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I have been a little concerned with the euphoria that has surrounded Michael Cheika since his elevation to coaching the Wallabies.
This has only been added to by his winning of the Coach of the Year award at the World Rugby ceremony. Australia has suffered a lot in recent years with coaches being appointed and seen as the new messiah, but it all comes crashing down for whatever reason.
Monty Python might have something to say about the new acquirer of messiahood.
Let’s have a look at Michael Cheika’s record in the last year, presumably what was taken into account for the award. He took the Wallabies to Europe at a moment’s notice and came back with one win out of four.
I would expect a world’s best coach to do a bit more than this, even given his 11th hour appointment.
Then his Super Rugby champion Waratahs played the Highlanders in the semi final in Sydney, and were taken apart by their no-name opposition. Again the expectation on a world’s best coach would have been more than what was achieved.
Even in the World Cup, where the plaudits flowed for Cheika and his Wallabies, what did they actually achieve? They comprehensively beat a poor England, struggled to beat an injury ravaged Wales, and looked less than impressive against Fiji.
Then they relied on a ‘hand of god’ moment to rob the Scots of a victory they should never have been within a bull’s roar of pulling off. And in the final, they looked great for 10 minutes while they were a man up, but otherwise looked like boys playing men.
There seems no doubt that Cheika has helped to make Australian rugby supporters feel better about the Wallabies in the last year, but is that enough to be considered the world’s best?
Obviously Steve Hansen will have to pull his socks up after his less than impressive year.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.