James O’Connor’s path to the No.15 position with the Wallabies looks all but certain after incumbent Tom Banks fractured his forearm in the stirring 30-17 win over the Springboks on Saturday.
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie spoke about O’Connor’s likely return against Argentina next week, and praised his coaching staff and the “courage shown under pressure” of his players against the World Champions.
Here’s what Rennie said at his post-match press conference
On what beating South Africa twice in two games means
“All of this is so important, because we will get a real clear understanding of who we represent,” said Rennie.
“We want to get the country behind us and you’ve got to give them performances to make them proud of.
“Hopefully, we’ve made a start on that. It certainly gives us belief. We’ve always felt that the game that we’re trying to play is the right type of game for our group and it’s great to get a couple of results.”
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
On the difference to what happened in the 3-0 loss to the All Blacks
“South Africa have such a tough side,” said Rennie. “We talked a lot about it during the week that we wanted to back up last week’s performance with another strong performance.
“We defended well, our defensive maul was much better.
“We talked a lot about discipline, but I thought we were clinical, and against New Zealand, we created lots of opportunities, but we’d turn it over and get punished. And tonight, we were good enough to take those opportunities.
“We had a few tough weeks when we played New Zealand, and most of those problems came from turnovers.
“When we were inaccurate we got hurt. This is a good reward because there’s been a huge amount of work gone in from the defence group.
“We know the Springboks are going to come through the middle but we tackled well, we had a real presence post tackle and turned over a bit of pill from counteracting.”
On conceding 17 penalties to 10
“We’ll have a look at this stuff. And we’ll give [referee Matt Carley] feedback. Some of it you can’t argue with. We felt we were prettycomfortable around defending and we just need to be really disciplined around that. We need to be better.”
On the Lachie Swinton yellow card decision
“He’s got an arm up in the tackle,” said Rennie. “He just got caught upright and because he’s upright, there’s contact head on head and he’s responsible as the tackler. So we’ve got to accept that and he’s got to be better.
“But we’re plucking out one example. [Physicality] is a strong area of his game and you just have to be accurate.
“I would say Marika’s gone in to make that tackle, the guy’s [Duane Vermeulen] stepped and all of a sudden, he’s in Lachie’s face, and he hasn’t had a lot of time to react. But we can’t bring the ref into the game through those sorts of actions, so we’ve got to be better.”
On Quade Cooper’s restraint at No.10
“We want to play but we’re also playing against a side that doesn’t want the ball so we’ve talked a lot about giving them the ball and ideally in situations where when they kick we can profit off it,” Rennie explained
“We still didn’t do a good enough job around the high ball and that’s got to be better. But I think Quade’s been really disciplined.
“He’s got a clear understanding of what we’re trying to put on the park and when it’s on to play he’s playing. But he’s certainly getting us around the park and I was really happy with the way he defended the second half – chopped really well and we’re very happy with him.”
Rennie was asked to critique Cooper’s kicking game.
“His goalkicking, his general kicking – I’m still at him about his kick offs – has been excellent,” said Rennie
“He’s contributing in lots of ways. His experience has been invaluable and it’s fantastic for him that he backed up last week. It wasn’t a one off. It was important he had a big game again for us tonight.”
On Tom Banks’ injury and the likely return of James O’Connor
“Yeah, it’s a fracture so it’s a good sort of six week plus injury,” Rennie said of Banks. “I feel for Tom. And we’ll get a little bit of clarity around whether it will impact on the end of year tour.
“We have a number of considerations [as replacement], but it’s great to have ‘Rabs’ back in the mix. He’s ready to go. He’s come back in fantastic nick. Again, another very experienced player, and we’ll we’ll make a call around that over the next couple of days.”
On defending the rolling maul
The Springboks scored three tries from rolling mauls in the first clash and Rennie said midweek they had been working counteracting the Boks’ potency. Their work clearly paid off.
“Obviously [forwards coach] Dan McKellar is the most excited about that,” Rennie said.
“He’s done an excellent job with that pack. Last week we made some system errors, individual errors, and we got punished against a good side.
“That was impressive tonight because it’s an area that guys like Taniela and others have been working really hard on. We defended that really well and it was crucial.
On the two-try performance of rookie Len Ikitau
“It’s awesome isn’t it? He was with us last year, didn’t get a minute of footy, went away and worked really hard and made good shifts in his game,” said Rennie.
“He played a lot of footy for the Brumbies has now come in and really established himself. We’re starting to create depth now.
“Hunter Paisami’s back in the mix but unfortunatley Matt Toomua’s left the squad with a concussion.
“Lenny’s been excellent. He’s got a great skill set. Really good feet, big defender good left foot and he’s getting better and better.”
On potential changes for next week
“We’ve talked about earning the right to play,” said Rennie. “If guys are fronting on Saturday, then chances are they’re gonna be close to the mix the following week.
“We’ve had a good look at Argentina. There may be a couple of tweaks to personnel based on what we think is going to be important. But of course we want to reward guys who have been playing well.”
Darrell Hodgkinson
Guest
He’s a coach with vision direction and answer to Australians dismill past coaching problems. A bloody kiwi.
mailman
Guest
Love to see McMahon at least picked for the bench, if not in the starting side...Swinton needs a breather to realise he's got to actually change his tackle technique and it would be interesting to compare McMahon with Wilson, as Rennie mentioned McMahon was just assessed as the fitest in the squad. Both Valetini and Hooper to keep their spots.
charels edwards
Roar Rookie
Koch's action looked outrageous.
Double Agent
Guest
“But But But he’s not Australian, so he simply cannot be loyal to Wallabies goals and success!” I don't recall reading that sentiment expressed on the Roar.
Rhino11
Roar Rookie
Q 1 Yes, I think that over the past couple of games the trust in each others 'D' has improved as well as a couple of positional improvements: QC , Rodda, Kerevi, Kellaway & a fit Samu Q2 The French are a good team, great strength coming from their U20 team which filled the recent touring team but their whole squad makes them a Top 4 team come WC time. Q3 I think B&I Lions tour lulled them into believing their game didn't need to develop. It really shows what poor judgement the coaching staff of the Lions showed playing the Boks brand of rugby rather than running it. I think the AB's will win by plenty.
freddieeffer
Roar Rookie
Spot on HiKa. I reckon Swinton was a beesdick away from a RC, but his nano-second first contact to the shoulder saved him. It could easily gone the other way tho. Weisse was a clear RC with him spearing into the ruck going off his feet straight away and making direct contact to Kerevi's head. 79th minute or not, that should not water-down the RC threshold of foul play. Koch, having his second go at Coopers face when the ball and play had moved considerably on, was worthy of the TMO tapping the ref on the shoulder to at least have a closer look.
GoldenEye
Roar Rookie
My questions (ignoring the AB's games) now are: Have the Wallabies improved since the French games? Where do the French sit when compared to the Bok's, considering the results and players left out of the French team? Did the Bok's focus too far ahead, ie on the AB's?
PaulR
Guest
I’m not convinced by Ikitau’s clearances with the boot, achieving only 22 in one case. He was left side on his left boot, not a good option. My opinion is that clearances into touch short of the 10m line are below par. We had monster boot Hodge on the field at that time. One or two phases then into touch by Hodge would see us at the 10m line easily. We have a lack of respect for accurate exits.
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
Well said! But go back twelve months on The Roar and you will find many who passionately disagreed with your position. You know it's bad when the ultimate card gets played, after all the other arguments have been tabled: "But But But he's not Australian, so he simply cannot be loyal to Wallabies goals and success!" Hopefully we have now seen the end of such blinkered rubbish.
Hhhmmmm
Roar Rookie
The improvement in kicking has been noticeable. Quade split the back three multiple times finding territory and the clearing kicks by cooper and ikitau are an improvement . The high kickoffs for contest is great to see and we just need to be better at competing. The last game cooper put a few kicks in behind the line to counter the rush defence. Our excellent halfback options both NW and TM are box kicking more selectively (thank god) Dave rennnie clearly wants a varied smart kicking game to keep defence honest and play strategy . We seem to have a group now that can follow the plan.
HiKa
Roar Rookie
Riccardo, the YC for Swinton was exactly by the book, and if his head had been an inch closer to Vermuelen, it would have been a correct RC. It’s the tackler’s responsibility to get low enough to avoid a head-head clash. Weisse’s YC was probably strictly a RC offence that the ref didn’t want to follow through on. Then there is Vincent Koch’s left hand introducing itself to Quade’s right eye on it’s second attempt. That might get reviewed. Otherwise, agree with everything you said/typed.
Alligator
Roar Rookie
Now we just need KB to return to reunite the 3As!
HiKa
Roar Rookie
The deficiencies you pick in Wilson are not unexpected given he is only 21 going on 22 (3 years younger than Swinton). He'll get there because he's good enough, but he's got some work to do.
Oblonsky’s Other Pun
Guest
Glad to hear JOC is front runner for 15 replacing Hodge rather than 13 replacing Ikitau. Argentina won’t be the Boks in terms pressuring us with kicks so hopefully it enables him to reacquaint himself with the position without too much pressure. Would be nice to see Petaia get some stints at fullback too, even if off the bench. Feel he may be our long term guy there.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
What a game Tony. Think Dave's being a little kind to the referee; that yellow was rubbish for mine. What stood out for me were the turnovers; Kellaway, Hodge and Hoops in particular. Big moments. The defense against the penalty-seeking rolling maul of the Boks was outstanding actually. Low and accurate. To be fair Cleary looked for the Boks' staging and pinged it. Quade was good again, his passing game solid and it was good to see him making 1st tackles. Tupou's try assist. He was a menace on carry as well. Great effort. Kerevi and Koroibete were superb. Everyone talks about composure and the Wallabies had it. Patient and mostly accurate with their opportunities, this is one of the best games I have seen from them. How can the public not start to rally now...
Sentinel
Roar Rookie
Seems to me that DR has a clear idea of what type of player he needs to get a job done and according to his analysis Swinton is it until a better alternative shows itself. Under DRs tenure he has made it clear that if you are good enough you will be given every opportunity to prove yourself.
Rolando
Guest
Wilson is weaker in contact and not nearly as good a line out option nor as good at cleaning out or carrying. That’s why. I hope that Wilson builds in next SR season into a more physical and confronting player.
Rolando
Guest
Sorry don’t understand this comment unless you are suggesting that as soon as one player has an average or poor game that they have to be replaced? If you follow rugby you’d know that you’d have to give a minimum two chances and often three before deciding that a player cannot hold a position. Imagine the circus of changes and disruption to game plan and players syncing and understanding if you just booted a player after one poor game.
Clifto
Roar Pro
Why was Wilson put out to pasture in the first place? With Swinton still a bit of a liability (his tackle technique needs work or he'll find himself spending far more time in the naughty chair), isn't our strongest backrow 6 Valetini 7 Hooper 8 Wilson? That's what I'd like to see.
blerp
Roar Rookie
Wilson should come straight in for Swinton IMO - having said that Rennie is clearly a big fan. I think he likes that Swinton plays close to the line with his physicality. 15 is a problem. Who in the squad has played there in the last few years? no one. Kellaway and O'Connor both have experience there but a long time ago.