Wallabies scrumhalf Tate McDermott concedes the side needs to sharpen their attack if they are to take down Argentina in Buenos Aires.
McDermott admits they are still adjusting to life under coach Joe Schmidt following back-to-back defeats to the Springboks.
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Their attack was smothered by the world champions, managing just one try in the two losses whilst sitting last for carry metres, 100m behind the third-place Los Pumas
The Reds co-captain notes that whilst the ‘narrow’ approach is different from their usual Super Rugby style, their lack of reaction time to defensive patterns is what is letting them down.
“At (Queensland) Reds, we play a very expansive game and Joe’s plan for us is pretty narrow, as in that’s the width we want to attack,” McDermott explained to reporters.
“(Joe’s plan) is very direct and a skilful game plan at the line but our adjusted period is probably not quite where we need it to be in regards to how we play as Super Rugby teams and how we want to play here because it’s very different to how every team plays back there (in Australia).
“I think what we’re seeing at the moment is we’re slow to react a little bit and it’s hurting us in key moments.
“The way we attack, there’s a definite plan in place, and the boys are trying really hard to nail that plan but we’ve got a little bit of work to do on how it looks and how we can make it look in a game.”
McDermott lamented the side’s inability to build pressure with possession, often leading to them kicking the ball away and inviting pressure onto themselves.
The wet conditions in Perth didn’t help but with similar expected on Sunday, the Wallabies were eager to be smarter with how they expend their energy.
“I think a lot of our energy is being zapped out of our attack,” McDermott said.
“We’re struggling to hold the ball for multiphase and cut teams apart with our attack, particularly in phase play.
“We’ve put a little bit of time and effort into our attack for the past couple of weeks to try to make sure that we’re not just giving teams the ball because we’re kicking the ball away quite a bit because our attack isn’t doing exactly what we’ve said we’re going to do.
“We can try to regain a little bit more energy by investing a little bit more time in our attack, particularly at the breakdown, where we’ve been losing a lot of ball there and had quite a few skill errors.
“It was tough conditions in Perth, but we can look after the ball a little bit more rather than resort to kicking it away, I think that’ll go a long way into our attack as well as our energy.”
