Harry Wilson sees ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ after All Blacks defeat

The Wallabies’ quest for a drought-breaking win over the All Blacks continues, as they fell to a record 11^th consecutive defeat to their neighbouring foe – but captain Harry Wilson maintains there’s still “light at the end of the tunnel” for the men in gold.

With more than 60,000 fans watching on at Perth’s Optus Stadium, Wilson led the Wallabies out into battle, searching for the team’s first win over their Bledisloe Cup rivals since November 7, 2020, at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

Tane Edmed converted three penalties inside the opening 20 minutes, with the third shot giving the Wallabies a two-point lead. Wallabies fans dared to dream, but Quinn Tupaea gave the All Blacks control over the contest with a rapid double late in the half.

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Tupaea scored twice in three minutes to give the All Blacks a solid advantage, but the misfiring boot of Damian McKenzie kept the scores relatively close. McKenzie converted two penalty goals during the second term, before George Bower had the final say with a try.

Australia finished the match with 53 per cent possession, but the New Zealanders dominated that particular statistic late, clocking in with 92 per cent possession in the last 10 minutes – instead, as Wilson explained post-game, the Wallabies were made to rue missed chances.

“We’re not out here to be competitive, we’re out there to win,” Wilson told reporters.

“The last two Test matches, we’ve had opportunities which we haven’t taken and we’ve had two losses which is just really disappointing.

“There definitely is light at the end of the tunnel for us and we’ve got to be better with those little margins. Test footy is all about those fine margins and the last couple of Tests we’ve definitely lost those.”

The Wallabies attempted fewer tackles than the All Blacks, but their completion percentage was worse. They made 142, missing 29 attempts which saw the Aussies finish with a tackle completion percentage of 83 per cent.

Australia’s ill-discipline was a talking point post-game as well, with Tom Hooper and Len Ikitau both spending 10 minutes each in the sin bin. Hooper was shown a yellow card for foul play at a breakdown, while Ikitau spent some time on the sideline for a high shot.

“Yeah it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating not to get the result. It’s frustrating to get back into the game again with 10 to go, two yellow cards… I felt the team were gritty again,” Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt reflected.

“We just didn’t get a whole lot of luck, I don’t think. But at the same time, I’ve been doing this a long time, you’ve got to earn your luck, you’ve got to make your luck and we didn’t quite make enough.

“We lost a few balls in touch and made a few errors ourselves that you just can’t afford to make on a wet, slippery night against the All Blacks.”