{"id":258542,"date":"2025-11-02T23:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T23:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/258542\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T23:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T23:41:12","slug":"schmidt-reacts-after-super-winger-and-star-flanker-shine-for-wallabies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/258542\/","title":{"rendered":"Schmidt reacts after \u2018super\u2019 winger and star flanker shine for Wallabies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt commended star flanker Fraser McReight<\/a> and \u201csuper\u201d winger Harry Potter<\/a> for their performances against England, despite the men in gold falling to a 25-7 Autumn Nations Series<\/a> defeat.<\/p>\n

McReight was a shining light for the Wallabies, winning five turnovers and making a team-high 13 stops on the defensive side of the ball.\u00a0 While Hunter Paisami<\/a> topped the charts, McReight was also top-six for carries, equal with the team\u2019s try-scoring wing.<\/p>\n

Potter raced away for the Wallabies\u2019 sole try of the Test in the 33rd minute, picking off a pass before racing practically the full length of the field to the house \u2013 finishing the match with more than 125 running metres from 11 carries.<\/p>\n

England<\/a> were clinical in the second term, with Henry Pollock<\/a> starring off the bench, as inaccuracies hurt the Wallabies. Australia<\/a> finished with a slight majority of possession and had five players in the top seven for carries, but they failed to turn that pressure into enough points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two guys played really well. I thought Fraser got on the ball really well for some positive turnovers and earned some penalties,\u201d Schmidt said post-game on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry was super. Even catching above his head to get a free kick inside the 22 and obviously his length-of-the-field try.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were other guys who were working away quite hard and probably some who lost their way a little bit. We\u2019ll have a good debrief and we\u2019re going to have to massively improve in order to get our game right for Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potter\u2019s try deep into the first half brought the Wallabies back into the contest, making it a one-score game and reducing England\u2019s 10-point advantage. George Ford<\/a> had opened the scoring with a penalty midway through the half before Ben Earl<\/a> crossed for a try.<\/p>\n

While the scoreboard read 10-7 at the break, and stayed that way for a decent period in the second term, England\u2019s bench \u201cwas part of the difference.\u201d Pollocked scored in the 58th minute, before Alex Mitchell<\/a> and replacement Luke Cowan-Dickie<\/a> registered tries of their own.<\/p>\n

England scored 15 unanswered points as they began their November Internationals<\/a> with a statement win against one of their great rivals. As for the Wallabies, they\u2019ll look to bounce back next weekend away to Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt we hung in the first half and we\u2019re pretty competitive, maybe had a couple of chances that we didn\u2019t take, but probably got lucky with the one we did when Harry Potter got away and scored,\u201d Schmidt reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a real seesaw affair but I felt they got the better of us in the second half. They\u2019re a really good team. Particularly that last quarter when\u00a0 thought some of the guys coming off the bench, with the experience and power they had off the bench, I felt we struggled in that last quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was part of the difference\u2026 we had a couple of chances inside the 22, probably lost momentum just being loose with the ball and conditions that were a little bit slippery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wallabies confirmed a squad update after the Test, with Exeter Chiefs<\/a> duo Len Ikitau<\/a> and Tom Hooper<\/a> travelling with the group to Udine. Both men missed the England match as it fell outside World Rugby\u2019s three-week international window.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been no official word yet on the availability of La Rochelle lock Will Skelton<\/a> or Leicester<\/a> Tigers fly-half James O\u2019Connor, but Schmidt name-dropped both men when speaking about the changes the team may make for their last three Tests of 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe likes of Len Ikitau\u2019s, the Tom Hooper\u2019s, the Will Skelton\u2019s. I think that strength and depth, while we\u2019re trying to build it at the moment, it\u2019s a work in progress,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they could have been useful today but I love the way the guys who are here, the effort they put in and the way they kept fighting till the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pity we couldn\u2019t get something at the end, just probably to balance the scoreboard a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt commended star flanker Fraser McReight and \u201csuper\u201d winger Harry Potter for their performances against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-258542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}