The Wallabies concede they must play smarter rugby to beat a rampant England and keep their Test series alive on Saturday in Melbourne.
Australia opened the three-Test series with a 39-28 loss to England, who outmuscled and out-thought the home side to claim their first ever Test win at Suncorp Stadium.
Led by James Haskell and hard-running lock Maro Itoje, their dominance at the breakdown and set-piece was key, with the Wallabies not helping themselves with a 15-8 penalty count.
The Australians also too often looked predictable as they tried to batter England’s steely defensive line rather than change up their tactics.
Wallabies backrower Scott Fardy said his team didn’t adapt quickly enough to Romain Poite’s refereeing at the breakdown and scrum.
“Discipline is a big part,” the blindside flanker said.
“We need to make sure with their 50:50s, if they’re not on we’re pulling out and not making bad decisions.
“I was guilty of a few of those when I thought I was doing the right thing but it turns out I wasn’t.
“That’s what got England the game; six penalties they kicked – when you score four tries to two before the 79th minute and you’re still behind, it’s a disappointing thing.”
While coach Michael Cheika said he wouldn’t make wholesale changes, it appears he may make one backline change to bring in another playmaker at 12 to take the pressure off five-eighth Bernard Foley.
Brumbies inside centre Matt Toomua, who hasn’t played for six weeks following knee surgery, was at the team’s Melbourne hotel and could replace Samu Kerevi.
Wallabies halfback Nick Phipps said the team recognised they needed to kick more against England’s fast defensive line, an element Toomua could bring to the line-up.
“We’ve definitely identified that we know that we’ve got to be a bit better at relieving pressure,” Phipps said.
“There were probably opportunities in the game where we backed ourselves to use our feet a bit more than the ball in the air.”
One certain personnel change is a replacement for No.8 David Pocock, who is out for up to eight weeks with a fractured eye socket.
Wycliff Palu and Ben McCalman are options if Cheika goes for a traditional No.8, while Sean McMahon and Liam Gill will be in the mix if he prefers a fetcher in Pocock’s mould.
Fardy said Cheika hadn’t given away any hints but he had confidence in whoever got the nod.
“He’s (Pocock) going to be a big loss for us, any player of that calibre not playing is tough on the squad but I look at the guys who aren’t playing and I’m filled with a lot of confidence that they will do a good job,” Fardy said.
Boz the Younger
Guest
It isn't the number of tries that we scored that is the measure of success, it is the number of points on the board and poor kicking cost us a lot of those. And neither Toomua nor Leiliifano started in the World Cup, so you can't compare those games.
Nah, Leliifano on the bench just reflected that we are currently short of capped playmakers in Australia. Quade Cooper is overseas and, Matt Toomua, Kurtley Beale and Mike Harris are all injured. The only non capped one in form available is Reece Hodge and with only 9 games of Super Rugby under his belt, he would have been too much of a risk. CLL has also been playing 10 all season so between having to play 12 and lack of training it would have been too hard for him. Such is life.
If I had been drinking a coffee I would just have spilled it on my keyboard :-)
PeterK
Roar Guru
I know, but everywhere I read this knee jerk reaction that the wallabies must revert to the 2nd playmaker, as if that is a silver bullet and where the issue is. Despite the obvious evidence to the contrary where the backline performed better than it has for a while. TK was not cramped and actually had room to run sometimes, and only 1 had defender on him since kerevi held his player and was a real running threat. But no, the wallabies lost. That means they have to go back a 2nd playmaker at 12.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
And I don't know if we lost the kicking battle if we dominated territory.
PeterK
Roar Guru
so in the rwc where all the pressure was on england. Where england had a poorer coach than now, where they had a weaker team. Where autralia had 2 playmakers, and supposedly a stronger team than now. Australia scored 3 tries. Now wallabies score 4 tries yet you want to change the backline, revert to a model that scores less tries just so the pressure is taken off foleys kicking. That is not where the problem is nor where the game was lost.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
There were 3 Waratahs on the bench...
CUW
Guest
if my memory is correct at least 3 of those were scored when cll was still on the bench. and while england still had burrell on the pitch. so my argument about where cll shud have played still stands. as for putting cll on without match practice - seriously? do u think the best coach in the world will put a guy on the park against the 6N champs without not knowing where to go? if he did , then it is a massive underestimation of the pom team. which i doubt. as for petty, he did not do enuf of the kicking for me. the times folau tried to kick he was rubbish. but i understand they are still not clicking as a duo. if they are smart, petty will do a lot more line kicking and folau will just catch and run. look at all blacks - they used the 2 fullback strategy effectively. but in this match it was a mess with naholo not knowing how to work with smith, and gave a try away.
Squirrel
Guest
The bench was useless. Bring in the tah guns and the wallabies win by 15
CUW, you may not realise it but Lealifano had only had a couple of days training with the squad, because of the birth of his child. He was just there as emergency cover for Foley and when Horne was injured Chieka probably put him on the wing because he didn't know the plays the way that Kerevi did. I think that it is something that Cheika was in the best position to judge and that it was probably the right call. I agree with TWAS though, you can't say that the Aussie backline was ineffective when they scored four tries. The only reason that I would put CLL at 12 over Kerevi is to take the pressure off Foley with the kicking game. And DHP did do his part with the kicking, in one kicking dual with George Ford he took the Wallabies from their 22 to half way with the lineout throw, can't do much better than that off the boot.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Nope. The Aussie backline was not ineffective. It scored 4 constructed tries that went through the backline. Clearly that was good enough. The issues were set piece and discipline. Even defence was not too bad considering that England constructed 2 tries in 80 minutes and one was after we were all out attacking to try to win.
CUW
Guest
though the headline says play smarter , that was not what they did in first test. if it was me , i would have put cll in 12 and asked kerevi / kuridrani to go to the wing. yes it is not the ideal solution but then 2 things went a miss for auzzy. clll is no wing and he could do zilch there - so a wasted body. kerevi is good but is not a playmaker so again was less effective. that is 2 bodies doing little in the game. now look at england - after like 1/2 an hour eddie jones went back to his trusted system. why? farrell is not a good 10 and it showed in the early game. he was a center at under 20 and despite playing club games at 10 , has never been that good in tests. burrell like kerevi is no playmaker and again struggled at 12. he was caught off guard defensively a lot. so off goes burrell , on comes ford at 10 and farrell shifts to 12. that was the difference in the 2 teams after that. imo , cheika was afraid of the notorious pace of the england wingers ; he does not have quick wingers , let alone centers , so he did not want to shift a center to the wing when lealifano came on. that imo , was a big mistake and contributed to the ineffectiveness of auzzy line. another big issue for auzzy - folau may be able to do a lot but he is a poor kicker off hand for touch. petty shud have helped folau but then he was in his 1st test so....
My take on this thing is: 1. Hooper is staying at 7. 2. Gill is not going to start though he might make the bench, I think Cheika is mentioning him more to put competitive pressure on the others over this week of training and to perhaps try and talk him out of his French contract. 3. Either Palu or McCalman will replace Pocock, I hope it is McCalman as I think he is fitter and offers more in attack, but Palu would still be handy for cleaning out those big Pommy forwards in the ruck. 4. We will go to a 5/3 split, with one of Mumm replacing Horwill who will start as lock and McMahon or Gill fighting it out for a bench spot. 4. I doubt that Toomua is going to play 12 after only a week out of training after a long break, he will also be there to put competitive pressure on CLL and Kerevi. 5. My pick is that CLL will start at 12 with Toomua and Kerevi or Kuridrani on the bench. 6. Dunno about the wing, it could be Hodge, Morahan or Naiyaravoro ... who knows.
CUW
Guest
it has to be Ben starting and Palu finishing. pocock is not an 8 and he cant play against really good 8s in the world. physicality has to be the key. auzzy lost that battle hands down in test 1.
Daz
Guest
Nope not smarter. More like harder and with more in your face mongrel and aggression in the forwards like the Pommies brought. Oh and some bigger bodies would help there too. Fardy 6, Gill 7 and McCalman 8 seems to be the best we can put out at the moment with Hooper dropped altogether or given the 11 jersey in lieu of Horne if Cheika must have him. The backs are fine and need to gel so I wouldn't make any other changes there. That's not where we lost it.
ken
Guest
" Wycliff Palu and Ben McCalman are options if Cheika goes for a traditional No.8, while Sean McMahon and Liam Gill will be in the mix if he prefers a fetcher in Pocock’s mould ". He has to go with Liam ( is a lineout option too ).. If Slow blokes like Palu and Fardy are in the backrow and Hooper is on the wing. Wallabies will be exposed at the breakdown.. P.S McMahon is an ok fetcher, not great like GILLY..
ken
Guest
Toomua will not replace SAMU...