Inept Wallabies pay high price for Bledisloe Cup I loss to the All Blacks

Michael Hooper insisted his side was ready for the All Blacks. What they weren’t prepared for was their own ineptitude.

Jack Goodhue of the All Blacks sums up the match.

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper complained his side did not look after their own ball but what a litany of crimes that one statement concealed as the All Blacks utterly dominated the second half to win Bledisloe I 38-13 at ANZ Stadium tonight.

In how many ways did the Australians contrive to present the ball to the New Zealanders. Well, they lost seven lineouts, gave away six scrum penalties and were shaded 23-18 in the turnovers, despite yet another outstanding performance from David Pocock at the breakdown.

“We wanted to attack the set piece because that’s where the game is won and lost,” said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.

“You don’t win the Bledisloe in one match. We’ve only got one hand on the trophy. You have to win two matches.”

They did that with a vengeance and even the introduction of senior lineout caller Rob Simmons in the 62nd minute failed to provide any surety to either scrum or lineout.

Wallabies vs All Blacks: Bledisloe Cup live coverage from Sydney’s ANZ Stadium

Hooper had insisted on Friday that the Wallabies were ready but they clearly weren’t ready for their own ineptitude and the irony was that this was not the remorseless, mistake-free All Blacks of the fabled past. The Kiwis were almost as guilty as the Australians of loose play but the difference was that when an opportunity presented itself, they played it smart. If that meant taking the tackle and going to ground, leaving the opportunity alive for a teammate, then that was the option they chose.

Instead, Australia pushed the passes. Tolu Latu, the reserve hooker, threw a wild pass when a try was on after the Wallabies had broken out down the left wing; Reece Hodge dropped the ball on another occasion when he Latu popped him a pass right on the line. There were many, many incidents where a rush of blood brought Hooper’s team undo

“When it goes against us like that, we need to keep coming, we need to keep the spark in our defence and just keep coming,” said Wallabies coach Michael Cheika. “We have to keep standing up in defence, more acceleration to get into position to defend and stay at them. If things aren’t going your way, you have to keep coming and see where it goes from there.

“We made some really good attacking raids in the second half but then tossed the ball away when we should have kept doing what we needed to do, take the ball down, present the ball and let’s go again.”

Injured Wallaby Sekope Kepu. Picture: Brett Costello

Told the Wallabies had missed approximately 40 tackles, Cheika maintained that Australia had defended excellently in the first half. “And we need to keep doing that. It’s pretty simple. Whether we’re giving the ball away in lineouts of not, that’s something we got to react to and you've got to keep delivering.”

Australia has paid a high price for the defeat. Taniela Tupou, the reserve Wallabies tight-head, was ruled out before kick-off with a hamstring injury, leaving the Australian scrum in deep trouble when Sekope Kepu was injured. Cheika was reasonably confident that the Queensland prop would be right for the rematch next weekend and admitted that thought had been given to even playing him tonight.

The news was worse, however, for Israel Folau, who suffered an ankle injury when he got into a tangle with Waisake Naholo as he attempted to launch himself for a high ball.

Folau was today ruled out of Bledisloe II next Saturday at Eden Park, along with the All Blacks’ Ryan Crotty, lost to concussion.

“We’re hopeful (Folau) will be back for the game in Brisbane against the Springboks,” Cheika said.

The Wallabies have any number of way of replacing Folau. They could move debutant Jack Maddocks back there, or they could chose the uncapped Tom Banks. More likely, however, they will use the solution that they came up with on the run tonight, shifting Kurtley Beale to fullback and playing Matt Toomua in the centres.

There can be little hope for that expedition to the NZ rugby fortress in Auckland. The Wallabies were certainly in the match for the first 30 minutes but only had a 6-0 lead to show for it and when the All Blacks took advantage of a momentum shift for Aaron Smith to score just before halftime, the writing certainly was on the wall for the home team. Still, no-one envisaged five tries to one in the second half.

When the Wallabies started to fall apart, it was staggering how quickly they lost their shape. Throughout the first half, or nearly all of it, they had maintained their shape in defence and were frequently driving the All Blacks backward. But then Kepu was taken off for a HIA, Jermaine Ainsley was sent on for his debut and the Wallabies scrum almost immediately disintegrated.

Israel Folau hobbles off the field injured. Picture: Brett Costello

Small wonder Kepu was sent back on at the start of the second half but even with him there, the Wallabies set piece was starting to creak alarmingly and if Tupou is fit there can be no arguments now about bringing the Queensland tight-head into the starting side. Certainly the Australians missed him sorely off the bench tonight when things starting to unravel.

The match attracted 66,318 spectators, about 12,000 more than the corresponding match last year, but sadly the promised Australian revival still looks some way off.

There was one redeeming note tonight, with Melbourne Rebels’ winger Maddock scoring a try on debut and generally looking a threat in attack, though Naholo certainly raised some serious questions about his defence late in proceedings.

Springboks down Pumas

South Africa scored four tries in the second half to come from behind and beat Argentina 34-21 in the Rugby Championship, avoiding a second straight surprise defeat to the Pumas in Durban.

The Springboks scored first but trailed 14-5 and 14-10 at halftime after Argentina hit back with tries by flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez and flanker Pablo Matera at Kings Park, where the Argentines won their first test over South Africa in a big shock in 2015.

This time, South Africa avoided the upset with three tries and 17 unanswered points in the first 15 minutes of the second half, with wingers Aphiwe Dyantyi and Makazole Mapimpi each completing a double.

South Africa dominated territory throughout but wasted opportunities in attack and was sloppy again with 13 minutes left to gift Argentina center Matias Moroni an intercept try. The Pumas were just a converted try behind and in striking range at 27-21.

Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk’s snipe from close range, the sixth try for the Boks, put the game beyond doubt and gave coach Rassie Erasmus a winning start in the Rugby Championship.

“I think for the first 25 minutes of the second half we were OK,” Erasmus said. “But out of the 80 (minutes), that was the only 25 that was really good. Apart from that, we were scrappy.”

With AP