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Despair was the dominant emotion in the aftermath of yet another Australian loss to the All Blacks, but coach Eddie Jones is level-hearted enough to see positives a month out from the Rugby World Cup.
The Wallabies were departing Dunedin on Sunday with plenty of time in the air to pore over the entrails of their 23-20 loss on Saturday afternoon.
“There’s good parts and then there’s bad parts and then there’s ugly parts,” Jones said.
Among the good: the start, the ferocity of Australia’s defence, a defiant showing from young playmaker Carter Gordon, Tate McDermott’s leadership and a best-afield showing from rookie Test loose forward Tom Hooper.
“He (Hooper) was an absolutely brick in defence and he’s finding his feet in the attack side as well,” Jones said.
“What we’re seeing is guys like Tom Hooper, Fraser McReight, those boys are coming out of their shells.
“I thought the entire back row was outstanding.”
Jones said the best was yet to come from “combative” 21-year-old Hooper who was “everywhere” on Saturday.
“And he’s still only got a half a body, mate. We’re still trying to find the other half of his body. So when he gets a full body he’s going to be some sort of monster,” he said.
At Forsyth Barr Stadium, Jones said the Wallabies’ galloping first half display was the closest to the style of rugby he wants to see in France.
“We’re a running team. We’ve got big men with ability to change direction in small spaces. We want to use that,” he said.
“We need to play a strong running game and then we’ve got obviously two good half backs and good 10s that are able to shift the ball away from that when we need to.”
(Photo by Peter Meecham/Getty Images)
Among the bad is a series of injuries, with the severities yet to be determined.
The Wallabies re-convene soon in Darwin for a warm-weather camp and a World Cup squad naming on Thursday.
It remains to be seen whether Michael Hooper (calf) and Taniela Tupou (ribs), or Saturday’s walking wounded, Samu Kerevi (hand), David Porecki (shoulder) and Jordan Uelese (knee) will head north.
The ugly was Australia’s depleted forward pack in the last half an hour, which couldn’t stay with the All Blacks.
“In the second half our scrum got ugly, didn’t it?” Jones said.
“We’re down to our fourth, fifth choice tighthead (Pone Fa’amausili) and he’s a young guy learning his trade. So again, we’ve got to balance that out in the context, but we still lost the game.
“As much as I hate New Zealand rugby, I’ve got great admiration for the way that they keep at it.
“They keep playing. They keep doing things they’re good at, they stay hard in the contest. They keep going.
“So we don’t want to forget that feeling today. That’s a really important feeling we had.
“We’ve got a devastated group of men in there. But if we learn from it, it’s going to be the most potent lesson.”
On balance, is Jones happy?
“I couldn’t say I’m happy mate. Four losses are four losses,” he said.
“But are we making progress? Sometimes the result sheet doesn’t reflect what you’re accurately doing.
“And that’s hard for people to understand. But I think we’re definitely moving in the right direction.
“We’re going to be a hell of a team.”
© AAP
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