If everyone played well in your eyes and we still lost 38-7, how the hell can we “beat a top team on our day” this was our day in your eyes as you clearly thing the whole team played great
They were far from clinical. Gordon's kicking was terrible. Overall you judge him as playing OK given it is his first test start and he had some great plays, but the kicking was a 1/10. That's not test level rugby.
The goal line try: not test rugby.
The stuffed mauls: not test rugby.
Scrum dominated: not test rugby.
Koriobete's yellow: not test rugby.
So to my mind the players were mostly OK for where they are at, but they aren't at a point similar to other squads like NZ, SA. They are playing 50 cap players at 10, not one super young guy and one super old guy. They don't have to play guys like Kerevi, Leota, Tupou, Quade who are JUST returning from injury, or Kellaway at 15 who hasn't played there super regularly.
So I think if you judge the players they mostly did well, considering, but Australian rugby does not have the depth to absorb injuries and doesn't have the depth to have test level players at key positions at all times (#10 for example: the ABs have three, basically in their prime, #10s - England has 3 world class #10s in their prime, Australia has zero).
And then to top it off your two props go down, you play a man down and the game turns into a proper shit show. The Wallabies need everything to go right in terms of personnel and bounce of the ball and they have had some horrific luck. To top it off you have a brand new coach and multiple players with minimal test rugby experience (Gordon, Hooper, Arnold).
So yeah I think the players played OK, the gameplan was OK, but they simply aren't good enough across the board and have had horrible luck with injuries.
