‘It’s one of the most bizarre games I’ve ever been involved in’ – Joe Schmidt voice out after loss to Springboks.
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt bemoaned his side’s inability to to take their opportunities after they suffered a 30-12 defeat to the Springboks in their Rugby Championship Test in Perth on Saturday.
The Springboks were full value for their win as they secured their second successive bonus-point victory courtesy of four unanswered tries which consolidates their position at the top of the standings.
By contrast, Australia was left to ponder what could have been as they were more competitive than last week – when the Boks clinched a 33-7 victory in Brisbane – especially during the opening half as South Africa held a slender 11-9 lead at half-time.
The Wallabies could have been in front at the interval but fly-half Noah Lolesio was off target with a routine penalty kick on the stroke of half-time.
Missed penalty proved costly
Schmidt admitted that it was another tough day at the office for his side but believes things could have been different if Lolesio slotted that kick before the break.
“It was tough going,” he told Stan Sport after the match. “I thought we almost got our nose in front at half-time, which would have been a lift for the players, I think, because they were a little bit beaten up coming in at half-time.
“It was very physical again, as it always is against the Springboks.
“So they capitalised on that, and it made it pretty tough work. We had a couple of chances.
“Lukhan (Salakai-Loto) just put one down in front of the post that we were pretty close with, and those sort of things really hurt us, because on the rebound they made things very tough for us.”
Injuries wreaked havoc with the Wallabies ahead of the second half as front-rowers Allan Alaalatoa and Angus Bell did not come out after the interval.
That meant the scrums were uncontested when replacement prop James Slipper failed an HIA and when hooker Josh Nasser also left the field through injury the Wallabies were forced to play with 14 men for a minute before returning to their full compliment of players.
Schmidt said that situation is something which was completely new to him at Test level.
“It’s probably one of the most bizarre games I’ve ever been involved in,” he said. “In over 100 Test matches that I’ve been involved in, I’ve never had a situation like that before.
‘Never had a situation like that before’
“It happened so early in the game as well. When Slips got a head knock right after half-time.
“And then we were straight down. And then we played with 14 for a period of time before the officials worked out that we were still entitled to have a full pack because of the HIA.
“But I still am proud of the way that the guys fought their way through that second half. And the way that they stayed in the fight in the first half. It could have been, and I know it could have been is easy to say, but it could have been 12-11 at half-time and that would have been a massive lift for the boys.”
