The heat is on for the Wallabies as the side looks to reverse their fortunes, which have been dealt a further blow following their 26-19 loss to Italy in Udine.
While the head coach conceded that the challenging 2025 schedule has been ‘tough’ to navigate, Schmidt stopped short of excuses, discussing the potential return of Len Ikitau and James O’Connor for Ireland.
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“I mean, it's obviously, with full respect to Italy, a very, very disappointing result,” Schmidt said to reporters in the post-match presser
“Any loss is disappointing, and we've accumulated a few now.
“We knew they [Italy] were going to be good. We'd watched their Six Nations games; we knew it was going to be competitive this evening.
“When we scored those couple of tries and went 12-9 up, the accumulation of penalties was tough. When you concede 13 penalties and a yellow card, it's just hard to have enough control in the game.
“When we fell behind, I felt that we overchased the game. We got very lateral in attack. Our kicking game probably wasn't as good as it needed to be. I think we put the ball out on the full four times.
“You don't get to get that territorial advantage and get to pressure them. It means the pressure comes back on us.
“So where do we go from here? I think we have to demonstrate some character and also some cohesion.
“We've got to demonstrate that real fight that we've demonstrated earlier in the season. I know it's still there, but I know we've had 13 test matches, we've got two left. They're two incredibly important test matches against two big teams.”
Schmidt is a seasoned campaigner across his stints in Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the head coach acknowledging that the big schedule has meant the side has to manage their fuel in the tank across the year.
However, despite the ‘tough’ schedule, the coach stopped short of excuses on the long-term approach, with him set to hand over to Les Kiss after the July tests next year ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
“After being involved in coaching over 130-odd tests, inevitably, there's been some great highs and thankfully there's probably been more of those than there have been lows,” the head coach added.
“But this low right now is tough, and what I would say to the players is one of the best things about the tour is that they do have a chance to turn things around next week.
“We're going to have to manage the fuel in the tank. I did think that we just didn't look as sharp as we did earlier in the season, and we've got to get that sharpness, that energy back.
“One of the things about the big schedule is that it's allowed us to give more opportunities to different players.
“We've got a short-term focus and that's trying to win on Saturdays and that was trying to win against Italy today, but we've also got a long-term plan that we've got to build a base so that we can have as strong a squad as possible in 2027.
“I'm not saying that the two are counterproductive, but they do at times make it tough when you're going week-to-week and you're travelling a lot and the schedule has been big.
“Obviously, three Lions tests are a massive occasion, once every 12 years, and then in TRC that's a tough comp. We've just got to pick ourselves up and go forward.”
Schmidt will be sweating on the fitness of Carter Gordon and Angus Bell, the two key players departing the field with injury concerns.
The coach teased the prospect of James O’Connor and Len Ikitau coming back into the side, despite being impressed with the performance of Hunter Paisami.
“I thought Hunter Paisami played well,” Schmidt added.
“He was physical, he's a punchy player for us, he's got a good skill set. He got penalised once for a tackle being late that he'd committed to. So he'll be disappointed with that, but apart from that, I felt he played well.
“Lenny, he's fit and available next week, and he's had a week back with us, so he's a guy who adds leadership as much as anything. He's in our leadership team and has had a super season for us so far.
“James will probably add a bit of freshness. I haven't spoken to him about coming in [but] I've stayed in touch with him. He's had a good break over the last week or so. He's been able to freshen up a little bit.
“We'll have a bit of a chat about it because what we'll be looking for first is just to get all the medical information first so that we know who's fit to go and who we might need as cover.”
Despite the disappointment, Schmidt reiterated to fans that the Wallabies can be consistent and that development takes time, singling out the Italians as an example of that development.
“I believe in the group we've got,” Schmidt affirmed.
“I think there's still a lot of work to do to get them to where they need to be.
“I've had lots of experience coaching a lot of test matches and have had teams that have been number one in the world. I know what it takes to get there, and I know the strength and depth that you need. We're setting about trying to build that.
“It's no different for Italy. They have built through the Kieran Crowley era into Gonzalo [Quesada]'s era, and ‘Gonza's’ done a very good job. I think they are getting increasingly competitive.
"They made it very tough for a lot of teams in the Six Nations as well.
“For us, we'll reflect on what we put out there tonight, what we can build on, and what we need to make sure we improve upon. All I can say to people is that we believe in what we can deliver.
“Don't lose faith because we will, guaranteed, keep working as hard as we can to try to demonstrate what it means to us to try to be as competitive as possible.”
