Wallabies coach Dave Rennie was left ruing a cavalcade of errors that cost his side in their 27-7 loss to the All Blacks in their second Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park.
The Wallabies had come into the game riding a wave of enthusiasm and expectation from across the Tasman, after they held the All Blacks to a 16-16 draw in Wellington.
But the home side proved a much tougher proposition in Auckland on Sunday and Rennie summed up the difference with just two words.
"Tackle execution," says Rennie, pointing to the Wallabies missing more than 30 tackles in Auckland.
"We missed too many tackles and we got put under the heat for it.
"We have to be better. There were lots of errors from both sides, but we need to be sharper."
The All Blacks backs were able to exploit that weakness, and consistently busted their defensive line or made significant metres past contact.
That gave their forwards momentum and allowed scrumhalf Aaron Smith to clear the ball quickly, which gave them territory and pointscoring opportunities.
"Last week, we got a nice defensive line and made some big defensive tackles," says Wallabies captain Michael Hooper.
"When you're retreating and you're missing tackles, and we're going backwards, it's hard."
Despite defensive issues, Rennie felt his side were still in the game at halftime, trailing only 10-7.
But the All Blacks scored two quick tries after the break and then the visitors wasted two tryscoring opportunities of their own, while also turning the ball over too many times.
"You can't give the All Blacks that much ball," says Rennie. "They have too many athletes that can hurt you.
"But the boys are working hard and I'm pretty confident that in two weeks, we will be a better side."
The two teams will square off again in the third Bledisloe Cup test on October 31 in Sydney.
Reuters
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