Australia’s young team now know the level they need to reach in international rugby after their 33-7 hammering at the hands of South Africa in the Rugby Championship on Saturday, new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said.
World champions South Africa ran in five tries in Brisbane, dominated the physical battle and suffocated the home side with their rush defence as they matched their biggest ever win against their hosts on Australian soil.
“They’re an incredibly powerful side, an experienced side and, they won that physical battle today,” Schmidt told Stan Sport. “Their breakdown was really strong and they dominated possession and territory in that first half, which saps the strength out of the boys a little bit.
“It would have been great to get a little bit more out of the game, but we’ve got a benchmark and it wasn’t a massive shock to us as to where the Springboks would be and it’s somewhere that we’re going to have to build towards.”
The teams meet for a second Rugby Championship encounter in Perth next Saturday for what will be just a fifth game in charge for Schmidt, who may have a few walking wounded.
“We might have lost some troops, I’m not sure about Filipo Daugunu, Nick Frost or Jeremy Williams, they all came off with knocks of one sort and another,” Schmidt said.
“But we’ve had a few guys come in this week like Cory Toole and Max Jorgensen and Marika Koroibete.”
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus enjoyed the creativity his team showed with ball in hand but said they need to be more clinical next week against what he expects to be an improved Australia.
“The creativity comes from within the group, the players and management, but you first have to get forward dominance and field position. Today it worked, next week we might suffer,” he said.
“We didn’t cherish the ball and look after it like it was a piece of gold. But at times there was good structure and real intent, which is what we want. I was happy with us keeping pressure on them and trying to break them down.
“A week in rugby is a long time, one or two injuries could change things. Joe Schmidt is a brilliant coach, I was nervous about what he was cooking up. Next week they will be better, it will be tougher for us.”
