Dave Rennie: Record loss to Argentina is ‘massive disappointment’

Dylan Coetzee

14 Aug 2022 8:10 AM

Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie was bitterly disappointed with his team’s performance in their record 48-17 loss to Michael Cheika’s Argentina side in San Juan.

Rennie’s men were blown away by an outstanding performance from Los Pumas, who were the better team by a margin on the day.

Dominated in the collision area

The coach identified the collision point as an area where Argentina dominated his side and scored off clever tactical kicks.

“Massive disappointment,” Rennie said after the game.

“We conceded four tries with kicks in behind us and certainly got dominated in the collision area.

“We want to earn the respect of the country and you don’t do it with a performance like that.”

A 20th-minute James O’Connor try was ruled out due to an illegal cleanout from stand-in skipper James Slipper. This proved to be a massive moment in the game and Los Pumas did not look back as they ran away with a memorable win.

“It was just the way they saw it – it was a pretty important call as at the time it would have put us in front but you’ve got to take that,” Rennie said.

“We created opportunities that if you nail you stay in the game and can build some pressure, but we couldn’t buy a trick, especially second half.”

The team was good enough to win

The Wallabies have struggled with injury in 2022, losing Quade Cooper, Folau Fainga’a and Samu Kerevi, amongst others. However, Rennie insists that the team selected was good enough to get over the line.

“We had a good enough side to do the job … whoever pulls the jersey on has got to front and we weren’t good enough,” he said.

“We’ve got to be better and we’ve got to own that – it’s on us as coaches and it’s on the players.”

Australia is placed second on the Rugby Championship table and will return home to welcome South Africa for a two-match tour down under as they hope to bounce back from a poor performance.

Argentina