Wallabies coaching staff adamant three All Blacks thrashings are not all doom and gloom

The scoreline across three games against the All Blacks wasn’t pretty for the Wallabies, but it’s not as bad as it looks, apparently.

The Wallabies are learning some harsh lessons. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

The Wallabies are “closer than people think” to being a world rugby powerhouse again according to assistant coach Dan McKellar despite three straight beatings by the All Blacks amid a litany of mistakes.

A 38-21 loss to the Kiwis in Perth on Sunday was another example of the gulf between the two nations.

The scoreline across the Bledisloe Cup clean sweep was 128-68 and showed how much the Wallabies have to make up when they take on World Cup winners South Africa this week.

But McKellar, who joined coach Dave Rennie’s staff before the Bledisloe Cup losses, was adamant the Australians had shown enough, in attack at least, to present a growing threat to the Springboks.

Noting the South Africans were a “different challenge” to the All Blacks, he said the emerging team under Rennie was frustrated with the results but only had to take better advantage of opportunities to get the win they couldn’t against the Kiwis.

Marika Koroibete had two tries denied in Perth. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

“Clearly disappointed. Disappointed and frustrated. We’ve had some really good periods within all three games but have been our own worse enemy at times,” McKellar said on Monday as the Wallabies headed to Queensland.

“I think we’re a lot closer than people would think.

“If you take the opportunities and take our own, obviously Marika (Koroibete) was disallowed (tries) twice early on, other opportunities and the basics that we didn’t execute when we needed to, you take those chances and we build scoreboard pressure and put it back on the opposition.

“We think we’re closer than people think, but the reality is we need to go back and focus on South Africa.

“They’re very different (to the All Blacks) … they’ll give us the ball and we’ve got to really smart with what we do with it.

Noah Lolesio is yet to impose himself at Test level. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

“We’ve got genuine belief as a coaching group. We’ve had a good look at South Africa and we see opportunities. “

McKellar also threw his support behind under pressure fly half Noah Lolesio, who has endured a tough series against the All Blacks, including some ordinary kicking.

“I think Noah has learnt a lot from his last three games against the All Blacks. He’s a young 10 trying to find his feet at this level and he’s learning some hard sessions against the best in the world,” he said.

“He’s always doing some good things. When you look at our good passages, Noah’s a leading role in the majority of them. Have there been areas in his game where he needs to do better? Of course but he’s not alone there.

“We’ve just got to understand he’s finding his feet at this level. We have to be patient to develop and get them to the level as soon as we can.”