Ryan Lonergan on Wallabies’ response and the ‘huge difference’ against England

Ryan Lonergan expects a bounce-back performance from the Wallabies this weekend, with the group left “super disappointed” by a 45-22 defeat to England. Australia will look to snap a three-game losing streak when they face Scotland in the fifth Nations Championship round.

The Wallabies finished the first Nations Championship phase in July with a commanding 47-point win against Italy in Perth, which was Joe Schmidt’s final game in charge. Les Kiss then took over as head coach, overseeing four wins and one draw to start.

But after a two-nil Bledisloe Cup series sweep by the All Blacks, and a clinical victory by England at one of the world’s most iconic rugby venues, the Wallabies have shifted their focus to what lies ahead after arriving in Edinburgh.

“There’s quite a lot of looking within going on at the moment,” Lonergan told reporters, with the Wallabies having reviewed the England game that morning. The scrum-half said the team had a “good honest look” at what they need to improve.

“I’m sure there’s going to be a great turnaround this week, throughout the week and then on the weekend,” Lonergan anticipates.

“It’s disappointing. Everyone’s super disappointed with how we showed up on the weekend and I’m sure there will be a good bounce back from the boys.”

Wallabies captain Harry Wilson and coach Les Kiss both spoke candidly post-game, after the Aussies had conceded at least 43 points for the third Test in a row. Kiss acknowledged there is work to be done as the group looks to turn this losing run around.

Lonergan slotted a 12th-minute penalty goal but England otherwise controlled the first term. The hosts were firmly in control before Max Jorgensen picked off a pass, racing away for a crucial score just before half-time.

Filipo Daugunu and Jeremy Williams crashed over for second-half tries, but as Wilson admitted just after full-time, it was “too little, too late.” The Wallabies conceded more penalties, had less possession and territory, and missed more tackles than England across the 80 minutes.

“I think it’s easy to come out of a game like that and look at a million things and look at everything that went wrong but we made a good point of just sticking to the big rocks that we know make the big differences in those games,” Lonergan said.

“We probably just missed the mark on a majority of those really. England really beat us in those areas and that makes a huge difference.

“There’s technical things but there’s also the speed in which we go about doing those things. I think England beat us to most of those.”