They might have earned some admiration with coming away from New Zealand with one result to keep the Bledisloe series alive, but Dave Rennie says “respect” will only be won within the Australian community by winning.
After their tenacious draw in Wellington, the Wallabies couldn’t repeat their stirring Bledisloe I performance and were well beaten at Eden Park last Sunday. The 20-point defeat leaves the Wallabies needing to win their next two Tests against the All Blacks to win the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002.
Reflecting on his first two matches in charge of the Wallabies, Rennie was encouraged by their efforts but ultimately said his side would only win respect by winning consistently.
“I think the first Test showed there is a lot of character in this group,” Rennie told reporters on Friday.
“I reckon we’ve got a massive upside and we’re going to get better over time and that’s why we’re very excited about having a lot of Tests in quick succession.
“What we know is there is an expectation that we need to win now. Ultimately, you earn respect with how you perform and I think we earned a lot of respect in game one and we took a step backwards last week. Not through attitude or effort, but through accuracy so we need to be better. I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
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After a quick-fire two-day break to recharge the batteries after back-to-back Tests across the ditch, the Wallabies reassembled at their Hunter Valley base on Thursday.
Second playmaker Matt To’omua is the only real injury concern for Rennie, with the inside centre having further scans on Friday to determine the severity of his groin injury.
The expectation is, however, that To’omua will miss the remainder of the Test season.
In his absence, Hunter Paisami – who started the opening two Tests at outside centre – and Brumbies No.12 Irae Simone are the frontrunners to fill the void left by To’omua.
By shifting Paisami to 12, it would allow Rennie to promote 20-year-old sensation Jordan Petaia back into the starting side at 13, the position he looked threatening with every touch of the ball after coming on for To’omua late in the first half during the Eden Park loss. But by handing Simone a debut start, it would continue in the recent tradition of the national coach picking players in their preferred positions.
To'omua's injury is likely to be offset somewhat by the return of experienced fullback Dane Haylett-Petty, who is once again fit and running with the Wallabies after recovering from his own injury frustrations.
If Haylett-Petty was to return, it would likely to be at the expense of Tom Banks, who was solid throughout the opening two Tests but failed to own the position left open by Kurtley Beale's departure to France. What Haylett-Petty would offer the Wallabies is an elusive figure at the back and give them a stronger playmaking option to complement James O'Connor, who is expected to keep the No.10 jersey.
While Rennie admitted he was keen to “blood” some players, it’s less likely he will make wholesale changes for Bledisloe III in Sydney on October 31 for experience sake given the series is still alive.
He did, however, rubbish the idea that he’d hesitate handing any of the 44-man squad a callup because of a lack of match practice.
“No, we’ve worked everyone really hard even though we’ve had 40-odd at training,” Rennie said.
“There’s a lot of moving parts but we’ve got a lot of work into all these guys so we’re pretty confident we can take anyone from that group and they’ll be ready to go.”
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What remains clear though under Rennie is that he isn’t afraid of making changes and form on the training paddock is king.
“Our philosophy around earning the right to play hasn’t changed,” he said.
“Whatever changes we make will be based on the fact that we think certain individuals are ready to go and deserve an opportunity or maybe the guys who wore the jersey previously haven’t nailed it.
"There’s certainly a lot of competition for places. We’re not scared to make changes.”
Meanwhile, the Wallabies will wear their Indigenous jersey during Bledisloe III.
Rennie said the jersey paid tribute to Australia's DNA.
