Wallabies’ sad admission over Bledisloe Cup nightmare, as Will Skelton returns for Perth Test

As painful as that is, acknowledging their own mistakes is the first big step towards turning the tables on the All Blacks in Saturday’s second Bledisloe Cup clash in Perth.

In a further sign of how the Wallabies are slowly maturing under their new coach Joe Schmidt, the Australians aren’t buying into any of the wild conspiracy theories that the referees cost them the win.

As Joe Schmidt ruefully reminded everyone after the 33-24 loss at Eden Park, it wasn’t the whistleblowers who missed all the tackles or dropped the ball or gave away dumb penalties.

In admitting to their own faults, the Wallabies are approaching next week’s return clash at Optus Stadium with a clean slate.

The Kiwis may have already retained the Bledisloe Cup but the Wallabies still have a chance of winning the Rugby Championship to end the southern hemisphere season with some silverware.

“Everyone on this team just wants to win, that’s the whole reason we’re here,” said Australian hooker Billy Pollard.

“It can get frustrating when you come so close but I think for us, it’s just about being accountable and understanding that all those games are well within our reach and our control.

“It’s about us being better in whatever part of the game you want to pick, where we just have to be better just to close off the game or to start better.”

In what has been an up and down season for Australian rugby, in which the Wallabies have won four and lost five of the nine Tests they have played so far, Pollard has been one of the real breakout stars.

He started the year as the back up to both Matt Faesler and Dave Porecki but is now the first choice starting hooker after helping the Wallabies to impressive wins over the British & Irish Lions, South Africa and Argentina.

But he’s far from satisfied. Despite accepting the team’s improved performances, Pollard said the Wallabies’ results were still below expectations and they needed to keep pushing themselves to get to where they want to be.

“We’re happy with the way we’re trending but at the end of the day, it’s about winning,” Pollard said. “And that’s what we’re looking to do this weekend.”

After sharing the same flight from Auckland to Perth with their New Zealand opponents, already the Wallabies look in much better shape than last weekend.

The Kiwis have lost their playmaker Beauden Barrett and loosehead prop Ethan de Groot to injury and although the Wallabies will be without their electric running halfback Tate McDermott, Jake Gordon, Rob Valetini and Will Skelton are all back.

The return of giant lock Skelton is a potential game changer that could shift the balance towards the Wallabies.

He missed the first Bledisloe because of his commitments to his French club side La Rochelle so had to watch the match on television but was given permission to fly home to play in the second match.

“Whenever I do get the chance to play, I always try and take it with both hands,” Skelton said.

“The rugby championship is still up for grabs. There’s still a lot to play for. And there’s also playing in the jersey.

“We want to make everyone in Australia proud of what we do and how we play footy. The Bledisloe might be gone but we’re definitely putting everything we can into winning this rugby championship.”

Skelton had wanted to also play in the first Bledisloe Cup match but the timing was too tight because he was down for a big club match in France on a Sunday night.

That meant he wouldn’t have arrived in New Zealand until Wednesday morning, three days before the opening match, but he said the only thing to worry about was what is ahead.

“There’s no point looking back… there was literally no way of getting here,” Skelton explained.

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“But we had shots on the weekend. The boys dug in. The result didn’t go our way, but moving forward, we want to change that this weekend for sure. We really want to move forward on this.

“We’re definitely trending in the right direction but none of that really matters to us.

“Within the four walls, we know what we can do. We trust in how we prepare and how hard we work. None of that sort of matters. For us, it’s getting wins on the board.”