Mortlock: 'Aus can hold heads high'
Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:05
Wallaby captain Stirling Mortlock felt his side had shown immense growth and maturity this season, despite their 24-28 loss on Saturday at the hands of the 2008 Tri-Nations champions, New Zealand.
New Zealand's victory in Brisbane also secured the Bledisloe Cup for the Kiwis for the sixth consecutive season.
"I'm almost speechless, we ran ourselves rugged out there, but hats off to the Kiwis," said a disappointed Mortlock shortly after full-time.
"The build-up this week was for a causal match, and I think both teams went at it for 80 minutes. Unfortunately we weren't on the positive side but I think the effort was great."
Mortlock admitted the Wallabies were chipper going into the interval after a superb Ashley-Cooper try in the 40th minute, but weren't able to hold onto their ascendancy.
"Yeah, we were very positive [at half-time]. The guys just stuck to their guns and we got some pay for that just before half-time and we came out after half-time ready to go.
"It felt like we had a bit of ascendancy but unfortunately didn't get too much pay for it - New Zealand came back.
"We had it again at the end but unfortunately it wasn't enough."
New Zealand looked incredibly disruptive at the breakdown at Suncorp Stadium, again an area which had a crucial say in the final outcome of the match.
"It certainly is very hard to get your momentum [against New Zealand's efforts at the breakdown].
"I think the battle of the breakdown nowadays under the new laws is massive, and due to the speed of the game, everyone seemed to give totally everything they could.
A Ryan Cross try in the 78th minute certainly put the Wallabies back in the hunt, but it was too late for the hosts as the All Blacks maintained pressure right till the final hooter.
"We tried to keep our composure [after Cross' try] and focus on getting things right, it got very close," the Aussie skipper said.
"But I'm incredibly proud of the boys - I think this season the whole group has grown tremendously.
"Unfortunately we didn't get the points tonight and didn't get the Tri-Nations, but I think the growth with a lot of the players in this group has been fantastic, and the guys can hold their heads high," he added.
