'It wasn’t something we didn’t expect': Joe Schmidt on obvious Bok tactics

Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt says his side can take belief from their narrow 30-22 defeat to South Africa in Cape Town, despite again being undone by the Springboks’ physicality and relentless kicking game.

Australia crossed for three tries to match the world champions but fell short on the scoreboard after James O’Connor missed three late kicks.

For Schmidt, there were positives amid the disappointment.

“I know it’s a loss but it’s three tries apiece with a team that got destabilised early on,” he said. “I think it does give belief. It felt like we made more line breaks, we created dangerous situations, but we didn’t finish them well enough – and that’s a credit to a Springbok side who put a lot of pressure on defensively.

“I think they had 35 kicks in play, so they certainly peppered us with balls in the air and balls behind us. It wasn’t something we didn’t expect, but losing Joseph, who’s very good in the air, and Tom Wright probably didn’t help us much.

“But then it’s got to give belief to Andrew Kellaway, who came good back there, and there was a sensational take from Tane Edmed at one stage, who had to come off the bench and play 12. So there are positive things that we can pick out of it, and positive things that we can build on.”

Schmidt admitted he thought last week’s Springbok performance at Ellis Park, when South Africa blew the Wallabies away early, was among the most ferocious he has witnessed.

“I don’t think I’ve seen the Boks play as well as they did in the first 20 minutes last week. Gee, we couldn’t breathe – they were on us, and they got the first four kicks back. They didn’t quite have the same success today, so I thought that was the best window I’ve seen the Boks play for some time.

“But they know how to wear you down, and they were very physical. It’s hard to compare week to week, but again I felt we finished quite strongly and created a nice overlap at the end when Fassi got the penalty against him. But it was hard work to be able to create those spaces today, and I think they suffocated us a little bit better.”

The coach pointed to the impact of injuries as another decisive factor.

“On the other side, I don’t think our cohesion was as good with losing all those players, particularly early on,” he said. “I felt we were disjointed today, so we didn’t quite get the fluency that we were looking for with the changes that we had during the game.

“But yeah, I think Rassie will be concerned that there was still, I think, half a dozen line breaks, and he’ll be looking back at that. That’s always something you do as a coach.

“It’s always hard to compare what happened today with what the All Blacks are going to do in Eden Park, but you do know that the All Blacks are a free-flowing side. Having said that, they scrummed and mauled to kind of beat Argentina into submission last week.”