Former Wallabies lock Justin Harrison has launched a passionate defence of Australia’s efforts at Twickenham this morning following criticism from the great David Campese.
England outclassed the Wallabies 32-15 in London, their eighth straight win against Australia under Eddie Jones.
Wallabies legend Campese was on the Twickenham sideline for Stan Sport and was ultimately unimpressed by both teams.
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“England had no game plan, they didn’t know what they were doing,” Campese said.
“We just seem to get the ball and don’t know what to do.
“In the backline we’re individuals, it’s just not working.”
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But without trying to completely excuse the Wallabies, Harrison pointed out the challenges for Dave Rennie’s side.
Tighthead props Taniela Tupou and Allan Alaalatoa were both out with concussion symptoms on top of the spring tour withdrawals of Quade Cooper, Samu Kerevi and Sean McMahon.
England weren’t immune from disruption either with props Joe Marler and Ellis Genge ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19.
“Wallabies, very brave, very honest performance from a team that’s had every hurdle thrown at them,” Harrison said.
“Those blokes walked tall into that stadium. I refuse to accept that description and that’s annoying, it’s too easy to say that. They made some errors but that is a performance that you can be proud of.
“We are not happy with the scoreline, we know that, but that was a well executed game plan from England that forced the Wallabies into some mistakes.”
After some other post-match discussion among the Stan Sport panel, a “fired up” Harrison continued his defence of a team that has lost two straight after winning their previous five Tests.
“I’m not happy. That change room is filthy they’ve just lost a Test match for their country and they were brave and honest,” said Harrison, who is chief executive of Australia’s players association.
“We aren’t happy with the execution but don’t do that to the team. This is professional rugby, we expect a whole lot more from the Wallaby jersey but we also know that adverse conditions create frailty.
“We know that the Wallabies went in with a game plan and weren’t able to execute it as well as they wanted to. But it doesn’t mean that they tried any less and it doesn’t mean that they’re clueless and it most certainly doesn’t mean they were against an England side that didn’t know what they were doing.”