Last-gasp win over Fiji leaves Wallabies coach Schmidt frustrated

Newcastle, Australia — Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt felt a mixture of relief and frustration after Australia’s last-gasp 21-18 win over Fiji on Sunday, he said after their only match before the British & Irish Lions series.

Captain Harry Wilson scored the winning try in the 79th minute, but Schmidt felt the Wallabies should have put the match to bed during a dominant first half before Fiji stormed back in the second.

“It was certainly a relief when Harry got over and dotted it down, that’s for sure,” Schmidt told reporters. “[There was some] frustration to find ourselves in that situation after we built a nice lead early in the game.

“I felt we got a bit loose, and they’ve got some fantastic broken-field runners. But that was no surprise to us because we knew they had them and we knew we’d have to be better connected than we were.”

The Wallabies had two tries disallowed for forward passes that Schmidt conceded were execution errors, but the New Zealander also queried some of the officiating of set pieces.

Schmidt said the Wallabies will have to be more clinical against the Lions in the three-Test series in late July and August.

“Games are going to ebb and flow and when things are going your way, you’ve got to make sure you make the most of those opportunities,” he said.

Schmidt will name his squad for the Lions series on Friday and thought he would have a better idea of the opposition the Wallabies would face after Andy Farrell names his squad for Wednesday’s match against the ACT Brumbies.

While he thought Fiji were still underestimated by many in rugby, Schmidt conceded that the Wallabies had not played well enough to go into the Lions series as anything close to favourites.

“[But] there’s a quiet resolve, and that quiet resolve, hopefully, over the three-match series can build to something,” he said.

Reuters