Eddie Jones put a brave face on another “terrible” Wallabies defeat Saturday, insisting he saw enough from his team to believe they could haul themselves out of their slump – and asking Wallabies fans to ‘pray’ for a turnaround.
The former England boss opted for a fresh side against New Zealand with seven new faces from the team that lost to Argentina a fortnight ago as he tries to nail down his best XV for the World Cup in France.
He put them under orders to make a fast start and they were impressive in the opening 20 minutes, but their heads went down when the All Blacks hit their stride at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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“Obviously very disappointed about the result, the scoreline, that’s a real negative for us,” said the coach, describing the 38-7 defeat as “terrible”.
“It was a big crowd and we wanted to show that this was a new team.
“We still seem to get disappointed on the field when we don’t get the rewards that we think we deserve, which is an area we continue to work on.
“But I really liked the way we came out in the first 20 of the first half and the first 15 or 20 of the second half as well,” he added.
The Wallabies were hampered by a pair of yellow cards to Marika Koroibete and Taniela Tupou, with four of New Zealand’s six tries coming when they were a man down as ill-discipline again haunted them.
Despite the third straight loss of his reign, injuries to Tupou and Allan Alaalatoa, and with the clock ticking to the September-October World Cup, Jones said he wasn’t completely disheartened.
“It’s still a work in progress,” he said. “But what I liked about the team tonight was the way tactically they took on New Zealand in the first 20 minutes.
“We can turn that 20 minutes into longer, which we’re quite capable of doing.
“Where there’s life, there’s hope,” he added.
“I’ve coached teams like this before and you can turn it around. I saw enough there today to know that we can be a bloody good team.
“You’re sitting there thinking: ‘S**t, what’s this bloke talking about?’ But I’m telling you boys, we can turn it around and be a very good team.
“So for the fans, they got to keep being hopeful. Keep praying, whatever God they’ve got keep praying to that we turn it around. We will.”
Nic White said the team have to move on and keep faith.
He told Channel 9: “A huge crowd came out and we let them down. Tonight hurts (but) we have a World Cup at the end of the year and we have to move on quick.
“At the moment we’re not getting a complete performance, there were a couple of tries we kind of gifted them. It bloody hurts but we’ll build and fine those good areas, continue to work hard. We’ve got to keep building – we’ve got have faith. It’s hard at the moment. It’s hard for fans but stay with us we’ll keep working.”
And Wallabies great Tim Horan thinks there were promising signs looking forward.
“All the Wallabies fans and players should be gutted,” Horan said on Channel 9.
“No one wants to see the Wallabies beaten by that much. But I saw enough in 56 minutes to give me and hopefully the fans, hope leading into next Saturday and the World Cup.
“I thought they were more physical at the breakdown, defence was a lot better, and they needed to score a try in that 16 minutes in the second half.”
But not everyone is convinced, with former England international Andy Goode laying the boot into Jones.
He wrote on Twitter: “Eddie Jones has taken the Wallabies backwards quicker than I used to run to the buffet!
“Whoever sacked Dave Rennie at Australian Rugby needs sacking for being inept at their job! #EddieOut”.
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