mens
international
Les Kiss has selected a Wallabies starting side that has more than 300 Test caps less than the one at All black peoplebut the coach still believes the team has a “winnable game” one week after the 50-19 loss in Auckland.
The Wallabies were unbeaten in five matches under Kiss before taking on the All Blacks at their Eden Park fortress. It is a venue where the New Zealanders have not lost in 53 Tests to that point, and that streak continued on Saturday night.
Ben Donaldson set up captain Harry Wilson just before half-time, but the second half was largely one-way in the home side’s favour. The All Blacks ran in four tries and held on for a half-century as they retained the Bledisloe Cup 24th even year.
Donaldson was ruled out of the reverse fixture at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, in which Declan Meredith was called up by the selectors. Harry McLaughlin-Phillips could make his debut from the bench as the Wallabies look to snap a 12-game losing streak against the All Blacks.
“This is a tight group. They’re going to support each other. I’m going to support them. There’s never a player that’s been perfect … there’s learning and there’s growth. Every player is learning and growing and we’ve always said we’ve got work to do and we just want to get better every week,” Kiss told reporters.
“Declan serves the team in a big way on and off the field and does a good job for us. A great opportunity for him to grow again, that’s how we see it.”
“We believe we have a game that can win this on the weekend, for sure, with the people we have. But we’re going to go out there and make sure we present ourselves in a way that makes people (proud).”
The Wallabies dominated the opening exchanges of the Bledisloe Cup series opener, playing with around 90 per cent of possession in the first 10 minutes. Tom Wright broke through to score before the All Blacks hit back through Peter Lakai.
Jordie Barrett rose highest to beat Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to a high ball, before Lakai gave Auckland crowd plenty to cheer moments later. The aerial battle continued to be the talking point after the game, with both head coaches talking about the area after the game.
“There are some critical areas that they won and they capitalized on that. The aerial game was an important part of the game. Once they won it, they made the most of the next few phases. We have to be better in that space,” Kiss reflected on Thursday afternoon.
“We just made sure we were knowledgeable about what that aerial game can offer both sides. We definitely want to make sure our shooting game is more accurate as well. It probably gave them too many easy plays on the ball and gave them a lot of time and space.”
“We had over 200 tackles and they had 130 or something like that. I think if we can control the balance a little bit better with a little bit of field position, that’s going to be handy.
“We know the margins are tight, but we have to be better in those areas to make sure we stay in touch.”
The Wallabies take on the All Blacks in Sydney on Saturday, ending a historic run of games. Rugby Australia announced the first of its kind quadruple header, in which all four Golden teams will participate.
It starts with the Wallaroos against Scotland, with the two sides meeting again as part of the WXV Global Series. Then there will be the Australian women’s and sevens, who continue their preparations for the HSBC SVNS series.
“It’s a big Test match against the All Blacks any day, that’s for sure. They’ve beaten us 12 games in a row, so that’s big in itself.”
“But to keep the other teams involved in the game, it’s a massive opportunity to celebrate the two teams of the week, the Wallaroos, to be able to have those teams there. We’ve got some good numbers coming in so it’s great to see the support.”
