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Michael Cheika will not make the same fundamental mistake Ewen McKenzie made when he rated the Wallabies a business.
Rugby is a business to the Australian Rugby Union, it’s their lifeblood, and that’s why the governing body has a board of directors.
The only ‘business’ of the Wallabies is to win the Rugby World Cup, the Bledisloe, and to beat every other nation in their individual internationals.
There’s a fine line of importance between winning the Rugby World Cup, and the Bledisloe – both vital to the ARU. The Rugby World Cup is all about beating the best in the world, the Bledisloe is about the world’s best team.
The Wallabies haven’t won the Rugby World Cup since 1999, with an extra-time loss to England in the 2003 decider. The Bledisloe has been in the All Blacks’ possession since 2002 with 24 wins, 4 losses, and a couple of draws.
Emphatic, as Cheika steps into the breach.
Winning away against the Barbarians, Wales, France, Ireland, and England on five successive Saturdays next month will be Cheika’s number one priority, Bledisloe 2015 will be the next, followed by a shortened Rugby Championship, then the eighth Rugby World Cup.
That will be Cheika’s only responsibility – winning. There will be no business manager, and if there are still some “toxic” elements in the Wallaby camp as reported, then the offenders had better bury it, or Cheika will bury them.
Cheika’s coaching philosophy is very simple, it’s his way or the highway, and wayward Wallabies had better get on the same page in a hurry.
That won’t be any problem with the Waratah contingent in the Wallaby camp, it was Cheika who showed them the way to win the Super title for the first time in 19 attempts.
Cheika has a simplistic way of coaching – enjoy yourself playing the Randwick rugby of old, running the ball.
When Cheika took over the Waratahs in 2013, the franchise was a basketcase. But with former Wallaby second-rower Roger Davis becoming president in 2012, and Cheika’s coaching arrival the next year, the results are there for all to see.
I can see the same successful combination surfacing between Cheika and ARU chairman Michael Hawker.
There remains just two important results to surface – Kurtley Beale’s code of conduct hearing, and Hawker to break his silence.
Then Cheika can get on with the business of winning internationals, improve the ARU’s financial coffers, and give the fans winning rugby as it should be played.