Rennie vows expansive game at Cup

TROUNCING II: Australia coach Les Kiss was happy that flyhalf Declan Meredith performed well, but lamented another ‘down’ as the All Blacks won by 22 points

New Zealand coach Dave Rennie yesterday said his team would be sticking to their expansive style at next year’s Rugby World Cup after the All Blacks thrashed the Wallabies for a second successive week with some sensational attacking rugby.

Two convincing wins over Australia have got the three-time world champions back to winning ways after they lost a four-match series against South Africa 3-1.

The Springboks have ridden a physical, conservative playing style to back-to-back World Cup triumphs, but Rennie said he remained convinced the tactics that put a premium on ball speed and width would be effective against it.

New Zealand’s Samisoni Taukei’aho, center, runs with the ball as Max Jorgensen, second left, and Kalani Thomas, second right, of Australia defend during the second Bledisloe Cup Test at Accor Stadium in Sydney yesterday.

Photo:

“There’s no point playing this way and then going to a World Cup and trying to play risk-free footy,” he told reporters after their 43-21 victory at Stadium Australia.

“We’re well aware you can put yourself under pressure the way that we’re trying to play, but we’ll also back ourselves that we’ll profit more than we’ll suffer in those situations,” he said.

“I don’t think you want all the teams in the world playing the same game,” he said. “I think if you look at the Wallabies, they’re pretty similar to us. I think they’ll want to play, and it’s a point of difference, part of the DNA of both sides.”

“If you want to just get into arm wrestles with a couple of the big sides in the world, it’ll be a struggle,” he said.

Australia coach Les Kiss said he was pleased with the performance of flyhalf Declan Meredith in only his fourth Test and remained confident the Wallabies could put on a good showing at their home World Cup next year.

“I’ve always said we’ll have ups and downs, and today it was a bit of a downer again, but there are some good clues about what we’re trying to do in our game,” Kiss said. “When we do play with footy in the hand with a positive intent, we’re making a lot of breaks against one of the best teams in the world.”

“So I think there are some good qualities that are coming through. So I’m optimistic still,” he said.