Dave Rennie knows that one hot day doesn’t make a summer.
Indeed, the Wallabies were far from hot last weekend but left Adelaide with a win and a wave of positive headlines after knocking over the world champions.
In reality, though, the Wallabies should have paid the price for being smashed at the set-piece and in almost all areas of the game.
The Wallabies gave away 16 penalties compared to the Springboks’ nine, lost six lineouts and two scrums.
In the open play they missed 24 tackles and allowed the Springboks to get 11 offloads away compared to four.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
Where the Springboks fell down is that they turned the ball over on 16 occasions and Handre Pollard, their World Cup-winning playmaker missed two relatively simple shots at goal, while they failed to turn half chances into tryscoring moments.
In stark contrast the Wallabies showed preciseness in attack seldom showed over the years.
It is why Rennie was hardly breathing a sigh of relief on Thursday when he sarcastically encouraged one reporter to change his “positive line of questioning” when probed around the areas of improvement needed off the bench by the finishers and namely Taniela Tupou.
Asked what was making him happy, Rennie responded by saying “not your questions”.
Rennie, however, took a different direction to the question and said he was not resting on his laurels and had set his mind on ensuring the Wallabies backed up their 25-18 win over the Springboks with another against a success-deprived Sydney audience on Saturday.
“The interesting thing is when you win people think it’s relief, and really my thoughts five minutes after the game are how do we win next week,” he said.
“And so the preparation and thinking is going into what our week looks like, how do we make sure that we create edge after a win rather than being satisfied with that.
“We’ve had a really good week of preparation, nice to be working with the same group of guys, and as a group of coaches, we’ve made sure that we’ve bought edge and the leaders have done a great job around driving expectations.
“We know we’re going to need to be better because we gave away a lot of penalties last week, and the Springboks weren’t able to hurt us, especially in our second 20 (minutes).
“They are too good a side for us to give them as many opportunities again.”
READ MORE
‘He still harbours aspirations’: Why history making Cheika could yet coach the Wallabies again
TEAM NEWS: Wallabies’ 74-year record broken as Rennie keeps the faith for Sydney after Springboks triumph
Rennie is not wrong, and with trophies on the line, including The Rugby Championship and shortly the Bledisloe Cup, going back to back is vital heading into consecutive Tests against the All Blacks.
The Springboks have made eight changes to their starting side for the rematch.
While the sweeping changes might be perceived as a team on the back foot, whether or not the Wallabies can take advantage of the continuity of naming an unchanged side remains to be seen.
After all, only the All Blacks and France can rival the Springboks for depth.
“The depth in the Springboks is phenomenal,” Rennie said.
“They’ve made changes, I’d imagine some based on form and some based on injury, we’ve been through that as well and you just focus on who you’ve got and you get on with it.
“What we know is that it’s still a quality Springboks side, there’s a little bit of youth and energy included, so we’re well aware of the threat they pose.”
READ MORE
COLUMN: Wallabies ‘kid’ leads generation of young guns out of the shadows in huge Springboks statement
‘ON THE IMPROVE’: Rennie keeps door ajar for captain Hooper’s return ahead of crucial Wallabies month
