Wallaroos vow to fix second-half collapse after France snatch 29-26 WXV win

France scored 17 unanswered second-half points to overturn a 19-12 deficit and beat the Wallaroos 29-26 in the WXV Global Series in Aix-en-Provence, leaving Australia to reflect on a painful collapse after dominating large stretches of the contest.

Australia had enjoyed a four-player numerical advantage and looked firmly in control at the break, but France’s maul transition and two late counter-attack tries turned the game on its head. For vice-captain Kaitlan Leaney, the manner of the defeat was the sharpest lesson.

“The reality is we had opportunities that we could have capitalised on and we didn’t,” the 25-year-old lock said. “We talk a lot about being process-driven and then performance-based and in that moment, we didn’t stick to our processes enough.”

Leaney was candid about where the Wallaroos fell short, pointing to the counter-attack phase that gifted France their momentum-shifting tries. “It was probably in that counter-attack space where they got those two late tries going into the second half that we were really disappointed, because that kind of came down to desire and work rate, which is something we pride ourselves on.”

She was also careful to push back against any suggestion of complacency. “I don’t think we got complacent at any point. We definitely got excited at the fact the space was there and we took those opportunities, but when we reflected on it, we actually played really well in that period when they had 11 players and we had 15.”

The Wallaroos now turn their attention to a three-Test series against Scotland, with the first match scheduled at the Hive Stadium on Saturday 26 September. France’s ability to exploit their maul transition has put Australia’s forwards on notice ahead of facing a Scottish side renowned for their set-piece power.

“We know that Scotland love their set piece, so they’ll be utilising that maul a lot and a lot of tries come from that, so that’s something that we’re going to target this week and stop on the weekend,” Leaney said.

Despite the scorelines, Leaney insists the Wallaroos are trending upward since their 66-19 defeat to the Black Ferns in their historic 100th women’s Test in August. “When we look at how we started this campaign with that 100th test against New Zealand, we’ve had about a 20 per cent increase in our performance each time. In every metric of the game, we’ve improved.”

The results have not yet matched the internal progress, but with three Tests against Scotland to come, Australia have a clear opportunity to convert improvement into wins.