Momentum in elite Test rugby is unforgiving: the moment a kicking game loses its accuracy, the game plan built around it collapses within minutes. Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies discovered that the hard way at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, and the outgoing coach did not try to dress it up afterwards.
Australia led France 21-12 at halftime in Brisbane, only to concede 30 unanswered points as France ended their 60-year Brisbane hoodoo in their round two Nations Championship meeting, RugbyPass reported. Schmidt called the resulting 42-26 defeat “soul destroying” in his post-match press conference, according to a report carried by the Southern Cross Junee, pointing to “a couple of really big turning points” that let France back into the contest and admitting “our kicking game wasn’t as accurate as it needed to be.” For a fan base that had dared to believe in an unbeaten weekend after a bright start, the collapse landed as a gut punch rather than a surprise.
Yet, looking deeper at the numbers, this was not one bad half but the continuation of a troubling pattern.
A Decade-Low Run With Schmidt On His Way Out
Saturday’s loss was Australia’s sixth straight Test defeat and their ninth in ten matches, RugbyPass confirmed, a run the outlet described as a decade-low for a Wallabies side that had opened the tournament with genuine promise. It follows a narrow two-point loss to world number three Ireland the previous week, when Schmidt’s side also surrendered a 12-point lead, according to rugby.com.au’s live match coverage from Suncorp Stadium. The pattern is now unmistakable: promising starts undone by second-half discipline and game-management lapses, with Schmidt himself already confirmed as departing the role.
A Fly-Half Puzzle That Still Has No Answer
Part of the problem sits at number 10 — the same margin exam Schmidt was already facing before kick-off. Debutant Declan Meredith was handed the reins against France, with Planet Rugby describing a “fly-half crisis” that has worsened rather than resolved itself through the tournament. Fraser McReight’s double from the flank offered a rare bright spot, with hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa and forward Jeremy Williams also crossing, but four tries in a losing cause only underlined how little control Australia had over the closing stages once France’s forwards found their range.
A Farewell Assignment Getting Harder By The Week
The context makes the slump harder still to take. Schmidt is coaching out his final three Tests in the role before handing over to incoming head coach Les Kiss, with the sequence running Ireland, then France, then a closing appointment with Italy in Perth on 18 July, according to Stuff.co.nz. A results-based send-off now looks unlikely: Saturday’s defeat means Schmidt could depart with as many as three losses from his last three matches in interim, having already seen a 12-point lead disappear against Ireland the week before this collapse against France.
The message coming out of Brisbane is hard to avoid: Schmidt’s Wallabies can still produce moments of real quality, but until the kicking game and the pivot position are stabilised, big first-half leads will keep evaporating in the same soul-destroying fashion before Les Kiss inherits the rebuild. It is a run already reshaping this week’s world rugby rankings picture heading into the tournament’s closing rounds.
