'Cop that on the chin': Joe Schmidt's Andrea Piardi message to his Wallabies side

Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt says his side need to adapt better to the referee after their 33-24 defeat at Eden Park.

The Wallabies were able to close the gap to two points at 26-24 after a rolling maul try in the 69th minute which gave the team hope of creating history and sending the Bledisloe series to Perth.

But just as they climbed within one score, the All Blacks struck straight back with a try to Cam Roigard while the Wallabies had a man in the bin for playing the ball at the ruck.

Kolisi on how the Boks loose trio complements each other

Kolisi on how the Boks loose trio complements each other

“It felt a bit like Cape Town to be honest, where we got behind, fought our way back,” Schmidt explained in the post-match press conference.

“To be two points down in the last 10 minutes, you know in the end you’re in the mix. So it’s disappointing for sure.”

2025 has seen a marked improvement in discipline under Joe Schmidt, but on the night there were 15 penalties conceded by the Wallabies.

Schmidt said the team “had to be better” and needed to adapt to the interpretations given by Italian referee Andrea Piardi. He thought that some of the penalties came after trying to over chase the moment.

“We’re disappointed that we were penalised 15 times. We’ve got to be better than that,” he said.

“We’ll have a good, close look at them. Looking after the fact, the result is the result, we’ve got to be able to adapt to Andrea Piardi, and that’s one of the challenges.

“It’s pretty hard to adapt in game when the All Blacks are getting width and coming at you. They put a lot of pressure on and sometimes when you try and over chase something you give something away, in terms of a penalty.

“We’ve got to cop that on the chin and get better.”

After a 10-3 penalty count in second half, a yellow card to winger Harry Potter proved fatal with the All Blacks last try making the game a two-score advantage with five to play.

“Cards are cards. He said that the ruck was already formed so we can’t play the ball,” Schmidt said of the call.

“We’re under pressure five from our line so that’s the risk you run.

“If we defended better higher up the field then we don’t get that sort of pressure, so that’s what I mean. We’ve got to be better so that we are not at the mercy of decisions that we don’t control.”