It might seem an odd thing to say when you’ve been beaten by a record 43-5 margin, but former Wallabies Rod Kafer, Phil Kearns and Matt Giteau believe Dave Rennie’s young men will only benefit from the exposure against the All Blacks.
Tensions were high on Saturday night, as the wheels fell off for the Wallabies on a wet and miserable night in Sydney.
The result meant the Bledisloe Cup remains on New Zealand soil for an 18th consecutive year.
For months Kafer – one of the main architects behind the scenes in Australian rugby, who served as a player-coach during their 1999 World Cup glory and with the Brumbies during their pomp – has been calling for Wallabies selectors to invest in youth.
As recently as August, Kafer called for the Wallabies to exclusively pick players under the age of 24 and follow the lead of France last year by building towards the 2023 World Cup.
On Saturday, Rennie put out one of the Wallabies’ least experienced backlines this century, with only three of the back seven boasting more than five Tests of experience.
Adding to the rawness of the side, for the first time in 69 years the Wallabies had a 10 and 12 debuting on the same night.
In the moments after the Wallabies’ heaviest defeat in trans-Tasman history, Kafer was still advocating that message.
“The first thing about young sides is that you’ve got to give them time and I’m delighted to see the selectors have (decided) to give these players a go,” Kafer said in commentary for Fox Sports.
“You’ve got to start somewhere, we’ve all been there, young men in games of rugby that are too big for you, and you learn a lot.
“I’m pretty happy, not with the loss, but with us giving the opportunity to give these young players a go, it’s critical. We’ve got to get them in, you’ve got to give them a chance, you’ve got to let them lose, they’ve got to learn, because we know they’ll get better.”
Earlier, in the moments before full-time, the rugby pundit also delivered that same message.
“The young men out there (need) to understand what it’s like to lose when you don’t cherish possession,” he said.
“Possession in Test matches is critical. Having it and giving it up, and only giving it up when you want to give it up, only giving it up in a place where you find an advantage either through a good kick, a tactical kick or generating pressure on the opposition. The Wallabies have cheaply given away possession, thrown passes that didn’t need to be thrown, but that’s what youth do.
“I’m delighted to see these young men out playing for the Wallabies, this next generation, they need time in the saddle to understand how to play Test matches. Test matches aren’t won with pop passes and flicks out of contact, they’re won with pressure, momentum, consistency, they’ll learn in time.”
While two-time World Cup winning Wallaby and former captain Phil Kearns said he wasn’t “delighted” about the result, he agreed that the experience could be positively harnessed.
“No, not time to panic,” Kearns said.
“It’s a real learning time. They’ve got a couple of years until the next world cup, which we’ve known about. They’ll see New Zealand lift this Bledisloe Cup and, again, for a lot of these players who haven’t been in this side before, this’ll be the first time that guys like Harry Wilson and Noah Lolesio and Irae Simone and Jordan Petaia and Filipo Daugunu that they’ll see New Zealand raise it against then and they’ll use that down the track.”
Kearns also reflected on his own journey with the Wallabies, which included an ill-fated trip to New Zealand where they were hammered in 1990 yet one year later they were world champions.
"I remember going back to 1990, our first game in New Zealand with the Wallabies, we got done 36-0 (21-6)," Kearns said in commentary for Fox Sports.
"We were called the 'Woeful Wallabies', and the next Test was close (27-17) and the final Test we won (21-9 )at Athletic Park in Wellington. I get a similar sense with this side, there's a couple of lessons that they've learned in the last couple of weeks but the experience that they've had will be critical in their development."
While debutants Lolesio, in particular, had a tough entrance to Test match rugby, he was far from alone with Simone and inexperienced backs Petaia and Daugunu also showing the immaturity of being new to international rugby.
There were, however, some sparks with fellow debutants Fraser McReight and Tate McDermott having a number of strong touches after coming on in the second half, while Hunter Paisami once again showed plenty of endeavor and punch in his third match.
Wallabies centurion Matt Giteau took to social media the morning after the result and too called for patience.
“A lot of negative press about the Wallabies at the moment,” he wrote on Twitter.
“I agree, last night wasn’t great but we need to support and show patience with this young team as they build confidence. A lot of great talent getting capped vs the best team in the world. Hard ask. Congrats to the debutants.”
Told that Australian fans had run out of patience, Giteau said he understood the public's frustration but maintained that they would benefit from the exposure.
“These kids will only grow from this,” he said.
“They haven’t been playing since 2002 so don’t deserve the baggage that comes with the time since we had the Bledisloe.”
As Kafer touched on, all evening the Wallabies failed to maintain pressure by turning away possession through wasteful kicks and unnecessary offloads.
In his post-match interview, Rennie said that was the difference between the two sides.
“When we got go-forward we put them under a little bit of heat, but you’ve got to do it multi-phase and that’s where the All Blacks are impressive,” the former Chiefs coach said.
“They can go phase after phase and they can hurt you with their ability to look after the ball and defend when they’re stressed. We’ve got a long way to go, but disappointed with tonight – we’re better than that.”
Asked whether he would continue to “invest” in youth, Rennie said the Wallabies picked a team that they thought could win but dismissed any suggestion they were merely using the Bledisloe series as an opportunity to blood experience.
“Absolutely. The team we picked today was the team that we thought was good enough to do the job and our best options,” he said.
“It’s not a case of just giving the young fellas a run.
“We’re confident that these boys will bounce back.”
The Wallabies will play the All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium on November 7, with two Tests against the Pumas to follow in the southern hemisphere’s Tri Nations series.
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