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Coach Dave rennie insisted that he would not get carried away after the Wallabies He surprised the All Blacks, but admitted to being excited about where he could take his new team.
In a major upheaval, Australia edged New Zealand 24-22 on Saturday in a Tri Nations clash in Brisbane, just a week after an embarrassing 43-5 bloodbath in Sydney.
It restored some credibility to a team widely flayed by its bug-ridden performance in Sydney, with Rennie’s bid for three debutants and moving Reece Hodge from his usual wing or fullback midfielder position paying off.
Australia had already lost the Bledisloe Cup for the 18th year in a row before Saturday, but managed to come out of the four-game series with one win, one draw and two losses.
Rennie, who replaced Michael Cheika after last year’s World Cup, said it was crushing to miss the trans-Tasman trophy again and that they should build on Saturday’s victory.
“What it tells us is that if we work hard enough for each other, we can get results against anyone,” he said.
“But it doesn’t count for much unless we back him up against Argentina in a couple of weeks.”
While the victory did not cover the cracks exposed in the last two tests, Rennie was encouraged by the debuts of winger Tom Wright, who scored a try with his first touch in international rugby, and Lachie Swinton, despite sending the huge wing. out for a high tackle.
“We are trying to grow our game. There are a lot of things that we haven’t had time to do because of the (Covid) situation, so (I’m) excited about where we can take this team,” Rennie said.
“But we’re not going to get carried away. It was a great performance, but we have to keep building on that.”
Young prop Angus Bell also made an impact off the bench in his first game.
“It’s a good start for them and we hope it’s the norm,” skipper Michael Hooper said of the newcomers.
“We have no doubts about where we want to go as a team and those guys will be a determining factor in that.
“So suppressing that feeling and pushing each other and demanding more from each other, what young people have brought and vice versa from top to bottom, is going to be important in getting where we want to go.”
The Australian media were impressed, with the Sydney Morning Herald saying: “The Wallabies’ first new era victory points to a brighter future”, while the Australian called the victory “one of the great changes in Australian rugby” .
The Wallabies have a bye week before resuming Tri Nations action against Argentina, while New Zealand must regroup to face the Pumas on Saturday in Sydney, their fifth test since October 11.
Coach Ian Foster called Brisbane’s loss “difficult”, with the All Blacks also reduced to 14 men in the first half after Ofa Tu’ungafasi was sent off for the same offense as Swinton.
“It’s not nice to lose. It was a game where we still had chances in the last half,” he told reporters.
“We had to maintain a bit of composure, but we actually allowed too many soft penalties, one with a yellow card and another two or three to give kickable penalties.
“We have to learn from that.”
Captain Sam Cane credited Australia with showing more passion in a field where they have traditionally done well. The Wallabies have now won their last seven Tests at Suncorp Stadium.
“It’s kind of a reality check. We will see ourselves and have to improve a lot next week,” he said.
