Rugby Union - Autumn Internationals - Ireland v Australia - Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland - November 15, 2025 Australia's Harry Wilson in action with Ireland's Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Beirne. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
PARIS (Reuters) -Australia have had a frustrating tour in Europe but are hoping they will have learnt valuable lessons from some tough losses over the last month, captain Harry Wilson said ahead of their last November international away against France.
The 2027 World Cup hosts face the prospect of four straight northern hemisphere defeats for the first time since 1958 unless they can win at the Stade de France on Saturday.
They have had a punishing last five months with 15 tests including the British & Irish Lions tour, the Rugby Championship and losses in their November internationals to England, Italy and Ireland.
“In rugby, there's a lot of highs, there's a lot of lows, and the one thing with the lows, you really do learn a lot about yourself, a lot about your teammates,” said Wilson at a Friday press conference.
“It has been a tough tour, but if we can take some learnings from this tour and use it over the next few years, it could really be beneficial for us.
“Losing hurts us so much and all we want is success in the gold jersey and we haven't got it this tour but if we keep learning, keep improving as a team, keep taking those lessons on and use it going forward, it might be very beneficial in the future,” the Wallaby skipper added.
Just when they did not need another blow, Australia were forced into two changes to their starting line-up with flyhalf Carter Gordon and hooker Billy Pollard ruled out due to injury on Friday.
“Carter got through the full week of training, but just pulled up with a pretty tight quad and then I think Billy got hit on the hip pointer a couple of times throughout the week and after last weekend it ended up being a little bit too niggly, so they're both pulled out which is disappointing for us because we had a really good prep with them,” Wilson added.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
