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Analysis questions Wallabies progress since Rennie’s sacking

The Sydney Morning Herald says the Wallabies have not clearly improved since Rugby Australia sacked Dave Rennie, citing recent performances against the All Blacks. The article says it is difficult to argue the team is better than it was in 2022, while also noting Rennie has improved the All Blacks.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 4 independent reports from 5 outlets · Article text read from 2 of 4 reportsHow it's made

View timeline · 7 entries
5 outletsLatest reporting 3 min read
Coverage: Center OnlyL 0 · C 3 · R 0 · 2 unrated

What happened

Key facts

  • The Sydney Morning Herald says recent evidence makes it difficult to argue that the Wallabies are better than they were in 2022, particularly relative to the All Blacks (per The Sydney Morning Herald).
  • The Sydney Morning Herald says Dave Rennie has improved the All Blacks (per The Sydney Morning Herald).
  • Dave Rennie backed the All Blacks’ attacking identity, saying there was “No point playing risk-free footy” (per allblacks.com, The Sydney Morning Herald, stuff.co.nz).

The brief

The Sydney Morning Herald’s assessment is that the Wallabies have not clearly improved since Rugby Australia sacked Dave Rennie. It says recent evidence makes it difficult to argue Australia are better than they were in 2022, particularly in comparison with the All Blacks, whom the Wallabies beat that year. The article also argues that Rennie has improved New Zealand’s team.

A recent measure in the coverage is New Zealand’s 43-21 win over Australia in the second Bledisloe Cup Test at Accor Stadium in Sydney. Planet Rugby reported that Australia won the second period 14-7, after New Zealand had moved 22-0 ahead by the 25-minute mark.

Those figures capture a match with a large early advantage for New Zealand and a stronger later period for Australia; they do not, by themselves, establish a long-term change in either team’s performance. Planet Rugby said Australia scored three tries in the final 20 minutes and described the closing attack as characteristic of coach Joe Schmidt’s approach.

Its account also said New Zealand’s players made fatigue-related errors late in the match. These details offer a contrast to the scoreline, but the outlet’s match analysis is not a direct comparison of Australia’s overall performance today with its 2022 level.

The central question is therefore broader than one result: whether Australia’s performances since Rennie’s departure amount to clear progress. The Sydney Morning Herald answers cautiously, using recent results against New Zealand as evidence against a straightforward claim that the Wallabies have improved.

Its comparison also rests on the fact that Australia beat the All Blacks in 2022, making the present-day standard of comparison a team Rennie now coaches. Other headlines place Rennie’s role in the current discussion from different angles. Allblacks.com says Rennie defended the All Blacks’ attacking identity, quoting him as saying there was “No point playing risk-free footy”.

Stuff reports that Rennie spoke publicly about his departure from the Wallabies before the second Bledisloe Cup Test. Those headlines establish that his coaching philosophy and his exit were both part of the surrounding conversation, but do not provide further detail about his comments or the reasons for his departure.

The available evidence points to a distinction between a match’s late momentum and a team’s sustained improvement. Australia’s 14-7 second period and three late tries show a stronger finish in that Test; New Zealand’s 43-21 victory and early lead show the scale of the result.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s broader judgment remains that recent evidence has not clearly shown the Wallabies to be better than they were in 2022.

Why it matters

  • The Wallabies bear the sporting cost of a record that the Sydney Morning Herald says does not clearly demonstrate improvement since Dave Rennie’s sacking; the article’s benchmark is Australia’s 2022 level and its win over the All Blacks that year.
  • The 43-21 defeat gives Rugby Australia and the Wallabies a concrete recent result against the comparison team, while Australia’s 14-7 second period and three late tries show that the match also included a stronger closing stretch.
  • Rennie’s positions as former Wallabies coach and current All Blacks coach make his record relevant to both sides of the comparison: the Sydney Morning Herald says he has improved New Zealand, while Allblacks.com reports that he defended the team’s attacking identity.

What to watch next

  • Whether the Wallabies produce results that alter the Sydney Morning Herald’s comparison with their 2022 level.
  • Whether Australia can turn the stronger second period and late scoring described by Planet Rugby into more competitive overall results against the All Blacks.
  • Whether Dave Rennie continues to back the All Blacks’ attacking identity, as reported in the Allblacks.com headline.
  • Whether Rennie’s comments about his Wallabies departure, reported by Stuff, add context to the debate over Australia’s progress.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
5 source articles · 5 unique outlets · 4 distinct reports
Outlet political mix: Center Only· 3 Center · 2 unrated
Where the outlets are based: Asia 60% · Unknown 40%
Outlet political mix
Center Only
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
3 outlets
0 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once. 2 unrated outlets are not included.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
5 unique outletsDominant coverage: Asia
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among Center-rated outlets (3 of 3 rated sources); comparatively few Left or Right-rated outlets have published on the event.
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

1 framing difference · 3 uncorroborated claims · 3 information gaps
The reports repeat the same account with different emphasis; its central claims are not independently confirmed in the reporting Updat3 read.Compared across 2 reports whose article text Updat3 read; 2 other outlets were checked by headline only.
Framing / emphasis differences
Sources emphasise different angles, actors or consequences of the same reporting.
  • The Sydney Morning Herald frames the story as a question about whether the Wallabies have improved since Rennie’s sacking and compares their current level with 2022; Planet Rugby focuses on the match pattern in New Zealand’s 43-21 win, including Australia’s stronger second period and late tries.
Updat3: These are differences of emphasis, not disputes about what is reported. They do not show that the reported claims are true.
One-sided or uncorroborated claims
Claims that come from one party or one source family and are not independently corroborated.
  • The Sydney Morning Herald presents the claim that Rennie improved the All Blacks as its assessment; the Allblacks.com headline separately reports Rennie’s defence of the team’s attacking identity.
  • Allblacks.com quotes Dave Rennie saying there was “No point playing risk-free footy”.
  • The Sydney Morning Herald says recent evidence makes it difficult to argue that the Wallabies are better than they were in 2022.
Updat3: Not independently corroborated yet — treat as a claim, not an established fact.
Not established by the reporting
Information the available reporting does not contain or confirm. This is a gap, not a disagreement.
  • The sources do not provide a detailed record of the Wallabies’ results or performance measures across the period since Rennie’s sacking.
  • The sources do not explain the reasons Rugby Australia sacked Rennie.
  • The Sydney Morning Herald’s judgment that the Wallabies have not clearly improved is an analysis, not a quantified performance measure.
Updat3: Updat3 cannot conclude anything about this from the current sources.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. Australia and New Zealand played their first rugby Test in Sydney, with New Zealand winning 22-3.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  2. The Bledisloe Cup, contested between Australia and New Zealand since 1931, is one of the principal measures of the Wallabies’ performance against their trans-Tasman rivals.
    Background · from our historical context
  3. England defeated Australia in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  4. Rugby Australia had appointed Rennie in December 2019 to replace Michael Cheika, whose Wallabies were eliminated by England in the 2019 World Cup quarter-final.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. Rugby Australia sacked Dave Rennie on January 16, 2023, with the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France less than eight months away, and appointed Eddie Jones as Wallabies coach.
    Background · from our historical context
  6. Eddie Jones resigned as Wallabies coach after Australia’s Rugby World Cup campaign.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  7. Rugby Australia appointed Joe Schmidt as Wallabies coach.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

Rugby Australia sacked Dave Rennie on January 16, 2023, with the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France less than eight months away, and appointed Eddie Jones as Wallabies coach. Rennie’s final season included two Bledisloe Cup defeats in 2022, after Australia had beaten New Zealand 25–17 in Melbourne that September.

Rugby Australia had appointed Rennie in December 2019 to replace Michael Cheika, whose Wallabies were eliminated by England in the 2019 World Cup quarter-final. Rennie took charge in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and coached Australia through the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Original sources

5 articles from 5 outlets

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