EDDIE JONES PUT a brave face on another “terrible” Wallabies defeat Saturday, insisting he saw enough from his team to believe they could haul themselves out of their slump.
The former England boss opted for a fresh side against New Zealand with seven new faces from the team that lost to Argentina a fortnight ago as he tries to nail down his best XV for the World Cup in France.
He put them under orders to make a fast start and they were impressive in the opening 20 minutes, but their heads went down when the All Blacks hit their stride at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“Obviously very disappointed about the result, the scoreline, that’s a real negative for us,” said the coach, describing the 38-7 defeat as “terrible”.
“It was a big crowd and we wanted to show that this was a new team.
“We still seem to get disappointed on the field when we don’t get the rewards that we think we deserve, which is an area we continue to work on. But I really liked the way we came out in the first 20 of the first half and the first 15 or 20 of the second half as well.”
The Wallabies were hampered by a pair of yellow cards to Marika Koroibete and Taniela Tupou, with four of New Zealand’s six tries coming when they were a man down as ill-discipline again haunted them.
Despite the third straight loss of his reign and with the clock ticking to the September-October World Cup, Jones said he wasn’t completely disheartened.
“It’s still a work in progress,” he said. “But what I liked about the team tonight was the way tactically they took on New Zealand in the first 20 minutes.
“We can turn that 20 minutes into longer, which we’re quite capable of doing.
“Where there’s life, there’s hope,” he added.
“I’ve coached teams like this before and you can turn it around. I saw enough there today to know that we can be a bloody good team. It doesn’t look like it at the moment, but I’m telling you boys, we can turn it around.”
Jones added that co-captain Michael Hooper was “a long way” from fitness just weeks out from the World Cup with Allan Ala’alatoa also under a cloud after an achilles injury against the All Blacks.
Veteran flanker Hooper picked up what was described as a minor calf injury in training ahead of their clash with Argentina a fortnight ago.
He missed that game and today’s defeat in Melbourne.
“He’s a long way away,” Jones said. Asked if he would be ready for the World Cup in France in September, he replied: “We’ll have to wait and see.
He’s got a serious injury and when you have a serious injury there are deadlines and we need to find out the deadline.”
Alaalatoa stood in as skipper against New Zealand, but was caught awkwardly in a scrum in the first half.
He was in obvious pain and had to be stretchered off.
“He’s got a fairly serious injury I would suggest, achilles,” said Jones.
Adding to their misery, fellow tighthead prop Taniela Tupou also left the field with a painful rib problem.
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