Australian halves Matt Giteau and Luke Burgess have come under fire from Wallabies great Mark Ella, who also blamed an “atrocious” lineout for the Bledisloe Cup defeat to New Zealand on Saturday.
Ella said the All Blacks’ emphatic 39-10 victory forced Australia to see the “harsh reality” of its “appalling” away record, and said the team would require a significant mental turnaround to beat South Africa in their next Tri-Nations clash.
The brilliant former playmaker picked out halves Giteau and Burgess for having bad games against an energetic New Zealand team.
“Matt Giteau who didn’t have one of his best games. He kicking game was not up to scratch,” Ella wrote in his column in The Australian.
“There was numerous occasions when he was wrong footed by the All Black defence and should have passed to Berrick Barnes but didn’t.”
Ella also said halfback Luke Burgess was “struggling with the pace of Test rugby”.
But he said the forwards – minus Rocky Elsom – were simply outclassed by the New Zealand pack.
“The Wallaby lineout was atrocious. The All Blacks stole eight lineouts with Dan Vickerman’s sole win a damning statistic,” Ella said.
“Last week in the comforts of a home crowd the Wallabies were on fire.
“In Auckland under grey skies the Wallabies left the A Game behind and probably were deficient mentally to take of the All Blacks who were shamed a week earlier.”
Australia sit second on the Tri-Nations ladder but can leap over New Zealand with a win against the Springboks in Durban in a fortnight.
