Former Australia captain John Eales says the current crop of players must build their confidence and have “true belief in themselves”. It has been a difficult time for Australia’s national side over the past year and Saturday’s scrappy 16-10 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina in Brisbane was just the fourth win from the last 14 tests.
Head coach Michael Cheika continues to get the backing ahead of the 2019 World Cup in Japan, which starts on September 20, but that confidence in the management could soon waver with back-to-back clashes against New Zealand up next. A big improvement will be required for the Wallabies to get the better of the All Blacks but Eales, who won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999, believes the players need to start believing in themselves.
“I think there is talent there but I think what they need to work on is a true belief in themselves,” he told Reuters in Tokyo on Monday. “I think they think they can win the big games but it is about getting that consistency in performance that they start to win the big games more often than not. “There is potential there.”
