Wallabies legend Will Genia believes the Australian players must take responsibility for the side’s loss to the Springboks in Sydney last weekend.

Dave Rennie’s men were outplayed in almost all areas of the game by South Africa in their 24-8 defeat in Round Four of the Rugby Championship.

Poor outing

The Wallabies‘ attack failed to produce throughout the game, with the hosts only scoring a late consolation try courtesy of replacement Pete Samu.

Writing in his column for The Roar, Genia outlined his backing of young fly-half Noah Lolesio but insisted that there should be accountability because of the nature of the defeat and how poorly the Wallabies matched up against the physical South Africans.

“We failed to fire a shot at all. It’s not as if there were good passages or moments of rugby. We were poor in all areas.” he wrote.

“That falls heavily on your playmakers.

“From Noah’s perspective I genuinely back him. He’s a quality player and will continue to grow.

“But the nature of that defeat means people need to be held accountable.”

Pedestrian from the playmakers

Genia’s call for accountability of the playmakers is not centred around any particular mistake from the likes of Lolesio, but instead that the young star was pedestrian at times and did not take the game by the scruff of the neck.

“What you will get are one on one matchups and you’ve got to be brave enough to identify that and take a gamble on it, rather than sit back and let the forwards carry, or shift the pressure to someone else and wait for a perfect picture to inject yourself in the game,” he wrote.

Australia shift their focus to the Bledisloe Cup against a New Zealand side that has blown hot and cold this season for the final two rounds of the Rugby Championship.

The All Blacks sit at the summit with 10 points, whilst the rest of the teams all have nine in what has been the most competitive tournament since Argentina joined the competition in 2012.

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