Cheika's cheapening of the Bledisloe a sad day for rugby

Different realities. There are always optimists ready to unite behind a new coach but there are always detractors. As on the Roar the latter seem to outnumber the former. But perhaps it's just that the detractos include the relentlessly nasty types. Deans had people after him from the beginning. He's a Kiwi and an All Black. He survived by beating the Saffers but the barbs were relentless. The McKenzie story will come out one day. He had no one gunning for him but he did have to form a team to play the ABs in the first and second games of the Tri-nations. We got flogged! I don't think Jesse Mogg ever recovered. From that point on we 'rollercoastered'. Always a bad sign. Regardless, 'stuff' was happening behind the scenes and his man management skills were shite. It will all come out one day. Enter Cheika. Only a bloke like Cheik would have accepted. I wish he hadn't, for NSW sake, but I'll back him, as a Wallaby supporter, until the next World Cup.

History is written by the winners, Mozzy and NZ has a decided advantage. Another variation on a similar idea is "football fans are fickle, they love ya when yer winnin' but drop you like a hot spud when you lose". I love my rugby and if the team plays well, I go home disappointed if we lose, but looking foreward to the next game. Like Machooka, have a history of holding it over here for what seemed like a decade I further support Machooka in posts above where he points out the team was selected for a heavy track, which it was predicted to be, until the rain stopped mid afternoon. The team choices become easier to understand but it counted against us. Cheika is an optimist and he went for a game plan of big men slogging it up, at least for the first sixty. The wheels fell off. The track was fast and Owens was treating us like barbarians at the gate while metaphorically tipping his cap to his generous (presumed) hosts. But Cheika's goal, and he had it for NSW before circumstance intervened, was to restore confidence in our positive brand of rugby that would create a new era. That's beyond the World Cup and bigger than one Bladisloe. But if we survive our pool of death, and get a chance at New Zealand in the finals (after their few soft games) I reckon we'll do them on neutral ground.

Cheika miscalculated after Sydney. Big time. Six changes to a team with a rare win against the ABs. Six !! Cheika underestimated the forthcoming response. Remember the comments from Hansen and McCaw after Sydney. They were dirty. So no surprise about the ABs attitude in Auckland. What did we learn in Auckland about the WBs?. Zilch - at a cost of momentum and confidence. Cheika is fallible. Exhibit one - this years S15 Final. Exhibit two - Auckland. Cheika has a propensity for hubris, but will he change? Unlikely. Cheika threw the game in Auckland. Not deliberately, but through serious miscalculation. Its impossible to believe the run on team in Auckland was the WBs best. Not after such a good game in Sydney. I hope this is true because the alternative is much worse. The alternative view is Cheika disregarded the Bledisloe legacy and the legacy of generations of fans. Lest we forget - the fans pay the bills. Cheika made a huge withdrawal from the fans emotional bank account. Should the WBs play their best team against the ABs every time? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Otherwise you get Auckland jammed down your throat. So suck it up brothers. If you aim to be second then that's what you will get.

I agree with Bruce Dribs.. If Aust ever wants to win the Bledisloe is has to be objective no 1. NZ would never use the game to test players and that's one reason they still hold it. And the dumb thing is that some of the players (like Palu) he wanted to test have been tested for many years and failed miserably every time. The decision to test Palu again and leave your best player on the bench defied belief it was so dumb. If Aust needed more games to test/trial players they should have organised more and played the Bledisloe to win. And a win in Auckland would have been the best possible outcome leading into the RWC.

I feel quite important again after that pat on the head for writing something that “sounds nice”; and thanks for taking the time to give me a tour of TG Milner - which you might have saved yourself if only you'd first asked how many decades a couple of family generations have been members.

"but the game has grown"

As Dubaikiwi and colvin have noted, citing Reason as an authority is a marvelously amusing own goal.

TahDan, It was a funny-ha-ha throwaway line which I have already acknowledged as being a poor choice of words, irrespective of whether I was being playful, or not. You've chosen to stalk me because of it long after it's become a non-issue, to me at any rate. So I'll tell you now politely, Bugger off.

The Bledisloe Cup was cheapened long ago by a) The emergence of a more important tournament (RWC) against every major rugby power (including New Zealand) at the same time! b) The dilution of the Bledisloe by "integrating" it into another tournament (Tri Nations then Rugby Championship) c) The staging of extra novelty fundraiser games in places like Hong Kong The Ashes comparison is not relevant as there is no World Cup for test cricket. The cricket World Cups (yes there are two) are for limited overs versions, which are about as differrent from test cricket as rugby league is from from rugby union. If Cheika had sent out an experimental team to play a Bledisloe decider in the 70s or 80s when the Bledisloe Cup had far greater meaning and significance, then I too would have been outraged. But in 2015 I think he was absolutely right to focus on the bigger picture of RWC, and treat it as a selection trial and depth builder.

The only problem with playing around with team selections that I see is that the Wallabies have to hit their straps running when they start in the "pool of death". Its a well known fact that a good rugby team needs time on the paddock together, and Cheika had the perfect opportunity to get his best playing together for 3 games in a row (including the USA). I think its the same problem that the NH teams are going to have, playing second-string sides as they did for their first games (Wales and Eng anyway). The AB's don't have the same problem as they have a well-established team, and a relatively easy pool

Thank you very good points regarding the Bledisloe cup but unfortunately this is what happens during RWC years. The obvious comparison is to reflect on when was the lst time Australia won against the AB? Yep, another world cup year. This year's six nation was a mockery of this legendary tournament if you look at the make up of those teams. Science experiments at best. So my question is not how to prepare best for the world cup, more so does the world cup has any relevance as a competition outside of the 6+4 teams ? It is even debatable to have Scotland and Italy in therer. Instead i would rather like to see a global test tournament every year or biannually with the members of the rugby championship and the 6 nations competing against each other and having the Bledisloe, 6 nations title, mandela shield etc etc all rolled up in it as part of the tour and to keep those great traditions going. This would be a fitting replacement of the RWC, thw 6 nations and the Rugby championship. Rugby is not soccer or cricket. The competitions are different, the seasons are different and the geographical locations of the best teams are different. Competing every 4 years leaves too much at stakes for any team and therefore decisions are made by the squad managers to the detriment of historical battles which have contributed to building whst the sport is today.

Last time I was at Concorde was the semifinal in 1987 ,I was at Randwick barracks and some mates from Townsville were down to watch the game with me . I think the old ground was pretty full at around 20k buggered if we could find it and being well lubricated werent about to try ! I remember we found great hilarity in the name of one Messiuer Condom [ we were young and had a full load on board ] . I warned my mates yhat the French were not to be taken lightly but they were having none of that ! Youth isnt wasted if your living it I guess .

I trust you attended the Eastwood grand final to soak up the atmosphere you have described above. I didn't as I was in Auckland but I have in recent times and what you have described is still on the menu at the game and post game back at the club house. What you have described re. Wallabies tests of yesteryear sounds nice and intimate but the game has grown well beyond that into a much larger event embraced by many rather than only for a boutique crowd. You can long for the days of a Wallabies test being a boutique offering but I prefer the what happens nowdays. I'm not knocking what happened in the past but I am knocking your rose tinted glasses longing for a game that was amateur that does not fit in with the realities of a professional world where rugby is growing throughout the world.

Well......the Aussie cricket selectors did to the Ashes what Cheika did to the Bledisloe. They picked Michael Clarke for the absolutely vital 4th test, when it had been clear for to long that he is no longer up for it. It was a blatant case of......." it is Pup's swansong most definitely, so let's not mess that up by dropping him......bugger the Ashes". BOOM. There goeth the Ashes.

First Mark Reason is a whinging pom, not a Kiwi. Secondly anyone who quotes Mark Reason as a source reference clearly has nothing to back up his own thoughts. Any one who follows journos, knows that Mark has never written a article of anything positive when writing about the All Blacks.

Mark Reason is a Pom who always talks down the ABs. As did his father John Reason.

Alright then kiddies - I'll play for a moment - the Qantas Harmless Wallabies coaching franchise as some sort of pyramid sales set up. Uh huh. Your formula would have Cheika with a win against Argentina and a belting from the All Blacks. You cannot logically claim the Sydney result because that was a Deans' / McKenzie XV, was it not, with Giteau, Mitchell and Mumm playing? Further, the Adam Two-Fathers try really ought to be allocated to Eddie Jones who selected him to play during his term. It would not have been scored but for Eddie's prescience.

Have to admit that my first thought on seeing the changes to a winning side was to wonder whether Cheika was tanking the Bledisloe in the hope of a (minor) potential advantage at the RWC. But if that was the intent, the time to pick your experimental side was in the first match, not the second. So I would imagine that the team selected for Eden Park was in fact what he considers to be his number 1 team. I'm not sure that is not more concerning though...

Hi Bruce. Welcome to the Roar I think the Ashes is the symbol of the little country defeated the big country in the premier Summer game. The Bled is a trophy won by a country whos main sport is Rugby vs country who's third main winter sport is Rugby. Soon to be fourth. This year is a RWC year. imo It is understandable the leadup matches are used to maximise WBs chances: - given the extremely short runway Check & Co has. - Other teams have around 50 games. - WBs have 4 - Forget last EOYT, it didnt even count given the team had a couple or so days to pack and play

I do think you believe I am stupid, Zero Gain. On your second point - the man who offered "bleak" to the the Oxford English Dictionary was thinking of Concord Oval at the time.

Well done... good answer, and now we Wallaby set our sights on the RWC :) Mind you there are never any guarantees of winning either... and they're certainly not mutually exclusive in a RWC year. Nor should they be.