Wallabies defence coach Nathan Grey has hit back at claims from All Blacks boss Steve Hansen that something is not right about Australian rugby.
Hansen was responding to an article in the New Zealand media claiming the world champions struggled against northern hemisphere sides this year due to a one-sided Bledisloe Cup series.
However Grey dismissed the report and said Ireland’s win over the All Blacks in Dublin demonstrated the current strength of world rugby and had nothing to do with the Bledisloe Cup whitewash.
“You’ve got to look at the big picture and identify that the top six, seven nations in the world at the moment, if you’re not on your game you’re going to get beaten,” Grey said. “There’s opportunities to beat any team in the world.
“If you’re off you’re going to lose and we’ve shown that against New Zealand a number of times. Other teams have struggled against them as well but I was super happy for Ireland to get that win.”
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England head coach Eddie Jones says Manu Tuilagi can’t wait to play against Australia and sees it as a good opportunity for him.
Grey and the Wallabies came under fire last month after conceding 81 points in two matches against New Zealand and Argentina but have rectified those issues in Europe. Wales and Italy were both kept to under 10 points and Grey is confident that parsimony can be carried into the England game at Twickenham on Saturday.
“I sound like a broken record but we’re searching for that consistency and being able to do that for a couple of weeks,” he said. “It’s a new challenge this week and we are really looking to execute our defensive systems and take it up another notch.”
The Wallabies showed great resolve in Italy last week holding the hosts out as they laid siege to their line for 10 second-half minutes with 14 men after Scott Sio was yellow-carded.
Grey said in what has been a challenging year, the win in Padua was hugely satisfying.
“The guys spoke about it in the review that the communication amongst the players on the field was excellent,” he said.