The TV stats that shame the Wallabies: More people tune into Women's State of Origin match than win over Wales in sad reality for under-fire union team

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The Wallabies kickstarted a new era under Joe Schmidt with a win on Saturday, but Aussie sports fans still need some convincing to get behind the team.

Television viewing figures revealed by News Corp show that 561,000 people tuned into Channel 9 to watch the game on free to air TV and streaming.

That is about half as many viewers who watched Queensland beat NSW in the women's State of Origin series decider.

It also equated to a viewing audience around 200,000 smaller than the 744,000 who watched the Broncos take on the Panthers in the NRL's Friday night game this weekend.

Over on Channel 7, Essendon's win over Collingwood also comfortably beat the viewing figures for the Wallabies match. 

But, in a silver lining for the code, the Wallabies vs Wales figures were improved from the 520,000 who watched the Bledisloe Cup last year, in a sign of small improvement. 

More wins will surely see more fans give the Wallabies a chance, and new captain Liam Wright was delighted with the 25-14 victory.

'Yeah, a great result. We weren't perfect tonight by any means, but the grit we showed out there ... really pleased with that result,' skipper Wright said. 

Wallabies viewing figures painted a sad reality for the rugby union team

Far more people tuned in to watch the women's State of Origin decider than the win over Wales

'There's been lots of talk about the World Cup ... it hasn't just been swept under the carpet.

'It's been a lot of learnings. We've showed a lot of clips from that game;  areas that we could have capitalised on but didn't and areas that they capitalised on that we need to be wary of.

'But the boys have really taken it upon themselves not to just hide away, shy from the fact, but to actually learn from it, grow themselves. 

'Not only as players but as people, because it was a challenging time.'