Wounded Wallabies set sight on Springboks
REACTION: Wallabies coach Dave Rennie reckons the pounding losses to New Zealand will help rather than hinder his side as they build towards the 2023 World Cup.
The All Blacks secured a 3-0 Bledisloe Cup series whitewash with a 38-21 win in Perth on Sunday.
The six-tries-to-three triumph followed on from two victories in Auckland, which included a 57-22 shellacking in the second Test.
The Wallabies will now have to lick their wounds ahead of two Rugby Championship Tests against world champions South Africa, starting on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
Rennie has two more years to whip his team into shape ahead of the World Cup in France, and he feels the lessons learned from the losses to NZ will help.
During Rennie’s time in charge of the Wallabies, Australia have won just one of their seven Tests against NZ, along with one draw.
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“I came with my eyes open. We’ve got a lot of good men who are working really hard,” Rennie said.
“We’ve had seven Tests against the All Blacks. I think it’s great for us. We’re learning quickly.
“We’ve got the world champions [South Africa] coming up for a couple of Tests. That’s going to be great for us as well.
“We’ve got to be better no doubt. But I still feel we are trending in the right direction.
“We need to see evidence of that over the next couple of weeks.”
Flyhalf James O’Connor, who has been sidelined with a groin injury, is an outside chance to return against the Springboks this week.
“We’ve got to assess where James is at,” Rennie said.
“He’s back in training. He’ll run [on Monday], so we’ll get a bit of clarity about where he’s at.”
Rennie rued his team’s inability to score points while NZ were reduced to 14 men for 20 minutes in Sunday’s match.
Just like in the second Test, the All Blacks were able to increase their lead while dealing with a numerical disadvantage.
Rennie said his team needed to become more disciplined and clinical in those situations.
