Wallabies prop Allan Alaalatoa says the only way Australia can silence the “external noise” about the team’s poor form is to “deliver” against the All Blacks on Saturday. In the aftermath of the Wallabies’ humiliating 67-27 loss to Argentina less than two weeks ago, there have been calls out of the UK for the British and Irish Lions to cancel their tour to Australia next year and instead head to South Africa. “Can we campaign for the Lions to flip the tour and go to South Africa, please?” former England fly-half Andy Goode told The Rugby Pod.
“It can’t happen but if you’re the Lions now at the end of the season and you’re picking anyone to play, it’s South Africa.” Alaalatoa said such “distractions” were inevitable after the magnitude of the defeat. “Everyone’s going to have their opinion,” he said ahead of this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney.
“There’s always going to be that external noise, and for us as leaders and as a group, we’ve got to focus internally on what’s important to us. “We understand that those distractions are going to be there. People are going to say what they think of us, but again, what’s important for us is believing in ourselves, and executing our plan throughout the week to then go out there and perform, and then change the external noise that’s happening.
“The most important message for us is to deliver what we say we’re going to deliver.” Alaalatoa said the Wallabies were “slowly chipping away and building” under Kiwi coach Joe Schmidt. “We’ve had some tough learnings, and the boys are working hard,” he said.
“We understand the threats that they (New Zealand) are going to bring but we want to pour all of our attention into us delivering our system over and over again as much as we can. “Delivering that for 40 (minutes) isn’t good enough. You’ve got to be doing it for 80, and those are the places where we’re going to be pouring in our energy throughout this whole week to then again give us that belief and confidence to go out there on Saturday and just play.
” Alaalatoa, who captained the Wallabies earlier this year, was understanding about being asked to play a “different role” off the bench as a replacement for fellow prop Taniela Tupou in Australia’s past two Tests. “Everyone in that 23 has an important role, whether you start or whether you finish the game,” he said. Tupou only lasted 36 minutes in the 40-point loss to Argentina in Santa Fe before Alaalatoa entered the contest.
“That’s the good luxury that we have, to be able to go half and half, or 50 and 30 (minutes), to just go and completely empty the tank, because that’s what we want `Nell’ to do because when he does that, he’s powerful, not only in the scrum but across the park as well,” Alaalatoa said. “Those are the things that we speak about together, knowing that when we look at each other, and help each other throughout the week, that when we play on Saturday, we just want to empty the tank, and then when you come off, you come off.” Originally published as Wallabies prop Allan Alaalatoa said Australia must ‘deliver’ against New Zealand.
