Wallabies captain Harry Wilson says he is “hurting” after Australia’s 26-19 loss to Italy, while coach Joe Schmidt is lamenting his side’s “flat performance”.
Displaying all-too-familiar ill-discipline, the Wallabies surrendered a second-half lead to slump to a sixth defeat in their past eight Tests under Schmidt in another hammer blow ahead of next month’s 2027 Rugby World Cup draw.
Currently ranked seventh in the world, the Wallabies will likely need to beat powerhouses Ireland and France in their remaining two spring tour fixtures to snatch an all-important top-six seeding for the global showpiece in Australia in two years’ time.
Such a scenario looks highly unlikely after the Wallabies produced another insipid performance, a week after falling 25-7 to England at Twickenham.
The last time Australia lost to Italy, for a first time ever three years ago in Florence, fellow New Zealand coach Dave Rennie was sacked barely a month later.
Rugby Australia has already locked in Les Kiss to take over from Schmidt in mid-2026.
Narrow wins over Argentina and Japan have been Australia’s only two victories in eight Tests since the Wallabies’ mighty triumph over the world champion Springboks at Ellis Park in August.
Stream End Game with Tony Armstrong on ABC iview
Schmidt’s winning strike rate has now slumped to 42 per cent, one of the worst Wallabies coaching returns in history.
“I’m pretty gutted, to be honest,” Schmidt told Stan Sport.
“We just look a bit flat. I said progress isn’t linear, but that was a flat performance. That’s a dip we can’t afford to have.
“And we’ve got two massive games coming up now, so we’re going to have to just recuperate as best we can and throw everything into the Irish game now.”
Skipper Harry Wilson was also unable to hide his anguish after the latest setback.
“We’re hurting,” he said.
“We wanted to fix up from last week. We said ‘we’re going to fix it up’ and we didn’t.
“We want to be a team that does what we said we’re going to do and we didn’t do that tonight.”
The Wallabies face Ireland next Sunday morning (AEDT) in Dublin, before finishing their spring tour against France in Paris.
AAP