Beale – ‘Stick by us’

Editor

Wallabies playmaker Kurtley Beale has asked Australian rugby fans not to give up on him and his teammates after their 54-34 defeat to the All Blacks in Sydney on Saturday.

A diabolical defensive performance saw the Wallabies leak six tries in the first-half and go in to the interval 40-6 behind.

It was Beale's first Test in two years since recently returning from his time in the Premiership with the Wasps and he is the first to admit that their performance in the Rugby Championship opener was below-par.

"We kind of let ourselves down in that first half," Beale told Sky Sports.

"We are working hard, we do care and we love playing rugby for Australia.

"As a group, we're going to keep playing rugby and try and deliver the brand of rugby that everyone wants to see.

"We're just going to keep focusing on that and hopefully everybody can just stick by us."

Meanwhile, head coach Michael Cheika has slammed his side's defensive display but has rallied the troops to bounce back.

"There's no 1,2,3 step process for that type of stuff," Cheika said.

"It comes down to a deep belief between players. This group of players here, they've got a very strong connection.

"I've seen it over this first month that they've been together. This is a roadblock in front of us of course and it's going to knock us down but it's not going to stop us."