Joe Schmidt’s ‘frustration’ as Wallabies fall short in another loss to Boks

Two days out from the Wallabies Test against the Springboks in Perth, halfback Nic White described the visitors as “the benchmark.” South Africa are the current men’s world champions and they’d taken their game to another level against Australia the weekend before.

Kurt-Lee Arendse was almost untouchable as the winger with fast feet crossed for a decisive double at Suncorp Stadium on August 10. Those tries went a long way to helping the Boks claim their first win at the Brisbane venue in more than a decade.

Coach Rassie Erasmus made headlines a few days after that dominant 33-7 victory by naming a new-look side to take on the same foe at Optus Stadium. While the team boasted World Cup-winning talent, 10 changes to a First XV is always going to make headlines.

While some fans and media outlets branded that Springboks outfit as the ‘B team’ going into the second Test, it didn’t seem to change either team's approach. This was still international rugby after all, and both sides were desperate to get the job done on Saturday.

But when the full-time whistle sounded, Australia had lost again. Only six points separated the teams with 34 minutes to play but the Boks ended up running away with a 30-12 win. It was a result that left coach Joe Schmidt feeling a bit frustrated later that night.

“It’s a little bit of confidence and a little bit of frustration because when we got to 18-12, and it stayed like that for just a little while, we had a couple of half-opportunities to potentially build pressure or capitalise on opportunity that we didn’t take,” Joe Schmidt told reporters.

“If you don’t get those and you don’t grab those and you don’t create a little bit of doubt in their mind that we’re close enough and dangerous enough, then that a little bit of frustration.

“But as I said, first half, I felt we fought really, really hard. We end up with a few good line breaks and a few opportunities… when Max (Jorgensen) did his (line break), there was that little bit of space behind there to look for if he could’ve found it.

“For us, it would’ve put us potentially back to 23-19 and then you’re right in the game again. We got so much good support today that I’m sure people would have been really excited about and obviously so would we.”

Flyhalf Noah Lolesio kicked a penalty goal in the 46^t minute to cut the Springboks’ lead down to an 18-12 margin. But two quick tries to replacement hooker Malcolm Marx took away any hopes of what would’ve been a surprising Wallabies win.

That leaves Australia at the bottom of The Rugby Championship standings after two rounds. They’re the only team yet to claim a victory in this year’s competition, with Argentina and New Zealand splitting their series in Aotearoa with one win each.

While the Wallabies showed signs of improvement – with Angus Bell impressing in the first half, and so did Noah Lolesio in the No. 10 jumper – “it’s not going to get any easier.” All four teams have a week off but Australia will have one eye on their Tests in Argentina.

The Wallabies will take on Los Pumas in two Tests, while the Springboks host the All Blacks. Argentina will be riding a wave of confidence after stunning New Zealand in Wellington recently, and they’ll be eager to return to winning ways after losing at Eden Park.

“Firstly, they are a great bunch of men and they are incredibly proud to play for their country and incredibly disappointed not to be successful when they are playing for their country,” Schmidt explained.

“One of the things about this competition is it’s not going to get any easier. We play three of the four semi-finalists (from last year’s Rugby World Cup) and we weren’t one of them so it doesn’t get easier going to Argentina next.

“They’ll be disappointed with their first-half earlier tonight but that demonstrated just how tough they can be to beat when they toppled the All Blacks and didn’t even give them a bonus point.

“I’ve known (Argentina coach) Felipe Contepomi for a long time, I have a lot of respect for his rugby intellect and he’s a top man. Being friends certainly stops at kick-off, though, so they won’t be taking it easy on us and we’ll try to make things difficult for them.”