Wallabies coach Dave Rennie will seek out match officials after cruel calls in Scotland loss

The Wallabies’ northern hemisphere tour couldn’t have started worse with injuries and controversy and next they have to end a six-year losing drought against England.

Michael Hooper says the Wallabies still have the ‘fire in the belly’. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper says the fire in the belly has “raised” ahead of a showdown with England after Australia’s five-match winning streak ended in Scotland.

Injuries, concussions and some refereeing decisions that raised the ire of Hooper and Wallabies coach Dave Rennie punctuated the 15-13 loss in Edinburgh that the skipper called a “setback”.

A hamstring injury to Jordan Petaia, who left the field just before halftime, has further decimated an Australian backline already without fullback options Tom Banks and Reece Hodge.

Barnstorming prop Taniela Tupou could also be in doubt to play England, who the Wallabies have not beaten since the 2015 Rugby World Cup, after leaving the field with concussion following a sickening head clash.

Jordan Petaia injured his hamstring in Edinburgh. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Rennie conceded the Wallabies, having racked up five-straight wins during the Rugby Championship and then against Japan, would have to be better against England at Twickenham this Saturday.

But he was adamant they could.

“We‘ve got to take it on the chin – we’ve got more in us – and we certainly need to be a lot better against England,” Rennie said.

“We’re incredibly disappointed. It was a tough game because we just struggled to get things going.

“We got penalised a bit in possession when we thought we had them under pressure. We struggled to get our game going in the last 20 as well. They did a pretty good job of defending the maul. We’ve got to take it on the chin. We’ve got to be better (with our) discipline and be more accurate.

“We didn’t play anywhere near as well as we’d like to. We’ve got to be able to build pressure for longer.”

Both Rennie and Hooper had some strong works for referee Romain Poite, the skipper ridiculing a decision to deny a try just before halftime for a clean-out from Allan Alaalatoa just prior.

Michael Hooper was denied this try against Scotland. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Hooper was livid and was picked up on the field calling it a “weak decision”.

“You can’t be serious,” Hooper was heard telling Poite. “I can’t believe that. That is a weak decision. He didn’t do anything.”

Rennie also felt it was a harsh call, among a few that he felt he would need to talk to the officials about, especially around the scrums.

“I’m not one to have a crack at referees around decisions but it was a pretty tough decision against us,” Rennie said.

“We’ll (give) feedback directly to the referees, but it’s a tough area to adjudicate. We certainly didn’t agree with a number of the decisions.”

Neither James O’Connor, who missed an early penalty, or Kurtley Beale had much impact in a loss Hooper said would light a fire for their showdown with England.

“That’s a setback today,” Hooper said.

“The motivation was about going well today and continuing the momentum we’ve built in the year. The fire in the belly hasn’t extinguished at all. After that, it’s raised.”