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EDINBURGH - Coach John Connolly says attacks on his struggling team from retired stars are the last thing the Wallabies need in the countdown to next year's World Cup in France.
The Wallabies have been widely condemned in the wake of Monday's ugly 21-6 loss to Ireland, with 1991 World Cup winner Simon Poidevin leading the way after Connolly's players were given a lesson in wet-weather rugby at Lansdowne Rd.
Poidevin suggested the Wallabies had a bad attitude and behaved like "rock stars", but Connolly said that could not be further from the truth.
"Turning on your own is not going to help anyone," Connolly said ahead of his team's tour-ending test against Scotland on Sunday (NZT).
"The players want their support. We can't fault their effort.
"I don't want to get into a slanging match with Simon. I think he's a been great supporter.
"But we've also got to remember that in Simon's era - 1980 to '91 - which was a fantastic era, we won 56 per cent of our games.
"I don't remember former players berating people like that."
In Connolly's 12-test reign, Australia have won six, lost five and drawn one.
Three defeats were to the All Blacks, who have lost just one of their last 20 tests, another came against the Springboks in South Africa, where New Zealand also slipped up, before Ireland totally outplayed the Wallabies in appalling conditions in Dublin.
- AAP
