Genia: Only way is up

AUSTRALIA can only move on from their heavy 30-14 Tri-Nations loss to New Zealand by performing much better against South Africa, Wallabies scrum-half Will Genia said yesterday.

In what was billed as a potential World Cup final rehearsal, Australia were completely outplayed by the All Blacks at Eden Park and Genia said it was important to learn from the experience before they play the Springboks in Durban on Saturday.

Australia beat South Africa 39-20 in Sydney in the first game of this year’s Tri-Nations but the return of 15 players from injury means the Wallabies can expect a far stiffer challenge.

“We allowed them to get front-foot ball and when you allow a team like the All Blacks front-foot ball they will kill you every time,” said Genia. “We will work on that this week and make sure that it’s not a weakness going into the Springbok game. The All Blacks dominated us in all facets of the game. That’s another thing we are going to have to work on. In our first game against the Springboks we were quite good at the breakdown but the returning players will make it tougher.”