Chatting Rugby Union with Sam Bruce - ESPN Australia (20.10.2026)

Mark Duffield (0:00)

Welcome back to the ESPN WA studio out here at Optus Stadium. Tuesday morning in Perth, it is 19.7 degrees outside. It's gonna be 23 degrees before the end of the day. It felt like the Wallabies were going beautifully and making a lot of progress in the world rankings under coach Les Kis. And then we made the mistake of playing the Bledisloe Cup against New Zealand. And that in recent years has never ended well for us.

We got a flogging in New Zealand. We came back to Australia. We thought things might have been different here. And they belted us 43-21 at a core stadium last week. To talk about it is ESPN's rugby analyst, Sam Bruce. Sam, welcome.

Sam Bruce (0:44)

Good day, Mark. How are you?

Mark Duffield (0:45)

Not too bad, mate. Maybe too soon to talk about it just yet, but can you give us your thoughts on what exactly happened in the series against the All Blacks?

Sam Bruce (0:54)

Well, big reality check, mate. I think to start with the game, Australian rugby is a collective, probably got a little bit carried away with that, that great win over the Springboks, given how many the world champions had out. But, you know, you pick a few players out of that team with obviously world rugby eligibility, no Tanyela Tupou and Tom Hooper. They have to go back to the European clubs. You throw in Hunter Paisami's suspension, and suddenly you're starting 15 and you're broader 23 Starts to look a little bit light on. You compare that against the All Blacks. They've had, you know, a month off after their four-game tour or four-test tour of South Africa, and they're chomping at the bit for a bit of redemption following that tour and the 3-1 series defeat. And we probably got what we should have expected, really. There's a reason why Australia haven't won the butterfly now for 24 years. 13 straight games now they've lost, and they were in it for half in Auckland, but sadly on the weekend in Sydney, a few early errors that really threw away some excellent try-scoring opportunities, some simple mistakes that, you know, shouldn't just be making at the test level.

And before you know it, 30 minutes later, the game's gone as a contest.

Mark Duffield (2:06)

So, it was interesting, the piece you read or you wrote, sorry, for ESPN. And there was elements of skill execution and the way we carried out the fundamentals in this. But you also called for a bit of a rethink about how we maybe need to go about it when we play the All Blacks. Can you explain that?

Sam Bruce (2:27)

Yeah, well, if we start with the skills, I mean, probably everyone will have seen the videos of Tom Wright cut out past to a hooker when he's got a 3-on-1 overlap outside him. I mean, that was in the fifth minute. If he throws the short ball there to Isaac Henry or even Joseph. So really, then the Wallabies probably go up 7-0. You've got the lineout spill at the back by Fraser McWrite. And then probably Max Jorgensen passed there from a break that sales in a touch. So three skill errors inside 15 minutes. And those guys will look at those plays and think, you know what, that's just not good enough. And rightfully so. In terms of the tactics, I think you've got to look at the teams who have last beaten New Zealand and how they play. And you think about Argentina have had two wins in New Zealand, not just over New Zealand and Argentina, they only did that last year. They've had three wins total since Australia have last beaten New Zealand. Now, Argentina don't play anything like Australia do. They haven't got the skill set or the desire to play running rugby.

Ireland have also won in New Zealand. I mean, clearly South Africa have got their own unique way of playing the game because of the size of their forwards and the depth that they have across any number of positions. And even England winning the last game of the season last year are tweaking them over to New Zealand. So, look, Australia and New Zealand and Dave Rennie said at Post Match the other night, they share rugby DNA. They want to use the ball and play positive attacking rugby, put guys into space and create line breaks and then finish them off. The fact of the matter is that New Zealand just do it better than Australia. Okay, they have the years.

Their skill execution is just that much tighter and classier. And I think, you know, the time has come. You've got to look at the results. So look what the Wallabies are doing against the All Blacks. And it's admirable that they want to play this way. And, you know, we had seventy three thousand there on Saturday afternoon. It's a cracking crowd in the sun, but it's probably playing right into New Zealand's strengths. It's a warm day. They've got the conditions to move the ball. They just play running rugby better than they grow up on it.