'Emphatic': Rennie praises 'excellent' Wallabies after eleven-man victory over Springboks

During the Wallabies’ impressive victory over the back-to-back World Champions, the Springboks on Sunday, All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie was made aware of the upcoming challenge his side faces.

Rennie, who coached the Wallabies between 2019 and 2023, labelled the triumph by Les Kiss’ side as “emphatic”, despite defending with eleven men for a short period during the final quarter in Perth.

Kiss and the Wallabies will travel to New Zealand next week with huge confidence, as they remain unbeaten in Kiss’ short tenure as head coach.

Rennie has named his 34-man squad to take on the Wallabies in the two Bledisloe Cup Tests in October, recalling both Scott Barrett and Shannon Frizell to bolster his tight-five, and locking stocks.

When asked about what he made of the Flight Centre Series Test match in Perth, the former Wallabies head coach was extremely impressed.

“Yeah, I thought they were excellent. They were pretty emphatic in the first sort of 65 minutes, and it’s pretty hard to defend when you’re down to 11 in the end,” Rennie told New Zealand media from Australia.

“So yeah, look, it’s a very experienced side now. There’s a lot of those guys who have played, yeah, seven-plus years of international rugby, and a big chunk of guys who have played sort of 50, 60,70, tests for Australia.

“I thought they were excellent, and I’m not surprised, and I think it’s a good message for our boys to understand the quality of the Australian side and what we’re going to face at Eden Park.”

But although the Wallabies haven’t held the coveted Bledisloe Cup trophy since 2002, Rennie believes that under Kiss they will have the right mindset in the group.

“I never felt there was a lack of mindset or determination. In those sorts of games, you got to be at your best, and you got to win key moments.

“I think a lot of games over the last six or seven years, there’s been a couple of blowouts, but a lot of them have been tight and have come down to key moments.

“We found that out in Africa as well. So international rugby now is really tight. There are just so many good sides that are all pretty close, and so you know you’ve got to get it right. We’d expect that to be a tough battle in Auckland.”