlock was captain and 79,322 were packed in. Australia had lost to South Africa the week before and had not beaten the All Blacks in three years. That night their fullback started the game by kicking out on the full, Mortlock gave away the first penalty and the All Blacks scored a third-minute try. His side didn’t win a penalty until the 10th then Mortlock missed it. Soon they were down 15-6.
It was the worst possible start on the biggest possible stage. But history shows Australia fought back to win that game 20-15 at the wire. Mortlock says it’s “an omen for our lads”, coming into the Wallabies’ Bledisloe match this Saturday.
“When you’re playing at a uniquely traditional venue like the MCG, a hallowed cathedral of Australian sport, something special resonates deep within you as a Wallaby,” he says. “It’s a great place to turn it all around and play a style of football that reflects Australia’s character and ancestry as innovators and fighters.”
Few give the Wallabies any hope. The men in gold were diabolical in the 43-12 loss to South Africa in Pretoria, self-destructing in the 34-31 defeat to Argentina in Sydney. Now they face a New Zealand side who blew South Africa away with 17 points in as many minutes and did even worse to Argentina, scoring three tries in 12 minutes to lead 31-0 inside half an hour. It’s not a form line that screams “Australia to win the Bledisloe for the first time in 21 years”.
Mortlock, an 80-cap Wallaby and 29-Test captain, knows it’s a “bloody tough ask”. But he says there is merit in coach Eddie Jones’s belief that a “click” – of combinations, belief, of sheer dumb luck – is close to igniting this team and turning them into World Cup contenders.
“Eddie is trying to achieve two conflicting goals – find the best team by promoting and rotating players on form and potential,” he says. “And at the same, he’s trying to develop a style of play to improve results and create chemistry between the players that will fill the team with belief.”
Jones surely embraced the underdog tag, believing it can galvanise his misfiring side into a genuine threat capable of an MCG upset greater even than 2007. “No one outside our immediate squad thinks we’ve got a chance of winning,” Jones said this week.
“[That] can drive a bit more closeness within the team, a bit more purpose about what we’re doing. We’re massive underdogs, that creates opportunity for us because we know if we can put pressure on a team that’s labelled as red hot favourites, sometimes that pressure can turn into … stress within their team. That’s our aim.”
Jones is getting closer to a team that can do it. He has two match-winners on his wings in Marika Koroibete and Mark Nawaqanitawase, and welcomes back two world-class frontrowers in Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou. His two titanic locks, Will Skelton and Richie Arnold, are back from Europe in hot form, and he has a mongrel young backrow in Rob Valetini, Tom Hooper and Jed Holloway. Jones also has an attacking axis starting to purr with inside-centre Samu Kerevi and spark-plug playmaker Carter Gordon to make his first start in a Wallabies shirt on Saturday.
But mere promise won’t beat the All Blacks. “So far this year the All Blacks’ intensity has been insane,” Mortlock says. “They deliver consistent quality from the get-go. Since the mid-2000s they’ve worked on their mental strength as much as their physicality. That’s why they’re so awesome and have been for so long.
“You can’t outrun them – they’re the fittest team in the world. You can’t outmuscle them – they overpowered the Springboks. And you can’t afford to let them dictate the play because they are ruthless and relentless.”
Australia still has major weaknesses the men in black will be looking to exploit: a new midfield combination in Kerevi and Jordan Petaia and a new fullback in Andrew Kellaway, back from injury to replace the axed Tom Wright. Jones will grant each a licence to thrill. “Australian rugby is at its best when we’ve got a bit of arrogance, a bit of aggression, a bit of boldness and we’re going at the opposition,” he says. “But it always has to come with smartness.”
And there’s the rub. Australia is the most penalised team in world rugby. In the 2022 Bledisloe series they were issued five yellow cards, playing with 14 men for 50 of the 160 minutes. It cruelled them in Bledisloe 1 in Melbourne when Australia were down 31-13 within an hour. But that night they found the aggression and boldness Jones craves, rallying to take a three-point lead with two minutes to go before referee Mathieu Raynal made a bizarre call to penalise them for time wasting and turn an epic victory into a tragicomic 39-37 defeat.
In 2007 at the MCG the clutch call went against the All Blacks. In the 43rd minute, at 15-6 down, Mortlock made his side’s first linebreak. Shortly after, the gold rush forced a yellow card from prop Carl Hayman. The Wallabies crossed. Then, with minutes to go, Mortlock went at the line, shrugged one then surged past another, and passed infield for the winner. “Life turns on these moments,” he says today with a grin, “and after that, the floodgates just open.”
Can it happen again on Saturday? Even in a dry spell, Melbourne always promises rain.
