‘Hard truth’: Ex-Wallabies clash over performance after loss to Springboks

Former Wallabies Stephen Hoiles and Nick Phipps have praised the Wallabies for their first-half performance against the Springboks in Perth, but not everyone agreed on Stan Sports’ Between Two Posts panel.

Following Australia’s disastrous 33-7 loss to South Africa at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, the men in gold looked to bounce back against the same foe one week later. But as the forecast predicted, the conditions weren’t going to make it easy for either team in Perth.

Rain began to pour down from the heavens several hours before kick-off at Optus Stadium. While it calmed down for a brief period, the weather was once again a nuisance as the teams walked out for the national anthems on Saturday evening.

With flyhalf Noah Lolesio leading the way in attack, the Wallabies didn’t seem too bothered by the wet as they took it to the world champions. It was a two-point game going into the break, but the hosts would’ve been in the lead if Lolesio had converted a late penalty.

“I thought with those conditions it was certainly not going to favour us, but conditions sometimes have the ability to level teams. I thought we actually handled the conditions really well in that first half,” Stephen Hoiles said on Stan Sport.

“South Africa will probably look at (the game) and say they didn’t. I thought we managed, minimal errors early – that was probably the big thing. We probably played in the right ends of the field.

“It ran away from us but at half-time, we walked in (and) not just because of the scoreline, just because the weight had gone and we looked mature for a young, new side under Joe Schmidt. I thought we looked relatively mature for the first 40.

“You never had confidence that we’re going to be able to run away with it, you always felt the team that would spend more time in the opposition A-zone in the second half was going to win it and that’s where we struggled.

“We got very little time down there in the second half and when we did, we made crucial errors. So, the scoreline didn’t shock me, the scoreline probably flattered South Africa a little but it also just highlights their depth and experience to be able to get points late in the game without actually firing too many shots.”

Lolesio, 24, opened the scoring a couple of minutes into the Test with a simple penalty goal from close range. That accurate shot at goal was met with a cheer from the Western Australian crowd, with many wearing ponchos as they battled the conditions themselves.

But South Africa rallied during the opening 40 minutes with fullback Aphelele Fassi scoring the only try of the half. They took an 11-9 lead into the break with Lolesio missing a tough but kickable shot at goal with time up on the clock.

The Springboks showed their class during the second term as they scored three tries, which included a double to replacement hooker Malcolm Marx. Australia couldn’t find their way to the try line themselves – only scoring one try in two Tests against the Boks.

“What we all wanted to see was a response. We’re a building team, everyone’s improving – Schmidt’s had them for seven or eight weeks now,” Nick Phipps added.

“We wanted to see a response from last week. I thought that first-half we matched them physically, we held our own in the scrum and in the lineouts we were actually pretty good.

“We wanted to see a response physically, they stood up there. They handled the pressure well. We were down in our own half a lot, and we’re trying to exit a lot as well which under those conditions… was also hard, but we stayed in the fight.

“We probably should’ve gone into the half-time one-point up.”

But not everyone agreed that it was a Wallabies performance, at least in the first-half, that warranted overwhelming admiration and praise. Morgan Turinui played the role of devil’s advocate by briefly analysing the “poor performance.”

“We gave away three penalties in the first half. We played the right game plan but the hard truth is we’re not good enough to play that game plan. (South Africa) butchered three tries,” Turinui explained.

“We played the right way as well as we could. We should’ve paid the price for inaccurate kicking again – they dropped some balls in the wet… it’s not like they played well.”