To improve the Wallabies, Cheika first needs to beat them

So the Wallabies’ Spring Tour ended with another loss, consigning them to the worst end-of-season record since Eddie Jones was relieved of his services at the end of 2005.

Michael Cheika is in no danger of suffering the same fate, but he certainly has some work ahead of him.

England played their type of game very smartly to win at Twickenham. They didn’t play rugby in their half, made good use of the midfield bomb and kick chase, and were disciplined at the breakdown, and in the ruck and maul.

And they used their set piece beautifully. Even when they didn’t have the scrum feed, or the lineout throw, they were patient and attacked at the right time, often forcing the Wallabies into error or infringement.

Their scrum, especially, was outstanding. On their feed, they would pause on the initial hit, regroup, and then power through the Australians. By the end of the match it was like men scrummaging against boys, such was their dominance and the Wallabies’ capitulation.

On the Wallabies’ feed, they would pause on the initial hit, regroup, and then give Sekope Kepu hell. Once Kepu went off, they took equal delight in making Ben Alexander and Benn Robinson look substandard. And don’t forget, when the two reserve front rows opposed each other for the last eight minutes of the match, the Wallabies front three had played 150 collective Tests to England’s 24. Alexander and Robinson were lining up in their 72nd Test each.

While it was good to hear an Australian coach annoyed about his team’s scrummaging ability (or lack thereof), talk of remedial scrum school work for the front rowers will be completely and utterly pointless if it doesn’t include the back five forwards as well.

In fact, it’s a decent argument that the back five forwards be made to sit through ‘Scrummaging for Dummies’ before the props even arrive. Call it ‘scrum pre-school’, perhaps.

It’s very convenient to apportion scrum issues on the props, but the England front row in front of the Wallabies back five would also get towelled up. And just to ram home that point, you could put Kepu, Saia Fainga’a, and James Slipper in front of the England back five just to let them experience scrum domination for once.

When Rob Simmons – supposedly the best scrummaging lock in the country – succumbed to his injuries at halftime, the Wallabies second row comprised Sean McMahon, Luke Jones, Sam Carter and Michael Hooper. It’s a wonder the English forwards weren’t dropping the ball on purpose.

On this point of scrummaging impact and technique, it’s very difficult to disagree with Spiro’s point yesterday about Wallabies scrum coach Andrew Blades. Blades may well be one of the better scrum coaches in the country, and the fact he’s now working with his third head coach tells you that he must be held in a high regard. But the issues experienced at Twickenham are not new.

Blades has been in this role since the start of the 2012 international season yet the problems persist and could, perhaps, be getting worse. So is the issue the methods of teaching or the individuals being taught?

Even this former scrumhalf knows that scrummaging is not just a front-row thing. If the scrum pre-school doesn’t include all forwards and include a major focus on a coordinated and well-drilled eight-man shove, then it will be an act of futility.

So how does Cheika turn this team around, 10 months and four Tests prior to the start of the Rugby World Cup?

Well, this is where I come back to the headline. And though I don’t mean those words literally, let’s not rule anything out just yet. ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves’ perhaps.

What I mean by this is that the quickest and easiest way for Cheika to recognise what areas he needs to address is to build a gameplan to beat his current Wallabies. If he works out how he would beat this current team, and where the weaknesses lie, the resolution of those areas has already commenced.

For starters, he would recognise that the attack can be quite effectively shut down just by defending the Wallabies forward runners. If your defenders win the contact, the Wallabies go to ground behind the gain line more often than not. It’s possible to gain territory without the ball against Australia, particularly if they attempt to pick-and-drive, but even if they run one-out off Bernard Foley or Matt Toomua.

At set piece, attack is the best form of defence. The scrum, well, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel currently. In the lineout, you can either mark Rob Simmons heavily or just concede the front of the lineout and wrap around in defence as the ball comes down. England had success with this, and very nearly forced the Wallabies into touch a number of times.

Cheika would also note that Foley doesn’t take on the line a lot himself, and so he’s a player the defence can slide on. When the ball does get to Toomua – who does run – shutting down his option runners is probably more important than stopping Toomua from running himself. His ability to offload in traffic got better in his two Tests, but by moving up quickly on his supports, he can’t get the ball away. Furthermore, if his supports don’t go in for the clean out, there is quite likely an opportunity to pilfer.

The same applies to Tevita Kuridrani and Adam Ashley-Cooper at outside centre. Stopping them from making the break is not easy, but shutting down their options is. Again, depending on how much support they have, and how far away that support is, the chances of isolating them in the ruck are good.

Israel Folau in attack as a shadow of his former self, and has been contained well of late. Get up on him in committed numbers, and he doesn’t go far, particularly if support options are closed down as well.

Shutting down the inside runners is the easiest way to stifle Henry Speight too. He’s tough to tackle one-on-one anyway, but it’s nearly worth giving him the sideline and have the covering defenders close down the inside support. In contact, Speight will look to pass inside almost always, so if the supports are closed down, turnover ball is again very likely.

Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale are two more attacking players that defenders can slide on. Keep the defensive shape, ensure the communication is good, and just pick off their runners. Good defensive linespeed can stop the runners before the gain line, again making ground without the ball.

The key to defending against the Wallabies is patience and discipline. Slide in defence as required, isolate the ball carrier, and just wait for the mistakes or infringements that will inevitably come. Scoreboard pressure has also been effective in upping the panic levels in the Wallabies’ attack, leading to more errors and infringements, and thus feeding the cycle even more.

It’s fair to say Cheika’s job over the next eight months has taken on greater importance and challenges in the last two weeks, and there’s no doubt that coming up with a plan to tackle the abundant issues on his Wallabies desk alone will keep him busy.

That said, if there is one area Cheika has had great success in coaching, it is the rebuilding and reinventing of teams. He did it at Leinster and the Waratahs, but this is a whole new beast of a challenge coming from all new depths. Australian rugby is sweating on it.