Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has been known to get grumpy after a decent win, so no prizes for guessing his current state of mind after the Wallabies gave up 18 penalties and nine handling errors in their loss to England on Sunday.
Adding to Rennie’s pain was his team stuck close to the dominant hosts for most of the journey, but failed to score a try for the first time this year.
Rennie accepted it was right that his team was on the end of a brutal penalty count and said fans deserved better. His best-laid plans for this match were derailed by injuries – Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou are expected to return next week against Wales, but Michael Hooper is now a concern after being replaced with a foot injury on 55 minutes.
But, not for the first time, ill-discipline left supporters struggling to find anything to be upbeat about, a mood clearly shared by Rennie.
Here’s everything Rennie had to say in his post-match press conference.
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
On the penalty count and how it impacted his team
“We couldn’t get anything going,” said Rennie. “We got hammered in the penalty count – the possession and territory stats were in the 60s for England.
“They take us down there and we just made too many errors and dumb penalties. They put us under pressure so it was frustrating.
“There was a lot of character shown tonight. Halftime we hadn’t had a lot of ball or territory but it was 16-12 and we fought hard. I thought if we could string a little bit more phases together we could put them under a bit of heat but we were not accurate enough, not good enough, tonight.”
He said that against Scotland a week ago Australia had been upset with some of the decisions by French ref Romain Poite, but had no such complaints with the performance of South African Jaco Peyper despite the lopsided 18-9 count.
“We were pretty frustrated with the some of the penalties last week but we’re not going to complain about Jaco’s refereeing,” said Rennie.
“I thought he controlled the game pretty well and most of the issues were our own doing. We got ourselves in good position with the ball and we got stripped three times – we’ve got to be better.”
On the inability to put phases of play together
Rennie said he was not sure why Australia struggled to produce meaningful stretches of possession.
“We prepared really well,” he said. “It was probably one of our best weeks and we went on with good clarity and confidence. But we’re turning too much ball over, some individual mistakes and it put us under pressure.”
On if the Wallabies were overawed by the crowd
“I’m not sure how much the crowd’s got to do with it,” said Rennie. “It’s exciting for the boys to be up here, we’ve talked a lot about embracing it and we’re where we want to be.
“I think it’s got more to do with the fact that we’ve got to be accurate, you don’t get many opportunities at this level and we’ve got to be able to build pressure and we just didn’t do it for long enough.”
On if two straight losses is a setback for his team after five wins
“Yes, of course it’s a setback,” said Rennie. “The plan was to come over here and keep building on that. And we haven’t performed with the accuracy and consistency that we needed over here.
“They ask a lot of questions of you, put a lot of ball in the air and play a lot of territory. You’ve got to be disciplined and got to be accurate. And we were neither tonight.
“There’s plenty of character and courage in this group. What we need to be able to do is to score points on the back of that good defence. It’s not a lack of effort. But we’ve got to nail it. We’ve just got to be better on Saturdays.”
On England as a team
“They’re a quality side,” said Rennie. “From our point of view we weren’t able to apply enough pressure on them for long enough to stress them in areas where we thought there was genuine opportunity. They’re a good side, certainly very well coached and they’ve got very good depth.
“Still tonight, well below our best really, we were still in the fight, late in the piece, but you have to turn something into points. And so you got to give credit to England. They strangled us and pinned us down the other end of the field.”
On ending the season with a win in Wales
“It’s hugely important,” said Rennie. “I think our support we have back at home and support we have here deserve better so we definitely want to finish on a high.”
cinque
Roar Rookie
I watched on BeIn. All good, understated. A focus on England but that's okay.
ethan
Guest
Can only hope so. Lets face it, this was a predictable result before kick off, only made harder with two yellow cards. But we have learnt something valuable - the only guy without 60 caps you would really consider bending the rules for is Kerevi. Can only hope next week he looks more to the future by dropping Beale, playing Kellaway at fullback, and gives both Perese and Daugunu on the wings.
wigeye
Guest
Someone should be burnt at the stake in the town square for selecting skeleton and Beale. B4 you ask...pick anyone on the fringes to play fullback and lock thats REBUILDING while there's time DUH
Harty
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately you’re not wrong.
Harty
Roar Rookie
At 11 we have Daugunu. At 15 I would have selected Jock Campbell over Beale any day of the week.
Will Liley
Guest
A lot to like though it was incredibly frustrating to watch them cough up the ball every single time! Paisani’s won me over at 12; Ikitau and Perese are terrific at 13 but probably too small - bring on Kerevi; and why on earth does Australia think the Big Log is a solution in the second row? He’s too heavy to lift in the line out, so the opposition can then concentrate on the other jumpers; he’s too slow off the mark to make an impact getting over the gain line; it’s easy to tackle him, even for a smaller player (ie, everyone): just tap him around the ankles and down he goes. I thought our starting 4 & 5 had outstanding games yet when the Big Log came on to add power to the scrum, it got wheeled. Twice.
blerp
Roar Rookie
The weird thing is i don't think SA are way ahead. Ireland? maybe. But otherwise i think just about every team in the world is inconsistent at the moment. No one showing particularly impressive form. I think this is also positively correlated with a general decline in game management from referees. There are some real shockers plying that trade at the moment.
blerp
Roar Rookie
Im not sure what other selections there were to make? No one to come in at 10. Arguably Noah, but that's a side-grade at best. Otherwise its bottom of the barrel at 11, 12 and 15. You could also argue that he shouldn't have bothered with the European contingent - but i think he's clearly decided to use this tour as a chance to see what they can do and whether its worth further loosening the rules to get them more involved. He has his answer now.
Butcher
Roar Rookie
John Quinn, Crusaders Metal skills coach?
Marlin
Roar Rookie
Well, hard not to agree, except that maybe the ref/too were 'right but they don't let the game flow. It's just so hard to watch rugby these days. To make it worse, the TV coverage was not up to standard, they need some Aussie cameramen and a better director, the commentary is Appalling, and I mean appali.g. Mehrens occasionally has something worth hearing but the rest are cringeworthy. Are they high? They are so busy trying to impress with 1000 words when 4 would do it they don't even say what all the bewildering penalties are supposedly for. There was a replacement who was introduced with 'and here's the big fella now.. I watched the first 20 minutes of the Ireland game but couldn't stand Marshall, the 15th scrum reset and the tmo looking for more pemalties to completely ruin a game of football. The laws need changing. Something needs changing. Everything needs changing. And im a rustwd-on! I might have to start watching the Mungo- at least the ball's in play for more than 2 minutes at a time while everyone lies around having a chat while the 'injured' are attended to. Rant over
ScrumStability
Roar Rookie
Haven't watched the match and not sure if I want to franky, but listening to Dave Rennie point out the disconnect between training and game time tells me the issue is a mental one. I'm going to go out on a limb and say in terms of mental toughness this side (generation?) is a world away from what we saw with previous winning Wallabies from 1990s to 2000s in terms of resilience. I actually think they have the skills (albeit a few key players missing) but lack that fortitude required for 80min. We saw in Japan that after a decent start they got lax and tightened up when things were getting closer. The ABs are on the throat for almost the entire match. If Rennie is smart he is thinking about getting someone like Gilbert Enoka. After years of being short the ABs were able to conquer their mental demons with some help in the mind.
Marshy
Guest
Let us know when Dave is getting the contract torn up. A few of us in New Zealand are waiting for him to return ASAP. :stoked: We won’t let him go this time! :silly:
Marshy
Guest
'Our fans deserve better'. Well said Dave Rennie. A pity Foster doesn’t have the gumption to say the same on his AB selection strategy and game management! He will roll out in a few days with a half-backsided attempt at a coherent message I’m sure.
Chester B
Roar Rookie
Incredibly headless performance by the Wallabies. For some reason, the players look distracted playing away from home and not focusing on their core skills, game plan and what they are trying to achieve for each play. Calm heads missing. Unfortunately JOC has been shown to be out of his league as a 10, Tom Wright is too emotional (tends to go for unnecessary niggle), Bell (distracted today with that silly over the top tip tackle), Faainga lacking focus (on crucial line outs), Beale is consistently inconsistent (pushing passes). On the flip side I liked the locks and back row performance today. England should have won by more today. Wallabies deserve to be rated back to 7 or 8 in the world based on that game.
Butch
Guest
DR still not being honest enough - to say Wallabies not ‘accurate enough’ - doesn’t cut it - they can’t catch or pass properly. And no appreciation for a very long time of the importance of treasuring the ball when they have it - and driving forward like the Irish or backing up the player with the ball like the ABs. And not forever making those useless grubber kicks. If these mistakes continue to riddle our game drop the players involved - though there may not be many left. DR needs to admit he and his staff have failed as well. In coaching and selections.
Homer Gain
Guest
On the positive side, I thought Rennie was generous in his assessment of the ref and your lot got the rough side of dock leaf (again). On the negative side, England were awful and still didn't look like losing and if your players make so many basic errors, I suppose it's tough to blame the ref for some of his. On today's showing, Ire and SA are way ahead. The most damning thing you could say of the All Blacks is that they looked almost as disjointed as England. I struggle to see England beating the Boers, but Aus V Wales should be a close game given the absentees on both sides.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
Can't argue with anything he said, and he can say it better than I.