Joe Schmidt urges fans not to ‘give up’ on ‘hurt’ Wallabies after disastrous Autumn series
Joe Schmidt urges fans not to 'give up' on 'hurt' Wallabies after disastrous Autumn series
Head coach Joe Schmidt has called on fans not to give up on the Wallabies, after an Autumn Nations Series that saw his side lose all four of their matches against northern hemisphere opposition.
The men in gold got off to a rocky start against Japan, narrowly defeating them at the end of October. But they failed to push on as they headed further north, instead losing by almost 20 points to England a week later.
Arguably, their best chance at a victory came the following week, as they travelled to Udine to face a hungry Italian side. It was a close match, but once again it was the home side who would take the spoils. Disappointing showings against Ireland and France followed, resulting in a combined 92 points conceded.
Despite the disappointing Autumn, Schmidt insists the Wallabies will get better.
Speaking to Stan Sports following the match, the 60-year-old said: “We’re disappointed we didn’t finish with the victory that I know you would have all loved to see, but the players have made a heck of an effort.
“There’s 15 tests in 22 weeks with the amount of travel they’ve had, I just admire the way they have dusted themselves off and gone again. And it wasn’t for lack of effort tonight, a little bit more execution, and they will get better. So please don’t give up on them.”
Captain Harry Wilson reflected on the France defeat, saying: “So disappointing there, the game was there for us again. Our A zone wasn’t good enough tonight. We had a lot of opportunities there. We got really close, but weren’t good enough to win the test match.
“It’s disappointing, because we put them under a lot of pressure there too early in the game, and there at the end, we just weren’t good enough.
“It’s obviously been such a disappointing tour to lose four games here. We’re hurting. But the one thing is, the boys have been working so hard.
“We’ve been working hard at training, the prep, going behind the scenes, like the boys haven’t wavered, and I’m really proud of the team for keeping running up every week. The results have been hurting us, and I hope everyone knows at home how much it has been hurting us, because we just want to be winning.
“We love putting on the gold jersey, and not getting the results hurts. But we’ll keep tipping in, and we’ll enjoy the time off before we rip in next year.”
