Wilson’s take on Wallabies’ ‘disappointing tour’ as records tumble

Saturday’s 48-33 loss to France in the Quilter Nations Series brought up some unwanted history for the Wallabies, who have failed to win a Test during a four-match European tour for the first time since 1958.

That’s not the only record that tumbled for the Australians at Stade de France in Paris, as they became the first Wallabies team in 126 years to lose 10 Tests in a calendar year. They finished a gruelling international season with a 33 per cent winning record.

Australia’s first win of the year was a thriller against Fiji in Newcastle, before shocking the British & Irish Lions in Sydney and the Springboks in Johannesburg. The men in gold also recorded wins against Argentina and Japan before heading to the United Kingdom.

The European leg of the Wallabies’ Spring Tour began with an 18-point defeat to England, before falling to Italy 26-19 in Udine. Australia were competitive for the first 40 against Ireland and France, but the hosts ran away with wins in both fixtures.

It was a one-score game at half-time of last weekend’s match in Dublin, and the Aussies were level at 19-all with France on Saturday. But “it’s about results” as captain Harry Wilson noted post-game, while wearing the pain of another defeat.

“It’s obviously been such a disappointing tour,” Wilson said post-game on Stan Sport.

“To lose four games here, we’re hurting but the boys have been working so hard, we’ve been working hard at training, the prep going in behind the scenes, the boys haven’t wavered.

“I’m really proud of the team for keep fronting up each week. The results, it’s been hurting us and I hope everyone knows at home how much it has been hurting us because we just want to be winning.

“We love playing for the Wallabies, love putting on this gold jersey, and not getting the results hurts… we’ll enjoy some time off before we rip in next year.

“Thanks for all the support back home. Sorry about the end of the year but the support throughout the year has been special and we really appreciate it.”

The Wallabies couldn’t have started much better in their season finale, with hooker Matt Faessler opening the scoring inside the first few minutes. While France hit back soon after through Nicolas Depoortere, another Wallabies front-rower stood up.

Angus Bell celebrated his 50^th Test with a runaway try midway through the first half, before Les Bleus took control with two quick tries. World Rugby Player of the Year nominee Louis Bielle-Biarrey finished off a well-worked chip-and-chase and give the home side the lead.

Faessler completed a double deep into the half to help bring the teams level.

Thomas Ramos struck early in the second half with a penalty, before Depoortere scored his second. France crossed for four tries to two, although Max Jorgensen finished off a spectacular effort for a five-pointer in the Wallabies’ favour.

“So disappointing there. The game was there for us again and our a-zone wasn’t good enough tonight. We had a lot of opportunities there, we got really close and it wasn’t good enough to win a Test match,” Wilson reflected.

“A few handling errors, they put a bit of pressure on us in the breakdown too. There are some big bodies that went pretty hard there and they got a bit of pay.

“It’s disappointing because we put them under a lot of pressure there early in the game and there at the end, we just weren’t good enough.”