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Joe Schmidt hints at Bledisloe Cup rethink
By AAP
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt wouldn’t mind officials rethinking the Bledisloe Cup format after watching the treasured trophy slip out of Australia’s grasp once more.
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A gut-wrenching 31-28 loss in Sydney leaves the Wallabies playing for pride and no silverware in next Saturday’s return bout in Wellington.
The coveted Cup will remain in New Zealand for a 23rd straight year regardless of the result at Sky Stadium because the Wallabies need to win a series to get the trophy back.
That’s very difficult in a two-match series split in Australia and New Zealand, especially when the Wallabies haven’t won across the Tasman since 2001.
A drawn series isn’t good enough, as four of Schmidt’s predecessors have also learnt the hard way.
The Wallabies drew the 2004 series under Eddie Jones, as well as 2007 (John Connolly), 2011 (Robbie Deans) and in 2015 and 2019 (Michael Cheika).
Yet each time the Bledisloe Cup remained in New Zealand, as it will again.
Without outright calling for an overhaul of the rules, Kiwi Schmidt reckons it’s a shame the Wallabies have no chance to reclaim the trophy for the first time since 2002 even with a big win in the New Zealand capital.
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“I was pretty happy with the arrangement last year and the year before, but now I’m not so happy about that arrangement,” Schmidt said when asked if a one-off Test match or three-game series would be fairer than two matches.
“We’d love it to be still alive. I think the people, the public in Wellington (would too).
“It’s sold out and it would be a cracking atmosphere but if there was something live on the game, it would be great.
“So that’s something that other people make decisions about.”
The Wallabies might well have had one hand on the trophy if not for a diabolical start in game one at Accor Stadium on Saturday.
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They trailed 21-0 inside 15 minutes after conceding tries to Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke.
Ardie Savea added New Zealand’s fourth in the 24th minute but couldn’t cross again for the rest of the match, leaving Schmidt and Wallabies captain Harry Wilson frustrated.
“We got close tonight, but not close enough so there’s a lot of motivation for us next week,” Wilson said.
“We need to start better. We can’t really give a team like New Zealand that head start.
“We’re really proud of the way we work back into the game and put ourselves in a position where we could have won it there at the end.
“So we took the positive from that but, in saying that we, we just lost to the Kiwis so we’ve got to be realistic.
Scott Barrett.Scott Barrett celebrates another Bledisloe Cup triumph with teammates. (James Gourley/AAP PHOTOS)
“We’ll take our learnings from tonight and we’ll train hard during the week and we’ll make sure we come out and be ready to have a red-hot crack there in Wellington.”
While All Blacks coach Scott Robertson was relieved his side ultimately “found a way” to win despite bombing seven tries, including three overturned by the TMO, Schmidt conceded the end scoreline somewhat flattered the Wallabies.
“There’s not a lot of water in the glass,” Schmidt said.
“You lose a Test match so, as Harry said, there’s things that we’ve got to learn from. We can’t finish a close second.
“There’s some things to be proud about and I totally agree with Harry around building our way back into the game, but giving a New Zealand side a start like that, it’s too tough to overcome that.”
Could a drawn series mean the cup can't be kept by the holder? The excitement is kept, the challenge is rewarded, the standard is raised, and fans will love it with no calender congestion. Just tagging on here, does anyone think that culturally English refs are working against the tide. The headmaster thing turns it all into a very weird performance of competence. Surely we deserve more. I always feel they create results and hold grudges. The TMO time is hugely increased, and English refs don't mind a 10 minute referral. Champions Cup Final anyone? I'm not making this comment facetiously, but rugby is losing customers because of this. Loads of good refs out there, can we get rid of these parking wardens please before the delicate customer/market ecosystem is irreparably damaged. To link with the earlier point, conservatism is very bad for rugby's health. More self awareness please...
3 of the 5 years of Aussies 'golden period' of the late 90s/early 2000s were 1-1 ties too.
The moment they lost the Cup, John O'Neill pushed for a 3 Test series. It didn't help then either. 2 is fine, the calendar is crowded enough as it is.
Just go home Schmidt. Oh that's right, you're already there .......
well how about having 2 tests and if its 1 all then maybe another test
When they going to fit a 3rd game in bro ..think the games are planned months if not years in advance plus it's part of the rugby championship..but if we lose the cup then I be right behind yours and Joe's idea 💡 😀 😉 👍
I wouldn't like to see any change, I think theyve already brought scoring systems into a few other 'cups' to make them more contestable. You hold the Bledisloe until they other team is better than you, simple.
Great couple of games this weekend, what a competition. Turned a bit messy and confrontational - but some like that style - in the heart of Argentina, but credit to South Africa, I thought the young side turned up well, Los Pumas just had the best of the last 10minutes.
It felt like there were 70 thousand fans in Santiago del Estro and 40 thousand fans in Sydny. Still another ripper of a game and comeback by Australia though. Ardie has picked up a bit of slack for a little less workrate coming back from Japan and JRLO (must be 16 months of footy without much rest by now) but he bossed a couple of moments at the end, throwing people around. It was closer than I thought it would be but I still felt at 52min there was a perfect opportunity to rest Taylor, but they kept him on another 10min. You keep doing this time him and it's going to backfire sooner or later. Also not happy with Ratima being subbed well before the end, but at least TJ didn't cause a noticeable drop in standards. Improved bench usage by Razor for me and that might have held them on.
Dmac was like a kid in a candy shop that game though. The coaching really needs to do something about the backlines depth alignment, Dmac had way too much time on his hands and too many 'pictures' in front of him he didn't keep the game simple enough. Otherwise he had some brilliant involvements as usual, along with Jordan.
Being so depth for a rush attack should only be something they are asked to be flexible in doing, when it's needed. Otherwise, I feel like the attack line should always be trying to play in the face of the defence, and Australia were always going to be fairly passive and there was no flexibility in changing that attacking picture when they found themselves being predictable with their running lines. It wasn't helped by players still finding weak shoulders and busting through the D though.
Tj made a couple of try saving tackles when we were down a man or 2 ..thought it's the best game I seen from him in a long time ..pity he didn't play like that all the time ..plus he's awesome leading the Haka...I must be missing something because I reckon Dmac has a shit game every game ..didn't see him do anything grand..just stuff up Jordie and Reiko alongside him ..gd game but ..saw what this ab side can do in first 20 minutes they were awesome but then ..I reckon dmac is the problem..he just seems to drift along..anyway it's just my opinion