Errors are the enemy

Clean rugby will smash Kiwis

THE Wallabies are desperate to “smash” the All Blacks but need to be more clinical in this weekend’s mustwin third Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney, assistant coach Scott Wisemantel said on Wednesday.

Wisemantel denied the Australians’ 27- 7 loss in Auckland on October 18 was because focus wavered after a pulsating 16- 16 draw in the Bledisloe opener a week earlier.

He said Dave Rennie’s men had the right attitude but poor execution let them down, pointing to a lack of accuracy that included 40 missed tackles and numerous turnovers.

“There wasn’t a drop- off — the intensity, the intent, was good,” said Wisemantel, who joined Rennie’s coaching staff from England, the team that humbled the All Blacks in last year’s Rugby World Cup semi- finals.

“You saw the intent. We went out there to score tries, we went out there to smash them — the problem was that we didn’t control the game, we were inaccurate and that’s what cost us.”

Wisemantel, a former rugby league player with Parramatta Eels, also warned his players against kicking the ball to Caleb Clarke, the hulking All Black rookie who drew comparisons to Jonah Lomu in Auckland.

“If you give Caleb Clarke the ball, running forward at 100 miles an hour, he’s going to hurt you,” he said.

“So you just don’t give him the ball going forward at 100 miles an hour.”

Wisemantel suggested the Wallabies’ error rate in Auckland made the All Blacks look good, questioning the commonly held view that the New Zealanders found another gear after their lacklustre showing in Wellington.

“Did they take it up a notch or were we inaccurate?” he asked reporters. Wisemantel said ironing out mistakes had been the goal for the match in Sydney, which the Wallabies must win to have a chance of claiming the Bledisloe.