Frustrated Joe unpacks Bledisloe loss and rematch
Refusing to blame the referee, coach Joe Schmidt says the Wallabies need to be better after another chance to win the Bledisloe Cup went begging in a tight loss to New Zealand.
The Australians arrived in Perth to prepare for the second Test on Saturday, stinging after missing out on a rare victory at Auckland’s Eden Park.
The Wallabies needed a first-up win against the All Blacks to keep alive their hopes of reclaiming the Trans-Tasman trophy, while they have also sunk from first to third on the Rugby Championship standings.
South Africa are the new leaders after a thumping 67-30 win over Argentina, with New Zealand now in second place.
With Tate McDermott an early casualty with a hamstring injury in Auckland, Schmidt named an updated squad on Sunday.
They have included veteran halfback Nic White, who has already retired twice this year but returned as injury cover, as a training partner, with Schmidt calling the 35-year-old the “gift that keeps on giving”.
The pack will have some reinforcements with Will Skelton flying in from France and Rob Valetini back from a calf injury, while Queensland back Josh Flook will also join the squad.
Star centre Len Ikitau left the field midway through the second half, but Schmidt said he was one of several players who had battled a virus through the week and was a certain starter for the Perth match.
The Wallabies again showed their grit to recover from a 20-3 scoreline and trail by two points heading into the final 10 minutes.
After a second Cam Roigard try, the Australians fell 33-24; their cause not helped by Italian referee Andrea Piardi nailing them for 10 penalties alone in the second half, including a dubious yellow card.
Schmidt admitted post-match he was frustrated by some of the “inconsistencies” but said his team needed to adapt more quickly to how the referee was adjudicating the ruck.
“We’ve got to try to be able to adapt to Andrea Piardi and that’s one of the challenges,” the Kiwi coach said.
“It’s pretty hard to adapt in game when the All Blacks are getting width and coming at you.
“They put a lot of pressure on and sometimes when you over-chase something, you give something away in terms of a penalty so we’ve got to cop that on the chin and get better.”
Schmidt said the Wallabies needed to improve their defence and skill execution, with flyhalf James O’Connor failing to find touch three times, with the last particularly costly.
The coach said O’Connor wasn’t alone with his errors, with the side missing 40 tackles to the home side’s 11.
“We had 40 per cent of the possession in that game and we’re down four tries to three and that’s probably reflective of what we need to do better,” Schmidt said,
“We missed probably three or four times as many tackles as the All Blacks did and so that’s on us, the referee’s not going to make the tackles for us.
“We’ve got to roll our sleeves up and make sure that we deliver those, we’ve got to make sure we hang on to position better.
“We have frustrations and they’re across the board but some we can influence and some we’ve got to make sure we improve upon for next week.”
