Wallabies coach slams ‘dumb errors’

The Wallabies secured the Tri-Nations wooden spoon after a 16-16 draw against the Pumas at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday evening.

Ironically, Australia would have won the title if they had mustered back-to-back wins against Argentina, who for several years have been considered the weakest side in The Rugby Championship.

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“What was a draw paying today? $1.15 maybe,” Rennie joked after Australia’s third draw in six Test matches.

“It feels a little bit different than the draw a couple of weeks ago, mainly because we found ourselves down on the scoreboard by 10 at one stage and by seven when we got a red card.

“The boys did show a lot of character to fight their way back into that in challenging conditions and kicked smart in the second half and able to squeeze out a draw and almost steal it again.”

Australian referee Angus Gardner awarded four cards in Saturday’s Test match, including a shock red card for Wallabies forward Lukhan Salakaia-Loto in the 60th minute.

But considering Australia boasted 70 per cent possession and 79 per cent territory, Rennie understandably perceived the draw as another missed opportunity.

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“I think all of those games shouldn’t have come down to a last-minute penalty attempt,” Rennie said.

“The Argentinians are very good at hanging in games — they don’t play an enormous amount of footy and the conditions probably suited them a fair bit tonight and we had to resort to a fair bit of kicking.

“There’s no lack of heart and no lack of effort, but we’ve got to be way more clinical.

“We’ve defended pretty well over the last few weeks, so we’ve made strides in that area, but as I’ve talked a bit, about our discipline was disappointing tonight.

“We allowed them to squeeze us a bit, and we made some dumb errors and got punished for it.

“We won one out of six if you look at it from that perspective … it’s disappointing but I guess we’ve got an understanding of where we’re at.”

For the third time since October, Wallabies fullback Reece Hodge missed a long-distance penalty goal in the dying minutes, denying an Australian victory.

“I feel for him because he kicked pretty well,” Rennie said. “The quality of that conversion from out wide to level it up and there wasn’t too many people lining up to take that shot.

“So yeah, it would have been nice if he was able to convert that, but it is what it is.”