Wallabies can still improve

2008-07-19 22:22

Perth - Australia can still improve, coach Robbie Deans said after his side opened their Tri-nations campaign with a 16-9 win over world champions South Africa on Saturday.

Deans said it was "a job well done against a side we have a lot of respect for" but that the Wallabies could do better against New Zealand next Saturday in Sydney.

Deans, himself a New Zealander, is in his first season in charge of Australia and said he was looking forward to meeting his countrymen next week.

"There's a lot of scope for improvement in the details and we can add to what we did do right tonight. There's the opportunity for growth.

"I suspect next week will be very special and there'll be a fair amount of banter. But I'm looking forward to it and we'll see what we can make of it," Deans told a media conference.

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers said the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow.

"There's a lot of hurt because we are not losers. We did not foresee this happening, we expected a better contest. This is not the best thing to happen to us."

The Springboks will now return to South Africa having won once, against New Zealand in Dunedin, and lost twice, in Wellington and Perth, on their away leg of the Tri-nations.

"We're not very satisfied with our tour because we came here to try and win all our games. It's not that easy, but it's what we came to do. But now we can go back home and build on that," De Villiers said.

Australia scored two tries, through centre Stirling Mortlock and wing Lote Tuqiri, and Deans praised both efforts.

"We took another step forward in terms of execution today. For Lote's try, we got in behind the Springboks and that created the stress in defence. The guys were then skilled enough to get the ball to Lote, that was a good piece of play."

Mortlock's try came when the Australian skipper muscled his way through three tackles.

"That try epitomised the effort today, that desire to get over the line," Deans said. "It was a tough encounter and I really took a liking to the pride the players showed, their willingness to engage and defend."

- Reuters