Bomb threat: The figures that expose a concerning flaw for the Wallabies

The Wallabies say they will be working harder to get more players in the landing zone after a poor outing under the high ball against England further cemented Australia’s standing as one of the world’s untidiest Test teams with contestable kicks.

England scored two of their four tries from kicks in their 25-7 win over Australia at Twickenham last weekend. Ben Earl and Henry Pollock both raced away to score after the hosts won the ball back from high kicks.

In each instance, England winger Tom Roebuck was able to get the better of a Wallabies rival: the first with a clean catch over Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and the second with a tap back in a contest with Tane Edmed.

England’s aerial dominance continued a season-long trend for the Wallabies, who have largely struggled with contestable kicks, which are now a major part of Test and domestic rugby.

Many sides – led by South Africa – now launch high kicks up to 15 times a game, usually from just inside their own half, and then send through chasers to try to regain the ball by catching it or forcing a mistake from the defensive team trying to defuse the bomb.

The tactic has become even more prevalent this year after referees last year began cracking down on defenders blocking chasers and denying a fair contest for the ball.

Despite not traditionally being a side that likes contestable kicks, the Wallabies have used the tactic more under coach Joe Schmidt, who built a game plan around it when he coached Ireland and had Conor Murray at halfback. Jake Gordon and Nic White have mostly been selected at No.9 for the Wallabies during Schmidt’s reign, in large part due to their excellent kicking.

But the Wallabies have shown themselves to be off the pace in 2025 in terms of defusing and profiting from high kicks.

Data analysis from games this year involving the 10 teams in the Six Nations and The Rugby Championship shows the Wallabies are ranked in the bottom half in most key contestable kicking stats.

Australia have produced just 6.92 contestable kicks per game in 2025, just ahead of New Zealand and way behind the top side South Africa, who hoisted 14.4 contestable kicks per game (almost 50 per cent of their kicks).

But the Springboks also retained the ball in 29 per cent of those contests. Retention means either catching, regathering from a tap down or eliciting a knock-on under pressure.

The All Blacks (11.7%), Australia (11.6%) and England (11.5%) round out the bottom three sides when it comes to retaining the ball, however. And given England entered the game as the world’s least effective team statistically in that area, their dominance of the Wallabies at Twickenham is put into even more alarming context.

As far as catching an attacking contestable kick – as seen in Max Jorgensen’s try against the British and Irish Lions in Brisbane – the Wallabies are the least successful team, producing only 1.8 per game.

The Wallabies’ weakness under the high ball has not gone unnoticed either, with most rivals this year turning heavily to the box kick.

Australia have received the second most contestable kicks of any team (8.4), behind New Zealand. Rivals also retained their kicks against Australia 4.2 times a game on average, which is the fifth most.

Wallabies reserve halfback Ryan Lonergan said the team’s performance in dealing with contestable kicks at Twickenham had been scrutinised in the game review on Monday, and the primary failure was a lack of urgency to support the catcher.

“I think we got beaten around the ball,” Lonergan said. “The contest is always going to be hard, and we know the guys going up for it know it’s going to be tough, and they’re doing their best.

“But I think you see in the tries from the weekend it’s the guys that we can get around the ball, around the contest that are going to make the difference, because we’re not going to be able to catch everyone with the change of rules around escorting and things like that.

“That’s been the main point come out of our review is England beat us to the contest around the catch. So again that’s us getting in position.”

Former Wallabies winger Cameron Shepherd said the Australian back three players were guilty of not working back behind the landing zone and their teammate attempting to catch the ball.

“The forward running back is the first person to the breakdown?” Shepherd said about an early catch.

“That’s ridiculous. If you know you’re going to get peppered by high balls, the back three have to get closer together, so as soon as he comes down with the ball, someone has to be there to seal him off. The backs have got to do a better job.”

Watch all the action from the 2025 Wallabies spring tour on Stan Sport.