Australia U20s coach Chris Whitaker admits the squad has been shocked into life after a heavy opening game defeat against South Africa.
Whitaker and the Aussies are lapping up the quick turnaround to Friday’s must-win match against Scotland after they were blown off the park in Italy.
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The former Wallabies coach took his fair share of the responsibility for the defeat as they were left to digest what had happened.
“It was pretty ugly. Everyone was pretty embarrassed about it,” Whitaker said.
“I think when you look at it, it was 14-5 or even 7-5 and we just missed so many opportunities. I think we had two or three scoring opportunities where it was just poor execution, ball goes down and they just seemed to capitalise on it and go length of the field and score some easy tries.
“They scored off seven of our turnovers or the first one or two phases from a turnover…It definitely wasn't one of our greatest performances. It was a bit of a shock to the boys. I think definitely the level of the World Cup footy, I think, went up as well.
"I think they probably weren't as well as prepared as what I hoped for…we were just off the pace there.”
Whitaker and the group have been left to soul search, needing to now beat Scotland and defending champions England to have any shot of qualifying for the semi-finals, with the top of each pool and the best second-place finisher advancing.
“They're so keen to get into this game now,” he said.
“We've had a good week's prep. The boys have been really focused this week. So, yeah, hopefully we'll get a really good bounce back.”
Scotland remains a danger side in Whitaker’s eyes after they won their way back into the top tier of U20S Rugby in 2024.
“They're a really good team. That's the thing about the under-20s each year, you get different guys in so they're a lot better team than what they have been in the past.
“They've got some really good players around the field as well… It's definitely not going to be an easy game, but we're prepared for a bit of a tight battle.”
