Chef Cheika serves up tasty Wallaby just in time for the World Cup

Let me just elaborate there - Cooper as a dynamic super rugby player has not consistently transferred those performances to test rugby. Foley as a solid super rugby player (but without the flash of cooper) has been able to deliver his solid core skills (goal kicking, passing etc) to test rugby consistently (barring a few bad games.)

Thought the reason was pretty obvious Pete. One coach is being pulled by two different teams to coach for them. The other coach has been pulled from his team He may have a superior plan, but if you can't pull it off. It's not much use. Just like my dinner tonight. An associate and I were discussing how to play the Saujana course in Subang KL I had a good idea how to approach the 4th hole. But he plays scratch and will do it with his eyes closed. He will always do better.

Jay, Foley was hardly any worse than Carter who I reckon had a shocker!

RobC - how do you think they managed this attack change so quickly when reds struggled for so long to get it right.

Great article Diggercane. I have to say that at the beginning of the year I could not have dreamed that the Wallabies would take the Rugby Championship and have some sort of chance at winning the Bledisloe cup! I am really happy at where we have gotten to. Its probably a bit of a dream that we can win twice in a row against NZ but I hope that we do play well, NZ will be one angry team and an angry ABs is a scary thought for any Rugby team. I think there has been an over reaction over the ABs loss, they are still the best team in the world by far and to even challenge them at Eden Park will take everything Australia has. Go Wallabies!

Digger, Nice article. There have been great examples of sportsmanship from NZers since the win, that have lifted the tone of the Roar above the usual negative trolling (still in evidence mind you.) For my part, since Cheika entered my rugby world, stage left , the sun has been shining. He started by banning kicking! Outright ! Wow ! This bloke's got balls. Lost three matches but he didn't waver. Brought out Jaques Potgeiter. Got him to run into Kane Douglas until Douglas smashed him back. Made the Tahs start training early and ran them up the Coogee steps, running with them. Brought hard contact into training and participated in it himself. He never talks the team up, or scapegoats his players. With the Wallas this season he's stuck his neck out to bring reps from each province in, and give most a go. He's conscripted a reluctant Steven Larkham to link traditional foes. Now he's got rid of the traditional bench and replaced it with "finishers", changing the idea that the starting team rewards the best players with the concept of a specialist impact group with a different game plan that trains together with a specific goal. This is a great leap forward and gives him the chance to promote and demote without having to worry too much about the effect on his charges. So now we have a genuine team of thirty when on this blog I read we didn't have enough quality to make a fifteen. He promoted James Horwill, a bloke thought to be well past it, and now this past captain of the Wallabies, ditched by McKenzie, is giving his all for Cheika and Australia. Along side him is Dean Mumm, also disparaged, who looks the goods too. And he played Pocock and Hooper. The game on Saturday was won, as Ma'a Nonu has said, by the team with the greater passion. That passion had a source...and the source was Cheika. I'm hoping he can help them lift again this Saturday.

As long as you're eating your humble pie after writing the Wallabies off last week ?

Another nice piece Digger, thanks fella. Regarding the anthems, I noticed Cheika and the coaching staff joined the players. Thought that was good stuff, can't remember if Link and Dingo did that.

Peter, Wallabies kicking coach Chris Malone only joined the staff a couple of weeks prior to the Boks game. Give the bloke a bit more time before hanging him out to dry. I'm sure he would have been happy with Gits sideline conversion and Whites long range penalty. Much work to do sure.

Five aussie Super Rugby teams means the talent is so spread thin foreign imports are needed. Our best players have to play SR with some ordinary ones and they do more than their share of the work on-field when playing SR because they have the right stuff and they want Wallaby selection. The result is the Wallaby squad is replete with super fit multi skilled players who happily find themselves in a team with other quality players They must really be enjoying their footy. These champions were able to overcome Phipps and Foley's average form in the last test and the unreliable line-out. I hope they can do it again on Saturday. I have been banned from GAGR for anti -Tah bias in saying Phipps and Skelton are grubs a few weeks back so i will not repeat that statement; Dan 'the tripper' Carter is the real villain.

There's definitely an amazing difference in attitude noted in the lead in to this match. In previous years the hubris and bizarre statements of over confidence like McKenzie's 'bring it' beggared belief and built up damaging complacency. Cheika seems to have them on the right wavelength. It too was a Cheika doubter, whilst I am not a true convert yet and believed SA more squandered their loss and NZ were clearly not on the same page - I cannot deny the scrum, resilience and breakdown and overall commitment has improved out of sight. Shame Ireland has incurred some injuries because they also look very primed and ready for a successful RWC and would love for them to make the final and also host one after Japan.

Blinky, I've been banging on for a few years now about a sideshow event, that could have a working title called 'Rugby Fives' or 'Tight Fives'. Similar to those silly fitness test events where the Olympian takes on a league player, a rugby player and an Afl player to test who is the strongest, fittest, fastest, etc? Except Rugby Fives would be about the wrestling match that scrums, rucks and mauls are. Played on a tight field (5-10 metres wide?), 5 tight forwards would wrestle against another team of tight. 5 forwards, to see who could scrum the strongest, maul the cleverest and ruck the fastest. Promoted and broadcasted Rugby Fives could glamourise the engine room and the pretty boys that play there. And unearth some talent, and develop these unique muscular skills. It would also be a point of difference with the other codes, especially with the code that pretends to have scrums. And it would educate the hoi polloi around the laws and dark arts of scrummaging. Not to mention putting lipstick on the pigs, and giving the outside backs some competition in the glamour stakes.

Digger, thanks for a great article. Really well thought out and written. I think that Cheika's people-management, staff and players alike is key to his success both at the Waratahs and with the Wallabies. I will add that through my work I got a chance to meet with a number of the Wallabies last Monday (after Bledisloe 1 - Moore, Hooper, Skelton, White and Fardy) and I was struck by their demeanour with respect to Bledisloes 1 & 2. If I could sum it up, I would say that they're opinion via Cheika is that if they lose Bledisloe 2 it will be back to the drawing board before the RWC. Was great to see this commitment and humility in the team.

I think its both. But imo without the depth, the results would be v different. Nevertheless, what I'm excited about is the base game, specifically the attack. Which is anti-Cheikball. 10/10 from me. Couldn't believe it, in game 1. Had to rub my eyes in game 2, when it continued. Was a pleasure to watch in game 3. It was Lang Park 2014 levelled up. Like the Reds, only done properly and improved from game to game. What extent Bernie Larkham influenced this is not yet known. But it works. Well.

It's about winning mate in this country, unfortunately to bring the passives back into the fold.

Nice article. I see a definite improvement in the basics. particularly tackling, which in Rugby is; target the legs, get the player down and then squabble over possession. Lots of good things come from the ruck. The Ball and All tackle has such a high failure rate that its persistent use was the main reason why we leaked points. The number of 80 minute players has gone up, oh for the days when 15 ran on and maybe 13 staggered off. This 'luxury' has created the 'finisher', a player with 20 minutes to assist in deciding the outcome and we have a few of those. The support for mini-breaks is not as high as it is for the ABs (the benchmark). Cheika maybe needs to have a long chat about learning the others' game, what they are likely to do, what are they capable of, what 'tells' are there etc. We still look as if we are more worried about positions than the actual play (and player) that is developing. I blame the decade long form collapse on trying to emulate/channel/absorb the teams of the golden eras. What they didn't realise is the amount of work and discussion those players and coaches invested in the outcome. That is the essence of team work and no sport exposes an underdone 'team' than Rugby. No amount of talent will be good enough until it is presented in the form of 15+ committed mates who will do everything and anything to get the job done. Going professional made it that little bit harder. One other little note, the clean up of stragglers on our side of the ruck, much improved, any opposition need to understand that if it is a Wallaby ruck, get the hell out of there. That kind of cold aggression is vital.

luv it.. :) :)

This is my favourite of all your comments Sheek.

Diggercane, I'm one of those who didn't think Australia had the cattle. I'm still not sure we have the cattle to win this world cup. But full credit to Cheika, he's got the Wallabies playing to a standard where the sum of the whole is greater than its parts. It's the best thing a coach can do. He has them playing with confidence, with fire, with self-belief. All I've wanted these past 10 years is to see the Wallabies play as if they really care. I've seen it this year. Finally. Last Saturday was a weird night. I can't recall the Wallabies beating the ABs in my lifetime without playing particularly well. In the past when the Wallas have beaten the ABs, they've had to play near their absolute best. Not so last weekend. Neither team played particularly well, although I enjoyed the contest as a spectacle. Both teams can certainly improve. There is a particular irony developing this weekend that the Wallabies could play better than they did last weekend, but end up losing. As for what it all means for the world cup, I don't know. There's a lot of things we won't know until the world cup competition actually starts. I just want the Wallabies to be the best they can be.

If the Wallas achieved that, would it be a record run of wins for Oz?