Harry Wilson maintains belief Wallabies can ‘beat anyone in the world’

Australia captain Harry Wilson still believes the Wallabies are capable of beating any team in the world on their day, calling for connection and togetherness within the group after a 45-22 Nations Championship defeat to England.

Max Jorgensen intercepted a pass and raced away for a much-needed try just before half-time, as the Wallabies reduced the deficit to just nine points, but England ran away with it during a fairly dominant second-half display.

Backrower Henry Pollock came on as a replacement winger and scored two tries, as the English ‘won’ the second half 26-12. Filipo Daugunu and Jeremy Williams crashed over for five-pointers during the final 20, but as Wilson said post-game, it was “too little, too late.”

Australia started their new era under coach Les Kiss with a five-match unbeaten streak, before a Bledisloe Cup series sweep. The All Blacks secured comprehensive victories at their Auckland fortress Eden Park, and backed that up with another commanding effort in Sydney

But the Wallabies will soon have another opportunity to return to the winners circle, set to face Scotland in the fifth Nations Championship round. The Aussies have won one of the last four at Murrayfield but the belief within the group remains strong.

“Every game we’re going into we want to be winning. Three losses on the trot, three convincing losses, it’s not good enough,” Wilson told reporters.

“We’ve got seven days to take these learnings and be a lot better. We haven’t been playing to the standards we are. We know when we do play well, we can beat anyone in the world. We’re not doing that consistently enough.

“If we can stay connected as a group and really keep trying to learn and be better, I’ve got no doubt this group can get back to their best.”

Ryan Lonergan knocked over a penalty goal in the 12^th minute, getting the Wallabies on the board at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium. But England were otherwise in control, with Ollie Chessum next to crash over the try line.

Angus Bell was shown a yellow card around the 30-minute mark and England scored another try before half-time. England led 19-3 and were hot on attack once again, when ‘Jorgo’ picked off a pass in a game-changing moment.

Jorgensen, who was the hero for the Wallabies at the same venue two years earlier, raced away for the team’s first try of the afternoon. But other than that, as Wilson explained, the Wallabies “didn’t really fire a shot” during the opening 40.

“We’re really excited to go out there and try and fire some shots and really back our game,” Wilson reflected.

“England put us in tough field position. Felt like we’re always trying to exit, get out of our end. The set-piece battle at lineout, they’re getting a bit of pay there which was hurting us a little bit.

“I am really disappointed because I expected better from us. We’re going to take those learnings next week into Scotland because we know we’re at our best when we’re backing our game and we’re really putting teams under threat.”

The Wallabies have conceded at least 40 points in their last three Tests, including more than 90 points across the Bledisloe Cup series. It’s “something we don’t accept,” Kiss said, following another tough defeat.

Australia lost 19 turnovers, won just five, had less possession and territory, made fewer tackles and missed more attempts on the defensive side of the ball. The Wallabies finished with 75 per cent tackle completion from more than 140 attempts against England.

“There’s some work to do there. Working through some habits that have existed and just trying to shift the dial a bit to be a little bit more pressure-based on our defence,” the coach said.

“It’s just not coming together for sure, but we’ll continue to work… the boys will be hard on themselves, which is necessary. And the coaches will also be hard on ourselves as well to make sure we get the solution together.

“We’ll stay connected, we’ll work hard. The bottom line is we have to be better, we just have to be better.”