Les Kiss reacts to defeat as Wallabies look to ‘return fire’ in Bledisloe II

Coach Les Kiss insists the Wallabies won’t be deterred by their 50-19 defeat to the All Blacks at Eden Park, which sees the team’s Bledisloe Cup drought stretch to 24 years. But the Australians will look to “return fire” when they face their rival again next weekend, in front of a sea of gold.

The Wallabies have lost their first Test under Kiss, who had overseen four wins and a draw since taking over from Joe Schmidt. They were coming off a four-point win over the Springboks, but long-standing history favoured the home side at the Garden.

France were the last side to defeat the All Blacks at the Auckland venue, with the New Zealanders going 53 games unbeaten there before Saturday. That record has since increased by one, with the All Blacks putting on an attacking clinic in the second half.

The All Blacks piled on 33 points in 32 minutes, with Cam Roigard, Codei Taylor, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby and Will Jordan the try scorers. Josh Nasser scored the Wallabies’ sole score of the second term, crashing over the try line with five minutes left.

Taylor hoisted the Bledisloe Cup in triumph post-game, with the All Blacks locking up the prized silverware for another year. The Wallabies haven’t beaten their arch-rivals since November 2020, but will have another chance to break that streak next weekend in Sydney.

“It’s like anything. You get a knockback, you find our more about yourself and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll work hard on what we have to do,” Kiss told reporters.

“Belief is created and sustained by not just wins and losses, they’re created by other things. These boys have a strong culture, a strong belief in themselves and a confidence about what they can do.

“But the lessons are there: if you can’t get your strengths going and their strengths grow, it makes it a difficult game.

“We’ll go back and we’ll work on what we have to and try and turn the dial in the right areas that can go to Sydney and return fire.”

Kiss’ Wallabies had dominated the opening exchanges with 90 per cent possession in the first 10 minutes, only for Peter Lakai to hit back in a well-worked counter-attack. Tupou Vaa’i added five more to New Zealand’s lead four minutes later.

It was a three-point ball game at half-time, in favour of the All Blacks, and it didn’t take the hosts long to build on that advantage. Roigard and Taylor both crossed in six minutes, before Carter and Moorby ran in another try each.

“Over the last five Tests, we didn’t lose the run of ourselves; the boys always said we’ve got work to do. It doesn’t change now,” Kiss said.

“We’ll have a good look at that game, like we have, get into the nuts and bolts of what we need to get right. How do we get our strengths into the game? How do we just nullify their strengths and that’s what we look at.

“We need to make sure that we do the work that gets that done… it’ll be making sure that we get the things that we feel that can make a difference, that’s for sure.

“Once they got their momentum, it was hard to wrestle back.”