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They were “gritty” and feel just short of staging an epic come-from-behind win against the All Blacks, but Joe Schmidt was in no mood to settle with a “close second” against his home nation.
The former All Blacks assistant turned first-year Wallabies coach was livid with his side’s opening 15 minutes, where the men in gold conceded three converted tries to trail 21-0.
In front of 68,069 fans, the Wallabies were blown away in the opening stages after being left clutching at thin air.
In perfect conditions, the Wallabies couldn’t handle the All Blacks’ big men up front while giant winger Caleb Clarke proved too big to handle.
Although they made a game of it in the end after some wastefulness in attack by the All Blacks, the horror start proved too big a lead to run down as the Wallabies fell agonizingly close, losing 31-28.
Ever the pragmatist, Schmidt was realistic that the Wallabies’ defence was exposed and noted the All Blacks should have been further ahead after failing to score a try after the 28-minute mark.
“I think they [the Wallabies] were gritty, but they also put together some pretty good footy,” Schmidt said.
“I think we earned the (points) we got in the first half and then we really rolled our sleeves up in the second half. Got a couple of nice line breaks, but so did they.
“The reality is they maybe could have got more of a margin on the scoreboard if they’d finished a couple of opportunities, so we’ve got to be realistic about that. But we probably missed a couple of opportunities toward the end there as well, which was really frustrating to get so close.”
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt says he’s not happy with a “close second” result against the All Blacks. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Although the score worm showed a match of two halves, the All Blacks bombed seven tries along the way during the opening 60 minutes.
Their failure to finish their chances pointed to some last-ditched defensive efforts but the All Blacks were their own worst enemy too, with Damian McKenzie particularly guilty of failing to land the final blow.
Asked whether he was a glass half full or empty person coming out of the dramatic Test, Schmidt said the reality is they lost the encounter.
“There’s not a lot of water in the glass,” Schmidt said. “You lose a Test match.
“As Harry [Wilson] said, there’s things that we’ve got to learn from. We can’t finish a close second.
“There’s some things to be proud about, and I totally agree with Harry around building our way back into the game, but giving a New Zealand side a start like that, it’s too tough to overcome that – albeit it almost did happen at the finish. So, by no means is it back to the drawing board.”
Wilson added: “We got close tonight, but not close enough. So there’s a lot of motivation for us next week.”
Schmidt also didn’t want to be fooled into thinking they had surprised the All Blacks by their late surge either.
“Not at the start,” he responded, after being asked whether they had “surprised” the All Blacks.
“Maybe they were surprised because they went through us pretty quickly.”
James Slipper of the Wallabies reacts after losing The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match on September 21, 2024 in Sydney. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
For all the Wallabies’ defensive frailties, Schmidt’s side did stretch the All Blacks.
Scott Robertson’s men were simply holding on in the final 20 minutes and were helped by a couple of breakdown penalty wins by Wallace Sititi and Sevu Reece on their line.
But the All Blacks also missed 24 tackles and conceded six linebreaks.
“I think there’s some things there that they’ll be looking at and saying, ‘well, we were a bit vulnerable here or there’,” Schmidt said.
“I just thought that there were some things that we put together that they’ll look at and (think we were) a little bit challenged by.
“But what we can’t do is turn the ball over to them or kick loosely to them because I thought Will Jordan was outstanding tonight and Damian McKenzie, he maybe didn’t finish a couple of opportunities, but geez he makes them.”
The first-year Wallabies coach added that he was left disappointed with the Bledisloe structure, saying he would have preferred the series by a best of three format.
“I was pretty happy with that arrangement last year and the year before,” Schmidt said. “But now I’m not so happy about that arrangement.
“We’d love it to be still alive. I think the people, the public in Wellington, I think it’s sold out and it would be a cracking atmosphere, but if there was something live on the game, it would be great. That’s something that other people make decisions about.
“We just get to decide which way we’re going to kick. Well, we don’t actually. Harry hasn’t won a toss yet. But we’re looking forward to making a decision around that at some stage.”
Rugby Australia was hoping to be able to announce an extra Anzac fixture against the All Blacks, but it’s likely the Bledisloe match will become part of the calendar from 2026 once a new broadcast deal is announced.
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