Wallabies' pop-gun revival under Joe Schmidt blown apart as France unload heavy artillery | Daniel Gallan

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The camera found Joe Schmidt shortly after France had completed a 22-point swing. Australia's coach had seen a 21-12 half-time lead obliterated in 16 brutal minutes. Schmidt, one of rugby's sharpest minds, looked short of answers. The trouble was that the questions confronting him had obvious answers but almost impossible solutions.

Why had Australia's discipline deteriorated? Because they were under pressure. Why had their tackle intensity and ruck speed fallen away? Because France had introduced fresh power from the bench. Why had the Wallabies gone from a nine-point half-time lead to a 13-point deficit in barely a quarter of an hour? Because one team had more large, skilful, Test-quality rugby players than the other.

Schmidt can refine a defensive system, improve a player's decision-making and devise a move to prise open the narrowest gap. But he cannot conjure another dozen forwards from the Queensland soil. The obvious question is how Australia close that gap. The uncomfortable answer is that Schmidt's revival has shown no obvious way of doing so.

Australia's 42-26 Nations Championship defeat by France was their sixth in succession, a run they have not endured since the aftermath of the 2015 World Cup final. That tournament now feels like a distant high-water mark, an unidentifiable stain near the top of a wall that nobody can reach. The bleakness of the result was sharpened by the promise of the first half. Australia led because they had played with tempo, continuity and, most importantly, simplicity.

Brandon Paenga-Amosa scored from a clever short lineout and a quick recycle after replacing Josh Nasser early. Fraser McReight burrowed over twice, first after the Wallabies chose a scrum while Emmanuel Meafou was in the sin-bin, then at the back of a maul marshalled by the impressive Josh Canham.

McReight was everywhere. He registered 25 turnovers last year, more than double his nearest competitor, and plays like a no-necked cheat code biomechanically engineered in a Brisbane laboratory. Early in the second half, with France threatening, he stole the ball again. Max Jorgensen later produced an almighty intervention on his own line.

Fraser McReight goes on a charge for the Wallabies as Australia's standout player. Photograph: Darren England/EPA

Australia's best players were doing extraordinary things merely to keep the contest balanced. This has become the Wallabies' recurring burden. Rob Valetini provided the most obvious attacking direction. He melted Théo Attissogbe in one first-half carry and drew the high tackle that sent Meafou to the bin. Tom Wright found a wind-assisted 50-22. Canham disrupted France's lineout and supplied the hard edge. For 40 minutes, there was enough heft, accuracy and good fortune to make Australia appear capable of landing another blow against a heavyweight.

Then France unloaded their heavies from the bench. In this particular arms race, Australia arrived with a six-shooter and France brought a bazooka.

France did not require anything especially elaborate to expose the difference. Yoram Moefana broke three tackles to launch one score. Romain Ntamack identified James Slipper defending the blindside and accelerated through the mismatch for another. Florian Verhaeghe finished a third after a sequence built on straight carries, quick ball and defenders being forced into increasingly desperate decisions. It was not Harlem Globetrotter rugby. France simply kept applying weight until Australia buckled.

The contrast became painfully clear when Valetini left the field. Soon afterwards, Nick Champion de Crespigny spilled Australia's best attacking opportunity of the second half in contact. That is not to blame a replacement asked to fill the boots of one of the world's best forwards. It is to underline the problem. France removed giants and introduced more giants. Australia lost Valetini and became a lesser team.

So what happens now? Schmidt moves aside after next week and Les Kiss inherits a group capable of troubling almost anyone but not yet equipped to withstand the best teams for 80 minutes. He can improve their shape, sharpen their attack and perhaps squeeze more from a limited player pool. But the same questions will linger.

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Do Australia continue trying to play like a heavyweight without heavyweight depth? Or do they recalibrate and lean more into a game built around their speed, breakdown threats and willingness to embrace a little chaos? That may work occasionally, but it isn't cutting it against the top sides.

The home World Cup is approaching quickly enough that these are no longer abstract questions. Plucky defeats decorated with patches of excellence will not cut it. Nor will the familiar insistence that the Wallabies are closer than the scoreboard suggests.

Australian rugby has spent years asking the public to believe in signs of progress. Next year it must offer something more tangible. If the Wallabies stink the place out at their own World Cup, the damage will stretch beyond another early exit.

A generation already accustomed to looking elsewhere may decide this team no longer deserves its love. And from there the road back could be longer than any coach, however clever, knows how to travel.

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