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What Rennie thought was 'disappointing' about the win over Japan
The Wallabies made it five wins in a row on Sunday afternoon as they overcame a resilient Japan side to win 32-23 at Oita Stadium.
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The win secured a piece of team history for the Wallabies, and also shows just how far they’ve come as a rugby nation. It’s their best winning streak since the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where the men in gold won seven in a row before losing to New Zealand in the Final.
The Wallabies took control of the match early on against the Brave Blossoms, with some Quade Cooper magic setting up winger Tom Wright for the opening score inside 10 minutes.
After a penalty goal was converted by Japan flyhalf Rikiya Matsuda, substitute Jordan Petaia crossed to put the Wallabies up 3-14.
But the Brave Blossoms, as they have in some famous Test matches dating back to that win over South Africa in 2015, never gave up.
The All Blacks recorded a dominant 104-14 win over the United States on Sunday morning [NZL], but not everything stuck in the almost perfect display. #USAvNZL #1874Cup https://t.co/sXo9eHwttd
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 24, 2021
They fought back to make it a one-point game late in the first-half, and did so again in the second term. They trailed by as much as 14-points in the second-half, but scored 10-points late to make it a four-point game late.
It was a performance from the Wallabies that Rennie as being “disappointing” and “rusty”, as they failed to play Japan out of the match.
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“Fairly frustrating but we played a lot of good footy but we just didn’t kick the ball enough. There was a lot of space where we could apply pressure and we tended to overplay,” Rennie said following the win over Japan.
“We got some good go forward, almost got sucked into going more phases when then they’ve got no cover in the backfield. So it was disappointing and we ended up putting ourselves under pressure because of it.
“We’re seeing plenty from upstairs. We played a lot of rugby in between the tens, and certainly late in the game we got penalised a fair bit around there.
“Even the intercept, we’ve got a four on one. We’ve just got to give it to the guy next to us but we knew that going in.
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“We’re happy to win, we will be better for that game. And they’re a good side, Every time we gave them a bit of a sniff they hurt us.”
Their current winning streak includes two wins over both South Africa and Argentina, and could potentially extend into the European leg of their Spring Tour, when they face Scotland, England and Wales next month.
Let alone the improvement from year to year from the Wallabies, but the growth in their game throughout this year has been recognisable.
REACTION: Running the Wallabies so close in Oita left the Japanese fired up in the aftermath #BraveBlossoms #JAPvAUS #TRC #Wallabies https://t.co/VrtVKUeAz0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 23, 2021
After a tense 2-1 series win over France to kick-off their international season, the Wallabies lost three matches in a row to the All Blacks. But the injection of Quade Cooper in particular, as well as Samu Kerevi who wasn’t available to face Japan, has this team headed in the right direction.
It’s a reflection of a Dave Rennie led side who have come so far, but yet, have so much improvement still left in them.
“It’s just reinforcing the type of play that we want to encourage on the field and the type of team we want to become,” Captain Michael Hooper said after the match.
“There’s still a lot to go and a lot to grow for us for sure, but having the ability to change plays in and out, and guys still putting in really sold performances, is certainly an aspect of the team that’s really pleasing.
“Being able to interchange and Dave being able to pick different varying teams and still get a result is great. We’re about to enter a place and play away from home, far away from home which we haven’t done in a long time which I think, you know, we’re right in the perfect time as a group to take on that challenge.
“Today was really nice to get that result and you know, I guess show a couple of areas that we can improve, but also still tick over a win there and take that up north and take on some of these European teams.”
The Wallabies are set to face Scotland in their next Test match, which will take place in two weeks’ time. It’ll be another great challenge for the Wallabies considering the last time they faced the Scots, which was at Murrayfield as well, ended in a 53-24 defeat in 2017.
They’ll then face England the week after at Twickenham, before their final Test of the year against Wales in Cardiff.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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 commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments