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: Wallabies back defence to step up as stats show Schmidt improvement
Tue, Sep 3, 2024, 2:49 PM
Nathan Williamson
The Wallabies are confident their defence can maintain its intensity as they look to back up a physical win over Argentina.
Joe Schmidt and the coaching staff have revitalised the side's defensive resolve as the statistics back up their improvement in 2024.
The Wallabies have missed almost ten tackles less in 2024 (17 per game v 27 per game) in their first six games of the season compared to the same mark in 2023.
It's translated on the scoreboard with the side conceding seven points per game less than last year, including two games holding the opposition under 20 points.
"I think there's been definitely a joint effort to focus on the defensive side of the ball for us the last couple of weeks," hooker Matt Faessler said to reporters.
"In terms of those stats, it doesn't really mean much to me. For us, it's all about that team performance and I think as a team, we did scramble (in) defence well.
"They made a few good line breaks, particularly off kick return but our ability to make those covering tackles and then get our D-line set as quick as possible was, for me, really good to see.
"It's an area that we want to continue to grow. I think a lot of experienced players over the years always say that defence wins titles and I think any hallmark of any good team that goes deep into Rugby championships and World Cups have a good defence."
The Wallabies are excited to return to dry and warm conditions in Santa Fe for this week's Test after back-to-back monsoons.
No one was more pleased than Faessler, who controlled the lineout well despite the downpour.
"The weekend's conditions were nightmarish for a hooker. You wake up in cold sweats," he joked.
"You pretty much couldn't get worse than that so it was nice to get some decent outcomes there but having said that, it's still not quite where we want it to be."
"As backs, we've had some set plays there for a while, but we haven't really got through many of them, obviously with the weather as Perth was pretty horrendous weather, as was the other night," flyhalf Ben Donaldson added.
"Hopefully this week it's some nice weather and we can showcase our skills but then off the back of that, Argentina have some silky backs as well, so we're going to have to be on our toes with them."
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