'It's not good enough': Wallabies digest loss as Suaalii and Jorgensen come under spotlight

Wallabies coach Les Kiss is unsure if he will find the answers in time after the All Blacks delivered an attacking masterclass to provide the blueprint for 2027 Rugby World Cup glory with yet another Bledisloe Cup belting in Sydney.

While Kiss is remaining “optimistic”, Saturday’s 43-21 pounding after a 50-19 shellacking in Auckland had already secured the prized silverware for a 23rd straight year once again exposed the gulf in class between the two trans-Tasman “rivals”.

“Yeah, six versus two (in the world),” Kiss lamented after the Wallabies leaked seven tries in a meek defensive display compounded by some shambolic attacking execution.

“It’s not good enough,” said “gutted” captain Harry Wilson.

But the lion-hearted Wilson and the rest of the forward pack were not to blame for this latest humiliation.

The bumbling backline was – and chiefly golden boys Max Jorgensen and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.

Winger Jorgensen butchered an early try-scoring opportunity before rushing out of the defensive line to gift the All Blacks the opener in a 14-point swing that may have changed the match.

And Suaalii looked all at sea defending at outside centre.

He missed five tackles as fellow code-hopper Mark Nawaqanitawase suddenly looked sage for weighing up whether or not to represent Fiji instead of Australia on his international rugby return next year.

With less than a year before Australia’s World Cup opener against Hong Kong in Perth, Kiss can’t promise he has time to turn around his side’s fortunes sufficiently to challenge for the Webb Ellis Cup.

But he remains defiant.

“The time we have is the time that we have,” Kiss said.

“I believe in these guys deeply about what is possible.

“I’ve always said we’ll have our ups and downs and today was a bit of a downer again, but there are some good clues from what we’re trying to do in our game.

“When we do play with a footy in hand, with a positive intent, we’re making a lot of breaks against one of the best teams in the world.”

But Kiss’s honeymoon is clearly over after the Wallabies went unbeaten in his first six Tests at the helm and conquered the two-time defending world champion Springboks just last month.

Despite being shown the door by Rugby Australia four years ago, All Blacks coach Dave Rennie refused to publicly offer any satisfaction at plotting his old Wallabies’ side’s Bledisloe demise so ruthlessly.

“It’s not about me,” Rennie said.

“I love my time here. I’ve got to work with a lot of great people. It’s been nice catching up with those guys last week and, again, we’ll have a beer with them in the changing room tonight.

“So, yeah, I’m really rapt with our guys. They’re good men who worked really hard and we’ve got an important trophy back in the cabinet.”

Now Rennie is promising the All Blacks will chase the World Cup in exactly the same stylish attacking manner in which he might have had the Wallabies playing at the 2023 edition in France had RA not sacked him to usher in a disastrous second Eddie Jones era.

“There’s no point playing this way and then going to a World Cup and trying to play risk-free footy,” Rennie said.

“We’re well aware ?you can put yourself under pressure the way that we’re trying to ?play, but we’ll also back ourselves that we’ll profit more than we’ll suffer in those situations.

“I don’t think you want all the teams in the world playing the same game.

“If you look at the Wallabies, they’re pretty similar to us. They’ll want to play, and it’s a point of difference, part of the ?DNA of both sides.

“If you want to just get into ?arm-wrestles ?with a couple of the big sides in the world, it’ll be a struggle.”