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Australia’s miserable defeat to Italy was the worst Wallabies performance in the Dave Rennie era and two decisions from the coach have been skewered in the aftermath of the one-point defeat.
Australia had a chance to win the game after the siren but never led in a game against a team they’d never lost to in 18 previous encounters across 39 years.
Ben Donaldson, who had been brought on the field only minutes before to replace Noah Lolesio – the team’s most reliable goalkicker – missed his chance to win it at the death.
That call was baffling, while Rennie’s decision to make 12 changes for the game was called “poor coaching” by Drew Mitchell on the Stan Sport commentary.
Rennie defended the decision to make wholesale changes from the loss to France but it backfired horribly.
(Photo by Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)
It was tough to find any ‘studs” on the Australian team while the “duds” abounded, and Rennie was front and centre as a target for criticism.
“Dave Rennie you’re behind by six, you know a kick has got to win the game if you’re good enough to get in that position,” said Jim Tucker on The Roar’s Instant Reaction podcast.
“So five minutes from the end of the game he takes off a gun goal kicker in Lolesio and puts Ben Donaldson on with not enough time to influence the game. Shocking adjustment of substitutes by Dave Rennie. He’s got to cop that.
“Dave Rennie ‘discipline’. I don’t want to hear it again. That’s your job. Poor coaching.”
“Poor coaching” was a line echoed by Drew Mitchell on the Stan post-match coverage.
“To me [the result] goes back to 12 changes,” said Mitchell. “Subconsciously it gives you the mindset that you’re expected to win this. That was poor coaching. Seventh in the world, you’re not in a position to make 12 changes.”
Former Wallaby Morgan Turinui said he couldn’t see a better option to lead Australia right now.
“I don’t think he’s going anywhere,” said Turinui. “I’m impressed with a lot of the work he’s done. I don’t see an obvious, better solution. You’ve got to have a better viable solution. I think Dave Rennie’s doing a fine job with the players he has.”
Harry Jones, speaking on the Instant Reaction podcast said there were so many issues in the game that “speak to one thing only, which is coaching.
“[Italy coach] Kieran Crowley completely out coached Dave Rennie. Dave Rennie has to cop that and say ‘I got out thought, out planned. I did not get my troops ready’.
“And then he botched it as well. It’s like in the NBA where you put a guy in who’d never played the whole game for the winning free throw.”
Tucker was scathing about the performance of Lolesio and says his time is up as a Wallabies No.10.
“I think the Wallabies have backed the wrong horse. Noah Lolesio has had 16 Tests now,” Tucker said.
“He was invisible against Italy, and that’s enough for me to say he shouldn’t be an investment for the Wallabies as a flyhalf now.
(Photo by Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)
“Very nice pass to put Tom Wright over but in a match like this Noah Lolesio has to grab it by the horns and just control it and and initiate things and he just was invisible.
“And that’s a hard call. He was the right guy at the right time when Rennie needed a young five-eighth to groom but his progress has been negligible – not in his heart and not in his goal-kicking but just in his ability to take a match by the scruff of the neck when it’s required.”
Brett McKay, on the podcast, defended the Brumbies flyhalf.
“They still clearly played off nine a lot and Hunter Paisami went into first receiver a lot but I actually felt that there was more connection across the midfield in attack most of the time in this game than there had been the previous two weeks,” McKay said.
“I actually feel sorry for Lolesio because his development as an international player has been incredibly poorly handled. It’s been stifled.
“I don’t know how you’re supposed to get better as an international flyhalf when you get three starts in a row and then you don’t play again for six weeks. That’s been his lot for most of his career.
Tucker countered: “I can’t agree with that. He’s had 16 Tests. He’s been in most training camps. He’s had a cotton wool education as a Test fly half. If you want to win a World Cup, you have a guy who controls the game. He has to take more play himself. And if he’s not up to that he shouldn’t be in the team.”
McKay described the loss as “maddeningly frustrating” and one that could have big ramifications for some players.
“We’ve seen some disappointing performances from this Wallabies group this last couple of years, but that was comfortably the worst Wallabies I’ve seen in the Dave Rennie era,” McKay said.
“There are so many stocks falling out of this game. There will be blokes who don’t make the World Cup squad based off this game and I think Folau Fainga’a will be one.
“I don’t know how you can go from one of the better lineout throwers in Super Rugby, to just not even being able to hit the side of a barn with a frozen pea.
“His lineout throwing is absolutely appalling. And when he was hooked in the 55th minute he missed that target by a metre. He was rightly hooked and I don’t know how he plays again on this tour.”
While good performances were hard to spot, Will Skelton’s first start since 2019 drew praise.
“That’s the best that Wallabies have used him since he returned to the side last year,” Tucker siad.
“They had a plan to get him involved coming hard off the back of a lineout. They used him in midfield and he dished off a couple of nice off loads.
“We finally saw the value of Will Skelton. He was right up for the game. He has a big motor, he kept performing, had nine or 10 carries. So I thought he was very assertive. So that’s a big plus for the Wallabies.”
McKay added: [Darcy] Swain and Skelton worked quite well as a combination. [Ned] Hanigan and Skelton in the second half were carrying very well as a pair. They were getting good gain line, they were getting good post contact metres. There was a bit in that. But it feels like it’s clutching at straws.”