Meeting of minds Rennie picks brains of Langer during Wallabies visit

A special visitor poked his head into Wallabies training on Thursday: Australian men’s cricket coach Justin Langer.

Langer was a keen observer as coach Dave Rennie put his side through a heavy session prior to Sunday’s third and final Bledisloe Cup Test at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

Australian cricket coach Justin Langer with rugby coach Dave Rennie at Wallabies training in Perth.Credit:Andrew Phan/Wallabies Media

Wallabies captain Michael Hooper told reporters after Friday’s captain’s run that Rennie spent plenty of time gleaning some insights from Langer.

“I’m sure our coaches have picked his brains. We turned up and had a training session to get on with. As much as you’d love to spend as much time with a bloke like that, we weren’t able to,” Hooper said.

“But our coaches chewed his ear off. We’d be silly not to try.”

Aside from some tips on hard hotel quarantine, Hooper took Langer’s presence as a nod to what the Wallabies are trying to build.

“It was great. In terms of the players, what you get from it is seeing someone of that calibre coming along to training. It feels good about what we’re doing here,” Hooper said.

“I saw him having a lot of chats to our coaching staff. He tells me he’s an absolute expert on quarantines at the moment. He’s done about eight of them, so we will probably pick up some tips for later in the year.”

Langer is currently under immense pressure at the helm of the Australian men’s cricket team, who have an Ashes summer ahead of them.

Michael Hooper grabs the chance to chat with Justin Langer. Credit:Andrew Phan/Wallabies Media

The Wallabies aren’t under quite as much pressure, but the blowtorch will be applied if the All Blacks claim the first Bledisloe clean sweep since 2018 on Sunday and if they lose in a similar fashion to the last-start blowout at Eden Park.

Earlier this week, Tate McDermott said his team’s defence was not befitting of a tier-one rugby nation. Hooper echoed the halfback’s sentiment.

“Let’s not forget there were a really good 45 minutes there. It’s not like we were starting from scratch. But it’s a fair assessment,” Hooper said.

“In parts of the game, we were well below average and that showed on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, it was too hard to get back.”

But Hooper maintains the team’s best rugby can challenge an All Blacks side without five of their best XV on Sunday.

“We play at our best or near our best and that forces New Zealand to play below their best,” he said.

“Whatever the scoreboard is after that, you’re pretty confident that it could be in your favour.”

A rare 22-day gap has followed the second of back-to-back losses at Eden Park, which locked away the Bledisloe Cup in New Zealand Rugby’s trophy cabinet for the 19th consecutive year.

Verbal barbs have flown across the Tasman to fill the time but from a player’s perspective, Hooper said the prolonged break simply made the defeats more painful.

“It bloody hurts. Straight up,” he said. “I think when you have a defeat you want to get back on the park really quick, which has been tricky in this block. Because it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to get on the field and turn things around. That’s been hard.

“You want to play, you want to back that up. But after, you have to try and shake the hurt feeling and turn it into motivation. Once the result is done, it’s done. You can’t change the past.

“So OK, what can we focus on to turn things around and make it a win in our favour?”

Stan Sport is the only place to watch every match of the Bledisloe Cup and The Rugby Championship continuing this Sunday 5 September with Australia v New Zealand â€" streaming live, extended and ad-free on Stan Sport from 3:15pm AEST.

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