Wallaroos centre Georgina Friedrichs is confident the lessons learnt from their opening two defeats can shape their side for the future as they look towards Saturday's O'Reilly Cup opener against New Zealand.
The Australians were stunned by the USA 32-25 in Melbourne to leave their WXV 1 ambitions hanging by a thread.
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They had a 17-3 lead right before the break, only to concede three tries in 12 minutes to flip momentum to the Americans.
“I think the second half we just didn’t play to our processes and we didn’t really exit well, which gave them the field position," Friedrichs told Rugby.com.au
“I think it was just that momentum shift. They came out in the first five minutes and we couldn’t stop it.
“We need to learn to stop that momentum, get back on top of them and play our game. I think we went away from that, we lit up in the backs and we didn’t get enough (ball) to our backline which was disappointing, to say the least.”
It was a dramatic turnaround after their 58-17 win over the Eagles in July as the side continues to learn under a new coaching staff.
“It’s an 18 month journey to the World Cup so we can’t just take the first bump and fall down from that," Friedrichs insists.
“There’s a lot of learnings from this game. We need to focus on those going into next week and not the negatives.
“There’s so much potential and talent in our team and it’s only our second game together under the new coaching staff so I think we’re building nicely, I think the experience and the game management let us down.”
The Wallaroos turn their focus to rivals New Zealand in Auckland in the quest for their first victory against the Black Ferns.
With no expectations, Friedrichs believes it can bring the best out of the team.
“There’s still a chance to quality for WXV1 so there is that on the line but there’s no expectations and we’re going in as the underdogs," she added.
“It’s a really good game to work on our shape and attack, working to our strengths. I think that’s what we really need to focus on next week.”
