The scoreline 57-22. The headline, “Kia Aura”.
The baseline for Australian rugby? Back to square one.
Dave Rennie’s Wallabies headed straight for Perth on Sunday after their Bledisloe Cup humiliation in Auckland on Saturday night.
A year after their record 36-0 whitewash in Sydney, Ian Foster had set another benchmark: the All Blacks’ biggest score against Australia in 118 years.
More than just winning the match, New Zealand won the mental war.
Whether trash talk or just careless chat, the barbs from the Wallabies in the lead-up to Bledisloe II were certainly noticed by the All Blacks.
Andrew Kellaway’s throwaway suggestion the New Zealanders had lost their aura and Jordan Uelese’s call that the pressure was on the All Blacks were bold given Australia’s record at Eden Park.
“They probably believed that after last week, and I can see why,” Foster said after Saturday’s big win sealed the trans-Tasman series.
“We opened the door a little bit for them (in Bledisloe I) so it was important we made a statement tonight.”
Kellaway at least walked the walk after talking the talk; scoring a double to make it three tries in Two tests.
Rennie fumed at how the statements made their way into the All Blacks dressing room via Australian media, calling it “disappointing reporting”.
“You’ve got a young player who’s played about three Tests who gets asked about playing the All Blacks at Eden Park and over a five-minute interview they pluck out three or four words to make a headline,” he said.
“What Kels (Kellaway) is saying is last week he was heading into the unknown, the All Blacks at Eden Park – how tough is that – but now we get to play them at the same venue.
“Incredibly disappointing for a Sydney reporter to make a massive headline… from a young player who’s just finding his way.
“Clearly we’re not going to try and entice the All Blacks to fire up anymore they normally do.”
Foster, in his second season as coach after a long stint as Steve Hansen’s assistant, chucked at the media game-within-a-game.
“You guys love that. You play the game. You give us what they say and you want us to respond. It’s fun,” he said.
“In reality it doesn’t change a lot of our preparation.
“All it does is probably reflect on where they’re at and what they’re thinking. It does give us a little bit of an insight.”
Asked whether Saturday night’s demolition of the Wallabies was his finest moment in the job, Foster deferred.
“I haven’t thought of that. Sydney last year was pretty good,” he deadpanned.
Perhaps wisely, the Wallabies flew directly to Western Australia early on Sunday morning.
They left with their tail between their legs: without giving interviews beyond their their post-match requirements.
Game three, a Bledisloe dead rubber but a live Rugby Championship fixture, is set for Optus Stadium on August 28.
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
The main commentator is Sean Maloney.
Nova
Roar Rookie
The reason there wasn’t a sellout was because the venue was changed at the last minute. I’m sure most people would have been happy to go to the second game instead of the first but whatever ….it is what it is in these challenging times and only becomes a yawn if you’re a wally fan. Let’s be honest here, if you’re a real fan you’ll never get tired of your team winning regardless…
Nova
Roar Rookie
If that’s Morgan Turunui’s voice I didn’t know he had that much excitement in him. In the studio he comes across as a bit of a dead beat ????
Nova
Roar Rookie
Is he the one doing most of the commentary?
Nova
Roar Rookie
Are you sure? It doesn’t sound like him
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
Morgan Turinui - sideline
JC
Roar Rookie
Understand where you’re coming from but if there was no media coverage, we’d want RA’s marketing pigeon sacked. Or if they stick to a script, they’re accused of spouting cliches. Kellaway will probably choose his words more carefully in future but at least he walked the talk.
Nova
Roar Rookie
Worse luck!
Nova
Roar Rookie
Can anyone tell me who is the other commentator on Stan Sports that did the commentary on Saturday with Justin Harrison and Andrew Merhtens?
Beefa
Guest
Feel sorry for Rennie he did everything right expect picking Swinton.I knew that would end up a disaster. Time for Swinton to head back to club rugby as that is his standard. Nowhere near test level now.If ever.
Puck
Guest
Why is this a heading? Apparently they couldn't give tickets away in Auckland which tells me that the decades of sadistic pleasure derived from inflicting humiliating defeats v Australia has finally lost its appeal, even amongst that most jingoistic of Nzers. The expat Perth population may be starved in this regard, so ironically the All Blacks could derive greater support from these fatal shores than in NZ. Either way watching the grass grow during lockdown is far more alluring than the hard sell of this tired old contest. Yawn........
piru
Roar Rookie
I'd add: Thirdly, when a player does make a break, the support running is lacklustre, if it exists at all - particularly on a quick counter. This leads to the ball carrier being quickly isolated and the ball turned over - it happens multiple times a game and kills any attack dead. Watch the way the All Blacks swarm to the ball on a turnover or line break - there are always three or four players right on the backside of the man who made the break, and the rest aren't far behind. You get the impression that this is what they've been waiting for and they run like mad men
RugbyLover
Roar Rookie
The thing is about this Wallaby team is that they are good enough to get the ball. The stats on possession prove that and consistently when they play they are on the right side of the ledger with possession and territory - so they have that going for them. So they have two main problems as I see it and this may seem like common sense to everyone. Firstly they are not good defenders when the play is unstructured. Structured attack they are drilled on. Fantastic. But as soon as the attack is unstructured the Wallabies get caught out of position and more importantly they do not know what their teammates are going to do, where they are going to cover, how their teammates defend and so they get caught in two minds themselves - they don't trust each other enough. For a wing to come 20 metres infield to tackle an attacker shows he is not trusting his cover defence. They need to fix this part of their game. Secondly they have no idea how to break a standard defensive line. Too many times they attack the line a couple of times, cant get through and so put a kick in. But they don't kick to regather they kick to get in behind the covering defence. That is just a kick too long/far and effectively not only gives away possession (which the Wallabies had 60% of so that is not the worst crime) but this then allows the opposition to run back with an unstructured chaos attack, which the Wallabies have proven time and again they are poor at defending for the reasons in the above paragraph. So if you are poor at defending an unstructured attack then for goodness sake play the game to reduce the number of times you give the opposition this opportunity - not give them more. Fix this part of their game, which is largely mental - group trust, and they have the players to win.
DAVEC
Roar Rookie
the trip to Perth would have done them good to be away from the media and regroup before facing the allblacks in Perth
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Lilzot, agreed. Storm in a teacup comment. A kid gets a mike shoved in his face and gets asked dumb questions. And he used the A word? If anything it was complimentary to the foe. If he hadn’t used that one word, would the ABs been less clinical? Less accurate? Less points? I wish those saying ‘shutup’ would.
Puff
Roar Rookie
Gee gents, this is the 21 Century and regardless of age or experience a misplaced word is common knowledge within seconds. Playing an active part in a Wallaby test team requires the player to understand this place and team protocol. Rennie is clutching at straw with his tyrant aimed at the Sydney news paper. If players don’t display verbal discipline, particularly when approached by the media. Finding player respect from the present AB team becomes challenging. Ian Foster would have been overjoyed upon receipt of Kellaways indiscretion, such comments are great motivators. Regrettably Rennie needs to somehow glue the wheels back on before Perth, somehow his belief speech don’t resonate.
Bobby
Roar Rookie
Fair comment T ! We will have to wait to Game 3 to dent the aura and mount pressure on the AB's :happy:
WEST
Roar Guru
Possible, see how the rest of the RC goes
Ben
Guest
Player comments, of any sort, are designed by the media to illicit a reaction by the public and thus more readers. In sport I think they get more reaction from supporters than players. When England beat the ABs at Twickenham in 2012, Manu Tuilagi did the "loser" sign with his thumb and forefinger on his forehead after scoring a try. I know that shot was shown to the ABs and pinned in their changing room the following year at Twickers and again after that when Eng played a 3 test series in NZ in 2014, all won by the ABs. But that wasnt a media related thing....
WEST
Roar Guru
Best thing is to say nothing. Silence is far more ominous than a greenhorn making random irrelevant comments. Of course the All Black players know about the opposition, it’s hard not to! Everyone has a smartphone! Australian media are the Wallabies own worst enemy. Did it really impact the second half.. probably not, but encouragement isn’t a great idea.