Against a side that has never won a Rugby World Cup match before, the 34-14 win over Portugal might not have looked that impressive for Australia fans.
But was it planned, perhaps?
That’s the theory from All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens, who suggested the Wallabies might not have steamrolled Os Lobos on purpose to give them enough energy against Fiji.
Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport. Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD
Australia’s only chance of progressing to the quarter-finals hinges on Portugal finding a way to beat Fiji.
“You’ve got to do what you can to stay in and I think if part of that means, not pulling back, but just playing a different sort of rugby,” Mehrtens said on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts.
“First thing’s first, get the win or get the tries – but then after that, I don’t think you want to be too physical.
READ MORE: Wallabies cop another cruel World Cup blow
READ MORE: Broncos star ‘unfairly targeted’ for capitulation
READ MORE: Reason for ‘stubborn’ Beckham act that infuriated icon
“I think you maybe move the ball around, that’s fine, but knowing what the Portuguese are going to be coming up against this weekend in the Fijian team, knowing that you need them to pull out a big win, you don’t want to go making them leg-weary if they’ve got to be making all these tackles against these big physical Fijian runners.”
Commentary off-sider and former Wallabies international Morgan Turinui didn’t go as far as suggesting a planned effort, but noted Australia coming off the throttle towards the end of the match.
“Back end of the game, we were talking about the same thing,” said Turinui.
“Sequentially it’s; win the game, get the bonus point, and then the good teams, they do what New Zealand did to Italy – they put 100 on them.
“The other side of it was; what do you do? What you didn’t want was Portugal to get injured. I don’t think the Wallabies are thinking Andrew Mehrtens levels of tactics.”
Australia only scored one try in the final 20 minutes of the match and conceded one try to Portugal with 10 minutes remaining.
Mehrtens built on his theory that running Portugal around the park wouldn’t have hindered their chances against Fiji, rather, constantly coming into contact would make the biggest difference.
“I was just thinking running’s not going to be a problem,” said Mehrtens, when pressed further about the theory of “sandbagging” by Sean Maloney.
“Moving the ball wide and moving it around and having a go, which is a little bit fraught with danger — what you don’t want to do is keep running (Rob) Valetini and your big boys into those Portuguese defenders because they’re going to stand up, resolute.
“They kept picking themselves ups, but they’re going to have to do it again this weekend, so you didn’t want them doing it for 80 (minutes) on the weekend.”
Even if Portugal find a way to defeat Fiji and Australia makes it through to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, the team will be without two key playmakers.
Nick Frost and Carter Gordon have both been ruled out through knee injuries.