'I watched the whole game, mate. Incredibly depressing': How the Wallabies moved on from their horror night in Lyon

SAINT ETIENNE – In the seven stages of grief, most Wallabies fans appear to have progressed from No.1, shock, through to No.3, anger, via No.2, Kronenburg 1664.

But spare a thought for the shattered players – they can’t go to the pub to drown their sorrows. They have to pick themselves up and work through them faster than you or me.

Andrew Kellaway got to No.5 – depression – the morning after the devastating 40-6 loss to Wales, and was thereabouts No.7 – acceptance and hope – when he faced reporters on Wednesday afternoon here.

With a game to play, and their hopes of qualification mathematically still alive with Fiji yet to seal the deal, it’s imperative that the Wallabies players moved on as quickly as possible from that awful night in Lyon.

Because misery loves company, it’s probably a good thing for the team that they’re locked away on the outskirts of St Etienne, far from the glum faces of Lyon-based Wallabies fans kicking stones for a week before making their way an hour south for the Portugal game on Sunday night.

Kellaway was one of several traumatised players who tried to explain the shock of their Wales defeat in the mixed zone straight after the match in Lyon. On Wednesday was the first time players had fronted media since then and while they remain gutted, a lot of the rawness has dissipated.

Jordan Petaia, Mark Nawaqanitawase and Andrew Kellaway of Australia looks dejected as the players of Australia form a huddle at full-time following the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between Wales and Australia at Parc Olympique on September 24, 2023 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“The best to turn it around [is realising] we have another game. It probably sounds like it’s a cliche and a bit stupid but it might be my last game, you never know,” said Kellaway – speaking with all the security of a player ignored for the first two matches.

“For me, that was a big switch, in terms of locking back into game mode. But in terms of the loss, how did I deal with it? Probably not that well. Gutted, right? It’s the pinnacle of our game and we weren’t able to perform and we let a lot of people down.

“How did we feel? We felt exactly how that would look from the outside. But Eddie has been great and the coaching staff fantastic, reminding us that we have another game to go here. A big pat on the back for them because they are probably hurting as much, if not more, than the rest of us. I can’t applaud them enough.”

Ben Donaldson said that in the immediate aftermath of the game “there was a lot of emotion. A lot of the boys were shedding a tear because we were gutted.

“Losing at that scoreline, in a World Cup, it’s devastating but that’s just going to drive us to work harder and be better. 100 per cent we can get over it.

“We’ve got another Test match this week so that’s the best way to get over a result like that. There’s no better way than coming out and putting in a good performance for ourselves, our coaches and our fans here and also back at home.

“We’ve got so much support and that’s one of the reasons why everyone was so upset, because we’ve let the whole country down. In terms of getting over that, the boys are already moving on and we had a great session today so we will be ready to go this week.”

Head coach Eddie Jones has, of course, been the lightning rod for a lot of fan outrage after the match, due to reports he interviewed for the vacant Japan job ahead of the tournament.

One of his assistants, Dan Palmer, also used the Wallabies’ word of the week – “gutted” – to sum up the mood..

“This whole group: the playing group, the coaching group and the staff have put a lot into it the last few months,” said Palmer.

“We’ve still got a pulse in this competition, so getting up for this next game is not difficult. We’ve refocused pretty quickly on what we need to do this week and focus on putting out a performance together against Portugal.

“Everybody handles something like that differently. As a coaching group, we have to be really clear on where we’re heading. We’ve got a really clear plan in place for this week, which we’ve done, and get around the boys and make sure as a group we can get up.”

After the match the team mourned as a group.

“Willie Skelton’s been fantastic, obviously hurting that he’s not playing but able to put that aside and continue to be the captain that we need him to be,” said Kellaway.

The skipper had been able to “rally the troops and get that stuff out in the air and knock it on the head so that we can get on with Portugal.” Skelton, and Taniela Tupou, won’t return against Portugal – their World Cup campaigns are over unless there are two miracles.

As usual, the players watched a short review of key areas and then were left to watch the whole game, or parts of it relevant to them..

Kellaway took the brave option.

“I watched the whole game, mate. Incredibly depressing,” he said.

“We’ve definitely got more clarity about why it happened the way it happened.

“And as is the case with professional sport, you spend the next week trying to rectify those areas. Portugal will have watched that and they’ll be licking their lips and they’ll be coming right after us.

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“So if we spend too much time dwelling on that and spending time in that shock and awe kind of phase, we’ll miss the jump and we’ll be chasing our arse on Sunday.”

Kellaway said that despite the team’s physical separation from fans, they felt supported by them.

“We’re out in a nice little pocket with not too much going on so we haven’t had a chance to see anybody else yet,” Kellaway said.

“In terms of messages of support, plenty. Which is important, right? Nobody goes out there and tries to lose or tries to play badly and I think we often forget that with a performance like that.

“We’re the first people to stick our hand up and say it was embarrassing but no-one tried to do that.

“For us, it’s about making sure we understand why that occurred and then this week against Portugal is going to be a tough game so making sure we get that right so we can take away five points and keep ourselves alive as long as possible.”

It could all be academic by then anyway. If Fiji were to beat Georgia 24 hours earlier and claim a bonus point in the process, the Wallabies campaign is stopped dead in its tracks before they even run out against Portugal.