Wallabies look to harness ‘hurt’
The Wallabies will attempt to harness the pain of their controversial Bledisloe Cup defeat in Melbourne – and confidence gained from a rousing second-half comeback – to bring an end to the long-running drought at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.
Keen to move on from the contentious time-wasting call of referee Mathieu Raynal in the 80th minute at Marvel Stadium, Wallabies vice-captain Allan Ala’alatoa said the team had reviewed its failings in the dying moments and would take steps to ensure it can take the referee out of the equation in the future.
Ala’alatoa and centre Lalakai Foketi also sought to publicly back No10 Bernard Foley, who was the player penalised by Raynal for not kicking the ball ‘‘without delay’’. The pair said Foley’s calm words behind the posts after they’d gone down 31-13 was the reason they were leading 37-34 in the last minute.
‘‘You could tell he was down [post-match] and disappointed with the result, but there was no need for him to apologise to us,’’ Foketi said. ‘‘We all thought he had a great game and he was one of the main reasons we had an opportunity there to compete for the win. We back ‘Nardy’ [Foley], and everyone in here, 100%.’’
Foketi also explained his animated actions in the last minute, given vision of him screaming at Foley has spun around the world, and been used as evidence by those who back Raynal’s decision.
‘‘To show the character within the lads, and to come back from a few points down and to give ourselves an opportunity to win the game in those last couple of minutes ... it was awesome and with the emotion, with the videos that have come out of me, I thought we gave ourselves an opportunity to win,’’ Foketi said.
‘‘Once that whistle was blown, it gave them a sniff back to take victory.’’
Ala’alatoa said senior players and staff reviewed the moment on Sunday and took lessons.
‘‘We can only control what we can control and you have to take the ref’s decision out of it. From our perspective as leaders, we have to look at that moment about how we can be better,’’ Ala’alatoa said.
‘‘One is getting a clear call, and executing it straight away. That was the big two learning points from that scenario at the end if that game.’’
The players are now ready for possibility a referee will make a game-defining call out of the blue in the last minute.
‘‘That’s our learning from that game as well. I have never been part of a rugby game where that’s happened, before. But now we have learned that, in the process of making those decisions, we need to be better,’’ Ala’alatoa said.
The Wallabies haven’t won at Eden Park since 1986 and while hope springs anew each year, the same result eventuates. The extraordinary scenes at Marvel Stadium bring a new motivation to the equation.
‘‘The boys are hurting and you can see that, not only the boys but the staff as well. We just have to make sure we channel that in the right direction. We have to got to be clinical with the way we play.’’
The Wallabies will be without Rob Leota who has suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon.