Rennie fronts the press as Wallabies make wrong kind of history
Even Dave Rennie was left empathising with disillusioned Australian rugby fans after presiding over the Wallabies’ inglorious first-ever loss to Italy.
The Wallabies plumbed new lows in a 28-27 shocker in Florence, leaving Rennie to face the music after his winning record slumped to 37.5 per cent from a rollercoaster 32-Test tenure.
“It’s hugely disappointing and it’s not good enough,” Rennie said after taking his dubious place in the history books as the first Wallabies coach in 19 Tests and a 39-year rivalry to fall to the 12th-ranked Italians.
“All I can say is it’s hurting. You go in to the change room and the boys are hurt. They know we’re better than that and so I understand the frustration.”
Rookie playmaker Ben Donaldson missed a chance to boost Australia to victory after fulltime but pushed his conversion attempt wide.
“It’s easy to look at the last few seconds but we put ourselves under pressure throughout. We’re bitterly disappointed in our performance,” Rennie said.
“Too many penalties and too much field position gave them an opportunity to hurt us.”
Rennie will forever be haunted for making a dozen changes to his starting line-up from last week’s spirited 30-29 loss to France in Paris.
“It’s not much more changes than we made the week before. Obviously there were a couple of extra bodies that we would have played today had they not been injured from the French game,” said the crestfallen coach.
“We had a good enough side out on the paddock tonight to win tonight.”
But while the raft of personnel changes denied the Wallabies cohesion and continuity, ill-discipline was again the biggest coach killer.
World rugby’s most penalised tier-one outfit conceded another 16 penalties at Stadio Artemio Franchi to be on the back foot all afternoon.
Botched lineouts, poor defensive reads and fundamental errors also brought the Wallabies unstuck.
The Wallabies were u ntidy from the get-go, winger Tom Wright knocking on from the opening kick-off to gift Italy the first attacking opportunity.
Three points were enough as Tommaso Allan slotted the Azzurri’s first points.
The Wallabies, showing little respect for an opposition boasting four wins from their previous five Tests, turned down the chance to reply before Noah Lolesio eventually accepted a shot from in front to level up.
Wallabies halfback Jake Gordon was yellow-carded for bumping Allan in to touch off the ball after Melbourne-bound, Brisbane-raised Monty Ioane had instigated a threatening left-side raid.
The Azzurri cashed in on their one-man advantage, with tries to winger Pierre Bruno and impressive fullback Ange Capuozzo giving the hosts a 17-3 lead they would never relinquish.
An airborne Wright try finally bagged Australia’s first try in the 31st minute but Lolesio missed two attempts at the conversion after being handed a rare second shot because of an illegal charge from the Italians.
Trailing 17-8 at the break, an Australian fightback appeared in the offing when Fraser McReight touched down and Lolesio converted to reduce the deficit to two points straight after halftime.
But the Wallabies found themselves under intense pressure when fullback Capuozzo bagged his second try to leave Italy 10 points in front with 13 minutes remaining.
A Tom Robertson try, which Lolesio converted from the sideline, then a five-pointer to fellow replacement forward Cadeyrn Neville in the 81st minute gave the Wallabies their opportunity to snatch victory.
But with Lolesio off, Donaldson – just minutes into his Test debut – stepped up and pushed his shot wide, leaving Italy to rejoice in a famous victory.
Rennie has little time to pick up the pieces as the Wallabies head to Dublin to face the top-ranked Irish next Saturday before a tour-ending clash with Wales in Cardiff.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments