Following consecutive defeats to the Springboks on home soil, the Wallabies are in “dire straits”.
That’s the opinion of former All Blacks stars Mills Muliaina and Jeff Wilson, who tore into the Wallabies following Saturday’s 30-12 defeat to the world champions in Perth.
In particular, the former outside backs were left surprised the Wallabies couldn’t fire a shot against the Springboks even though the contest was reduced to uncontested scrums for the final half-hour of the contest.
Indeed, off the back of scoring their only try against a 13-man Springboks defensive line during their first-up 33-7 loss in Brisbane a week earlier, the Wallabies’ only points came off the boot of fly-half Noah Lolesio.
1987 World Cup winner Sir John Kirwan was left bemused by what the Wallabies dished up on home soil.
“I think Australia would be pretty happy that they went to granddad scrums because it wasn’t looking too great for them in the second half,” Kirwan said on Sky’s The Breakdown.
“If you’re Australian, you’re really worried.”
The Wallabies react after losing to the Springboks at Optus Stadium on August 17, 2024 in Perth. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
The second straight hiding meant the Springboks left Australian shores with consecutive wins for the first time since 1971.
Making the humbling even worse is Rassie Erasmus made ten changes to his starting side for the rematch in Perth.
“It’s got to be a concern,” Wilson said.
“I’m as much concerned about Australian rugby as I am about where the Springboks are in terms of how well they’re playing. A huge challenge for the All Blacks because the Springboks know who they are they and they know what they’re going to bring and the options available for them.
“For Australia, I’m not sure where they go. It’s a really bad matchup for them, the strengths that the Springboks have dominated Australia and takes them out of the game.
“They hung in and hung in and hung in for the first 40 minutes in tough conditions, but they scored one try in two Tests.”
Muliaina, who featured in the 2011 World Cup and played 100 Tests for the All Blacks, said he was shocked to see how timid the Wallabies were to stretch the Springboks given they could have rolled out any number of moves from set-piece ball given the uncontested scrums.
“You didn’t want to see that footage of the golden oldy scrums, but they’re all Australian feeds,” he responded to Wilson.
“They’re actually getting front-foot ball, they’re getting quality ball. So the defensive effort from the South Africans is a lot tougher to defend because they’re getting that pill.
“I’m with you, I think Australia’s in dire straits.
“The fact that they’ve gone out there against a South African team, who have got real belief in their game-plan and physical, but when you make ten changes, they didn’t play as well as they could have and still convincingly win. If there was contested scrums, they probably would have won by more.”
Tom Wright runs into the Springboks defence at Optus Stadium on August 17, 2024. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
While three of the Springboks’ four tries came from rolling mauls, the world champions bombed two tries in two minutes early in the contest as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu dropped a simple pass from Cheslin Kolbe that would have seen the fly-half cross in the 11th minute.
One minute later, Wallabies fullback Tom Wright managed to put enough pressure on Makazole Mapimpi to contribute to the World Cup-winning winger losing control with the line in sight.
It wasn’t just New Zealand’s pundits who tore into Australia, with three former Wallabies left surprised at Joe Schmidt’s attack from set-piece ball.
“It’s not hard to develop, especially the quality of the players we’ve got – they’re the best players in the Super Rugby system, they should be able to have a chat about that on the run,” former scrum-half Nick Phipps said on Stan’s Between two Posts.
“I can only think that they were a little bit nervous about the weather.
“But like Hoilesy [Stephen Hoiles] was saying, in their attacking zone, it was very one out. It was always one off the halfback, or when it did go to the backs, it was a truck for Hunter.
“Noah didn’t get his hands on the ball enough.
“When you’re playing South Africa, you’ve got to move them around.”
Indeed, for the second straight week the Wallabies were extremely narrow with how they attacked when they didn’t try to stretch the Springboks through some cross-field kicks.
It often saw the Wallabies only have one-out runners, including in the lead up to Lukhan Salakaia-Loto dropping the ball cold second phase from an uncontested scrum late in the match when the big lock followed Marika Koroibete’s lead of running around the corner to try and break the Springboks’ line.
Morgan Turinui added some concession needed to be made about how early the Wallabies were in their rebuild under Schmidt, whose attack is known for being some of the most detailed in the game.
“The other part of a Joe Schmidt coached team is they’re normally the best in the world at the breakdown, we’re not there yet,” he said.
“This is phase one of what he’s implementing: that tight forward shape, then it’s going to be breakdown, then a [Johnny] Sexton-style ten, who can dig into the line with deception with hard working back three players. So, it’s the building blocks of the future of our game, we’re not there yet, but we’ve got to be patient.”
Christy Doranhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/08/21/not-sure-where-they-go-wallabies-in-dire-straits-says-ex-all-blacks-trio/‘Not sure where they go’: Wallabies in ‘dire straits’, says ex-All Blacks trio
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