All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens fears for the Wallabies in their clash with England on Sunday (4.15am AEDT) after Dave Rennie’s side was beaten 15-13 by Scotland in Edinburgh this morning.
Scotland scored two tries to Australia’s one at Murrayfield to snap a five game Wallabies winning streak in the first of three Tests in the United Kingdom.
In a clash between the world’s No.3 and No.7 teams, the Wallabies struggled for cohesion with a shaky scrum and missing the the power and direction of the absent Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper.
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Mehrtens believed there were some worrying trends developing on the back of the unconvincing 32-23 win over Japan in Oita a fortnight ago.
“I thought they’d made some really good progression in the Rugby Championship in terms of improvement around playing heads up and combining with one another when it’s broken play, rather than having to revert to structure,” Mehrtens said on Stan Sport.
“But the last two games we’ve seen aimless kicking where they seem bereft of ideas.
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“Just kicking the ball away at times when they probably shouldn’t have.
“I worry a little bit for the Wallabies because if they keep muddling through like they have in these last two games – I think that’s the most accurate way to put it, they have muddled through. If they play like that they’ll get a heap put on them.
“But hopefully they won’t play like that again.”
Adding to Australia’s issues, star prop Taniela Tupou is in doubt for the England Test after a sickening head clash against Scotland.
Tupou left the field for a HIA and did not return while injury-prone winger Jordan Petaia also failed to finish the game.
“Tupou’s a blow, not just around the field but also in the scrum,” Mehrtens sad.
“They’ve got to up their game massively for England.”
Wallabies great Drew Mitchell bemoaned a lack of discipline, breakdown inaccuracies and scrum struggles.
“I think they’d be pretty filthy with themselves,” Mitchell said on Stan Sport.
“Scrum hurt them today, obviously the yellow card to Allan Alaalatoa hurt them initially, Taniela Tupou then gets knocked out… there was some inconsistencies in being able to get some combinations and flow in their scrumming and set-piece. That was an area where we struggled.
“Taniela Tupou’s going to have to pass some concussion protocols throughout the week and obviously if he’s not available that’s going to have some sort of impact.
“There were also some issues with the scrum when Allan Alaalatoa was playing, also Slips (James Slipper) and Angus Bell so that’ll be something they work on obviously.”
Wallabies legend David Campese was at Murrayfield for Stan Sport and said he struggled to work out what Australia was trying to achieve with some of their tactics.
Campese said James O’Connor, starting his first Test of the season at five-eighth, struggled to control the game as much as he could have while bench returnees Kurtley Beale and Will Skelton “didn’t seem to lift the team.”
“Guys were just sort of going through the motions.”
Rennie, meanwhile, described Alaalatoa’s yellow card as a “pretty tough decision against us.”
Alaalatoa was binned in the first half for a swinging arm to the face of Scotland’s Matt Fagerson at the breakdown.
Romain Poite’s decision also cancelled out a try to Test skipper Michael Hooper, who gave the retiring French referee a spray.
“You can’t be serious,” Hooper said.
“I am serious, Michael,” Poite responds.
“That is a weak decision,” Hooper hit back.
“It is clearly a swinging arm,” Poite continued, explaining he could talk further to Hooper about the decision after the game.
Stan Sport’s Morgan Turinui had no issue with the decision.
“Poor technique, contact to the head,” Turinui said.