‘Hard to watch’: One reason it went wrong for Wallabies against Springboks

Former Wallabies halfback Nick Phipps has weighed in on what made last weekend’s 30-12 loss to the world champion Springboks “hard to watch.” Stephen Hoiles and Morgan Turinui also chimed in on one of the ways it went wrong for the Wallabies in Perth.

Following the Wallabies’ 26-point loss to the same Rugby Championship rival one week earlier in Brisbane, the men in gold looked to bounce back on the west coast. As the forecast predicted, the Test was played in very wet conditions at Optus Stadium.

Noah Lolesio was named in the Wallabies’ No. 10 jumper for the fourth time this year, but coach Joe Schmidt changed who would partner the 24-year-old in the halves. Test veteran Nic White was promoted to the starting side, and that seemed to benefit the Wallabies’ attack at times.

The former ACT Brumbies teammates combined well as the Wallabies threw the ball around a bit more than what they had seven days earlier. White and Lolesio linked up with Tom Wright at one stage which created the space for a perfectly executed 50/22 late in the first term.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. While there were glimpses of promise in the Wallabies’ attack, Nick Phipps has criticised how they weren’t able to move Springbok defenders around the park more effectively.

“It’s not hard to develop, especially the quality of players they’ve all got, right? They’re the best players in the Super Rugby system, they should be able to just have a chat about that on the run,” the former Wallabies halfback said on Stan Sports’ Between Two Posts.

“I can only think that maybe they were a little bit nervous about the weather, they would think you can’t really play too much off that… in their attacking zone, it was very one out. It was always one off the halfback, or then when it did go to the backs, it would just be a truck by Hunter (Paisami).

“Noah didn’t really get his hands on the ball enough. The first trigger I saw out the back of a forward pod was 50 minutes into the game. I just know when we played… when you’re playing South Africa, you’ve got to move them around. They’ve got to be running.

“That’s why it was a little bit hard to watch when you want them to stress the edges, move their forwards all to one side of the field, then we’ll play out the back a few more times, move them all to the other side of the field.

“I think maybe they were thinking about the weather a little but you’ve got to be pushing the button against South Africa.”

Lolesio opened the scoring inside the first few minutes with a successful shot at goal from close range. Much to the delight of Wallabies fans in attendance who toughed it out in rainy conditions themselves, the hosts had landed the first blow.

But South Africa rallied and probably should’ve piled on more points going into half-time. Springboks flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and winger Makazole Mapimpi kept the Wallabies in with a chance as they both bombed genuine try-scoring opportunities.

Instead, Lolesio’s accurate goal-kicking boot meant the Wallabies went into the break two points down – they would’ve been ahead if the playmaker had converted one last shot at goal before the two teams made their way to the sheds, too.

But it was a different story during the second half.

Replacement hooker Malcolm Marx scored two of the Springboks’ three second-half tries as the world champions showed their class. It was a bit tense at times but the result never seemed in doubt with 20 to play as the visitors claimed their second successive win Down Under.

“You don’t need to be too creative. You don’t need to have three passes in every play to get wide but they’re not deep in their attacking carries, the Wallabies, so then the Springboks have line speed,” Stephen Hoiles explained.

“Because South Africa are so direct and physical, we’re running into them and we’re brave, they’re brave, (but) they’re just bigger and stronger, so they’re just bashing us. Then we’re going around the corner so no one’s moving defensively.

“You don’t have to go side to side the whole time, you can just get a little bit more variety in where you carry on the field.

“Their big boys were just standing there, just weren’t moving essentially.”

With the Wallabies losing two matches to the Springboks by a combined score of 63-19, there’s a lot to critique, question and ponder ahead of the team’s upcoming Tests against Los Pumas in Argentina.

However, the analysis of Phipps, Hoiles and Morgan Turinui highlights an area of concern for the Wallabies. It’s certainly something for the Aussies to consider and learn from as they look to bounce back in just under two weeks.

Morgan Turinui added: “We have lots of people that watch this show that are quite analytical… watch how many times it was the second defender that was able to make just a good, straight shot on our attackers.

“The Wallabies deliberately went in there because they think that was the better option than risking it out there. The issue is two weeks in a row… if you’re not winning that, you just don’t move them around.”