Furious Wallabies halfback Nick Phipps says 70 minutes of gallant, quality rugby isn’t good enough, and certainly won’t make them a World Cup contender next year.
Phipps is lamenting a wasted opportunity at Newlands on the weekend, wilting in the last 10 minutes as South Africa flexed its muscles for a 28-10 Rugby Championship win.
As impressive as the spirited Australians were for the bulk of the match, it faded into insignificance due to conceding three late Springbok tries.
“It’s frustrating,” Phipps told AAP. “We did a lot of good work and then we just unravelled in the last 10 minutes.
“No one is going to remember the good work we did out there, everyone’s just going to remember that last 10 to 15 minutes.
“That last 10 minutes we have to be better than that.
“Especially going into next year, they’re the 10 minutes that win you a World Cup.”
Australia have been drawn into the pool of death at the tournament in England, in 12 months time, facing cut-throat matches against England and Wales that traditionally go down to the wire.
Phipps is also kicking himself for throwing a loose, forward pass, just after the Boks took their 11-10 lead, which was immediately punished with a try on counter-attack to Jean de Villiers.
“I’m really furious at myself,” he said. “I’m furious because you feel like you let the boys down.
“When they kicked that drop goal it didn’t faze me, I knew we would get another chance.
“There were plenty of chances there so it’s bring on Argentina, that’s all I can say.”
The Wallabies will spend Sunday and Monday making their way from Cape Town to Buenos Aires, a 24-hour trip which includes three flights.
They managed it effectively last year, bouncing back from a 28-8 thumping at Newlands with a 54-17 thrashing of the Pumas in Rosario.
This year they play in Mendoza and will travel the western wine region midweek.
“They will be gunning for us,” said Phipps, who is keeping Will Genia and Nic White at bay.
“The good thing is we have 24 hours to travel and we have 10 laptops in the team so we’ll be working pretty hard (reviewing the loss to South Africa) on the plane.
“The boys are angry about it so knowing the character of the players in the team they’ll be bouncing back and working hard.”
Giant lock Will Skelton and Queensland No.8 Jake Schatz will join them in South America as Rob Simmons (head knock) is in doubt and Ben McCalman (shoulder) has been ruled out.
Simon_Sez
Roar Guru
Australia has some very good forwards and backs who could be in the squad e.g. Kane Douglas, Sitaleki Timani, Peter Kimlin, George Smith, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell. This would be part of a pretty useful bench to bring on against A team like SA. It is just the ARU needs to relax the rules until 2016 when sabbaticals kick in.
Jameswm
Guest
Nope - not being good enough at 3-4-5-6 is what's going to cost us a WC, way before our finishes. Not being dominant enough there is what cost us on Saturday. It's why we got fatigued.
AdamS
Roar Guru
Bench and tackle count. In the second half particularly, we needed a fetcher and cleanouts that could effect a turnover. Multiple 20+ phases by the opposition will kill any side.
AdamS
Roar Guru
You win the Internet for a day! Phipps should run the tape and have someone smack him with a stick for every pass that was directed to a runner's shin, head, or where the runner was .25 of a second ago...
Reality
Guest
But let's face it, Australia is rarely blessed with decent forwards. Historically Australia has the best backs in the world , South Africa the best forwards and NZ the best team.
Redsfan1
Guest
Yes very true. Aussie rugby needs to change it's empasis away from backline obsession to more forward pack obsession. It's only when we have big, menacing, forwards will we be a serious team. At the moment we pay too much money and media attention to the backline.
Magic Sponge
Guest
The wallabies just aren't as good man for man as they were in the90s. No real stars or hard men in the pack. However in saying that they did show that they may be a force in the world cup. I am very optimistic for the world cup. The pack maybe toughening up. The backs coach really has to work on Folau and Toomua, great players out of form and spark.
Magic Sponge
Guest
The wallabies just aren't as good man for man as they were in the90s. However in saying that they did show that they may be a force in the world cup. I am very optimistic for the world cup. The pack maybe toughening up. The backs coach really has to work on Folau and Toomua, great players out of form and spark.
Monday's Expert
Guest
A bit of each for mine.
s15 rules
Guest
Best comment I've read today.
Rusty
Roar Guru
gold!
sean
Guest
We shouldn't worry about what the media say as they have to be outrageous in order to sell their stories. As well we shouldn't listen to players comments right after they have lost an nb match. What we should be worried about is our lack of concentration in the last 10 to 15 mins of the game when we couldn't remain composed. Perhaps we should be emulating the TAHS model to ensure success and go back to boot camp.
tolerant jungle
Guest
Why is it that the media always seems so concerned with what Phipps has to say? He clearly is not a dominant player and being honest at least one of his mistakes led to a springbok try in that last 10. Why do we always hear what he has to say? Can't wait for genia to be back and in form
Connor33
Guest
Any chance that Skelton could play at 8? Sounds like Link is p$&@")$ with the bench, which include Higgers, so why not give Skelton a chance at 8. Put him at the front of the line out and the Argies will think we'll be throwing to him every time. And we might just do that. We beat the French with Skelton in the team and if there is any southern hemi team that plays like the French, it's the argies given that a lot of their player play in the land of champagne. Play Horwill at lock and tell him: if you don't perform, you're not going to the WC as the reports out of the SA game seem mixed. But two fresh players in the pack is probably what we need after a draining 70 minutes in SA.
Balotelli
Guest
Is it a case of inferior fitness or just the Boks have a superior bench?... The wallabies ought to be worried as they exhibited the same vs a very much inexperienced Puma bench in Gold Coast...
Adsa
Guest
I thought Phipps really enhanced his chances for NRC selection after that game.