Australians hammered down under for Murrayfield loss

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 22:57

THE Wallabies have been condemned back home in Australia after their 9-8 defeat against Scotland, with former players and coaches criticising the side for losing to a team that is not highly rated down under.

Eddie Jones, who led Australia to runners-up spot in the 2003 World Cup, dismissed Scotland as weak opponents who are no match for Australia's second string let alone their full-strength side. "Scotland are a side you should beat quite easily – even when we haven't gone that well we have been able to beat them," said Jones. "We have lost our distinctive Australian style of play, which is a bit of a problem."

Bob Dwyer, who guided the Aussies to World Cup glory in 1991, believes there could be worse to come when the tourists face Wales on Saturday

"I dread the match against Wales – I mean, Wales can actually play," said Dwyer. "Someone commented about Scotland's great defensive display on Saturday and I said 'I'm not too sure, I didn't see any attack'.

"We should be playing a lot better than we are, our lack of technique in most parts of the game astonishes me. I'm not sure if we kick so much because our attack is bad, or if our attack is so bad because we kick so much.

"Our lack of technique in most parts of the game astonishes me. Our attack is atrocious and all we seem to have done since Robbie Deans took over as head coach is kick it."

Former Australia back-row forward Gary Pearse didn't mince words when he was asked his opinion of Scotland's victory.

"Scotland have got nothing," said Pearse. "And how dumb were we? We kept running into people and not into gaps."

World Cup-winning centre Tim Horan remains optimistic about the Wallabies prospects of winning an unprecedented third World Cup in 2011 but admits to being troubled by their failure to finish off Scotland after dominating possession for long periods at Murrayfield.

"I certainly think the Wallabies have the foundation and are close to a World Cup-winning team," Horan said. "But they just can't seem to finish teams off, that's a critical factor in a Test match going forward."

Former Wallabies winger Ben Tune accused his former team of slumping to a new low at Murrayfield. "It was the sort of performance that ends careers for both players and coaches," he said.