The Wallabies are desperate to achieve greater consistency when they head to Europe on their spring tour later this month, but they will have to contend with an under-strength side due to injuries and unavailability.
Australia arrived home on Sunday after a deflating 40-16 defeat to the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday night. The Wallabies (10 points) finished third on the Rugby Championship standings with two wins from six Tests, behind New Zealand (19) and South Africa (18).
“It was a mixed bag, wasn’t it?” admitted coach Dave Rennie. “We had a couple of good performances in there. Maybe three good performances and three under par.”
Outclassed by the All Blacks in almost every area, the Wallabies will be spared the usual Monday morning review. Instead, the players will go their separate ways before flying to Europe on October 18 for Tests against Scotland, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales.
The first match, against Scotland, takes place on October 29, before another four matches across consecutive weekends which are sure to test the Wallabies’ depth.
Dave Rennie at Eden Park.Credit:Getty
Rennie has bemoaned Australia’s inconsistency time and time again this year – the Wallabies haven’t won back-to-back Tests since last October – but believes five brutal matches in a row on the spring tour will benefit the group.
If the Wallabies dish up similar seesawing performances in a World Cup, they won’t better their quarter-final effort in 2019.
“It’s a tough tour but as we’ve talked about we need to play a lot of footy,” Rennie said. “We’ve got a lot of young men who the more we play, the better they will be heading into a World Cup year.
“If you go into a World Cup and you have a great performance one week and a poor one the next, then you’re out. They’re the shifts we need to make.”
Rennie said a call on Michael Hooper’s availability would be made in coming weeks. The Wallabies skipper has not played a Test since July, citing mindset issues.
His replacement for the time being, James slipper, is just as frustrated by the team’s inability to string wins together.
“There’s plenty of hope. The confidence is in the group, definitely,” Slipper said. “I think our biggest aspect we need to improve on is the consistency. We manage to put in a good performance and then back it up with a poor one. We do that regularly. That’s probably something we need to really work on because you can’t do that at a World Cup.”
Ireland and France are the top two ranked sides in the world and will pose a huge challenge at home, while Scotland (sixth) and Wales (seventh) both beat Australia last November when the Wallabies went to the northern hemisphere.
The Wallabies will be without one of their best players this year in Marika Koroibete, who returns to Japan for his club’s pre-season. Although Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper remain in the injury ward, both were never going to be available for the tour due to an agreement with their Japanese teams.
Bernard Foley has stated his desire to tour while Tom Banks is likely to be included in the squad after recovering from a broken arm. He is contracted with Australian rugby until the end of the year, despite accepting a lucrative deal in Japan next year.
Centre Lalakai Foketi may require shoulder surgery, which has put his availability for the tour in doubt. Kurtley Beale is likely to play a big role on the spring tour, while Rennie may consider bringing Will Skelton into the touring party like he did last year.
Australia lost all three matches on last year’s spring tour. Two of those defeats, against Scotland and Wales, were by two points and one point, respectively.
