Coach Michael Cheika has seen enough on the paddock to believe the Wallabies will bounce back from their latest Bledisloe Cup belting in Saturday night’s clash with the Springboks.
Australia have lost four Test matches in a row and need to get back to winning ways quickly to appease an increasingly restless fanbase, whose faith in Cheika seems to be wavering.
His players have shouldered the majority of the blame for their last-start 40-12 defeat to the All Blacks, with Israel Folau admitting their attitude wasn’t right and Will Genia saying not enough Wallabies were actually doing their jobs.
It made for a difficult start to their training week as the team fronted up to some harsh truths about their recent performances.
“We had a tough day or two on the Sunday or Monday … (but) you have to bounce back, you have to be resilient,” Cheika said.
“We played bad footy so we need to identify what we need to do get on with it.
“That’s the great thing about footy – there is always another game to play.
“I have seen the preparation … I have seen better individual concentration from the players and I think we are going to play well.”
A crowd of around 25,000 is expected at Suncorp Stadium to see the Wallabies tackle a Springboks outfit who are in a similarly dire predicament, having suffered a 32-19 defeat to Argentina two weeks ago.
But Australia’s attacking funk is statistically their worst in almost 40 years.
In their five matches so far this year they are averaging just 16 points per game – the lowest number in a calendar year since 1979, and nearly half of their output last season.
Cheika has benched usual five-eighth Bernard Foley, shifted Kurtley Beale into that position and promoted Matt Toomua to inside centre in an attempt to shake things up.
“I just think Toomua has come back with a lot of confidence and he likes the shape of the game and he fits into it quite nicely,” Cheika said.
“I’d like to get on the front a bit more in attack and throw out a bit of a challenge there and give the opportunity to Toomua and Beale and then see how the other lads respond.”