Joe Schmidt has blamed indiscipline for Australia’s latest Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand.
The Wallabies lost 24-33 in Auckland in Round Five of the Rugby Championship, and the head coach’s hot take after the final whistle put the spotlight on the 15-10 penalty count against them.
Scott Robertson’s All Blacks appeared set for a comfortable Eden Park win when leading 20-3 after 25 minutes on Saturday, but the Wallabies roared back into the contest to only trail 20-17 at the interval following tries from Billy Pollard and Harry Potter.
The gap widened again in the second half to 26-17 before Australia struck for their third try through Carlo Tizzano, which left just two points between the teams with 10 minutes to play.
However, the All Blacks managed to hit back and stretch their unbeaten Eden Park record to 52 matches courtesy of the win-sealing try from Cam Roigard near the finish.
“Have to look back at some of those penalties…”
“I’m proud of the way we stayed in the fight,” said Schmidt. “I thought, two points in it with 10 to go, we were right in the fight after being 20-3 down early on.
“Again, it was on the back of a number of penalties. When we got our chances, we didn’t quite find touch with a couple of them, which are our access points, but we put a couple of really good attacks together and a great driving maul at the end to get to within two points.
“They were the positives, so we’ve got to keep building on those positives. The negatives, we have just got to look back at some of those penalties because they were what really hurt us.”
It was the second time in a row with referee Andrea Piardi that Schmidt was left focusing on penalties as the Italian also came in for criticism following his handling of Australia’s July 26 loss to the British and Irish Lions in Melbourne.
Having topped the standings heading into Round Five a point clear of South Africa and New Zealand, the Wallabies will now host the All Blacks next Saturday in Perth after falling to third place.
The Springboks, courtesy of their whopping 67-30 win over Argentina in Durban, now lead the way on 15 points with New Zealand on 14 and Australia on 11. They have also lost out on the Bledisloe Cup.
“It’s obviously disappointing to miss out on the Bledisloe for another year, but credit to New Zealand, they outplayed us tonight,” said skipper Harry Wilson. “We gave ourselves an opportunity there, but well done New Zealand.
“We are definitely on the right track. We just can’t keep giving teams head starts but the Rugby Championship is still alive, so there’s a lot for us to play for next week.
“I guess we know our game really well and we are a really close unit. I don’t think I have ever been a part of a team this close, and you see it out there on the field. For us, this is another learning, and we’re going to be a lot better next week.”
Next week could be a game where Australian resources at scrum-half are tested with Nic White now retired. Tate McDermott, who started in Auckland, suffered a hamstring injury and it left them relying on the debut-making Ryan Lonergan off the bench.
Jake Gordon was part of the Wallabies squad in New Zealand but his metrics following a lengthy lay-off convinced Schmidt not to risk him.