Michael Cheika has taken full responsibility for Australia’s disastrous Cook Cup series defeat to England, admitting their wasted possession in Saturday’s second Test was down to failed communication on his part.
The Wallabies saw 68 per cent of the ball, had 56 per cent of territory and ran for almost 700m more than England but lost 23-7 at Melbourne’s AAMI Park, unable to find a way past the tourists’ incredible and resolute defence.
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» Match report: England clinch the series
» DIY player ratings
» Roar Forum – what changes should the Wallabies make?
» WATCH: Highlights from the match
The only points Australia scored were from a converted first-half try, which came via a rolling maul – the free-flowing, exciting rugby they played in patches during the series opener in Brisbane last weekend was nowhere to be seen.
Cheika claimed the Wallabies played too much in the “wrong areas” and said that was down to his messaging.
“I’ve got to really own that as a coach. We prepare that in the prep of the week. I’ve got to explain it to the lads more forcefully,” he said.
“I’ve got to make sure that message is clear. I know we want to play a lot of footy, that’s how we want to play the game – stack more passes, stack more rucks.
“It doesn’t always convert into the scoreboard. That will happen sometimes, playing that way but it shouldn’t happen regularly.
“We’ve got to learn to play a lot of footy and win the game too.”
Cheika also conceded he got some of his tactics wrong, saying the Wallabies should have kicked more often to alleviate pressure.
But he said full credit had to be paid to England and their coach, Eddie Jones, who outpointed his former Randwick teammate for the second week running.
“In both games so far they’ve played very smart, they’ve played in the right areas and played well at the ruck, they’ve spoiled a lot of good ball for us,” Cheika said.
“They’ve seen that we’re going to play a lot of footy and chosen the sort of opposite way, which is always the contrast in styles – and their way has been victorious pretty clearly, even though we’ve had a lot more attack.
“We’re going to have to take that, suck it up and (I’m) not even going to say learn from it – just use the scars later on.”
Cheika was also unhappy with the performance of referee Craig Joubert, who made some puzzling penalty calls, and with the state of the surface, which dug up under the weight of scrums in an embarrassing look for the Australian Rugby Union – but he was at pains to point out none of those factors cost them the game.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Well then why do you need a coach? Just get talented players. Problem solved. Coaches need to be able to coach to the group in front of them, not the group of 30 adapt to the one coach. If you can only coach good players, you aren't a good coach.
Rugbology
Guest
Kick your goals coach !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
taylorman
Roar Guru
Cool, good luck with that Dan, sounds great. Good time to be playing rugby in England at the moment I'd say.?
Rotuma Island
Guest
or maybe the Brumbies are not that talented. CLL is no where near the skills level of Bernie which might explain why they couldn't execute Bernie's game plan?
Jibba Jabba
Guest
You need Coleman, 204 cms, 120kgs and aggressive workaholic, not a 140kg passenger.
Jibba Jabba
Guest
They certainly need a Skills Coach ???
Bakkies
Guest
Scotland, Ireland and England have A sides.
bruce bridges
Roar Rookie
Not sure Wales and Scotland do England have the Saxons and the Irish have the Wolfhounds only the Saxons have toured this year though. Beat the SA a side 2-0. Some good young players to watch out for as well Hepburn Taylor and Robson will be there or there abouts for the AIs in the Autumn Our U20's are going great as well Mallinder and several others look to have some serious talent and are likely to step up to senior level as well. As an England fan I can honestly say the future is bright and 8 months or so ago Rugby was thought to be in crisis in England. How quickly things can change.
Dan in Devon
Guest
I don't know the answer. My own son has now entered the academy structure so I suppose I am something of a hypocrite!? But English rugby is a different beast to Australian rugby in many respects.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Squirrel is just an obsolete fossil who thinks rugby should revolve around single city club competitions as the main structure to underpin a national team. He ignores the fact that the game competes with NRL and AFL for athletes and players will not work and play amateur rugby when they could be full time professionals in another code. Academies highlight and fastrack the best talent and focus funds to retain them. It's not an exact science but it's better than waiting around to see who's left over once the other codes take what they want.
Dan in Devon
Guest
Cannot argue with that! But in a broader context, it would be fair to say Australian rugby is a minor sport and has done very well all things considered. Cheika should be applauded for his inventiveness and boldness and I hope he remains strong enough to pursue his ideas about how the game should be played because the Wallabies are not far from being a good team. His attempt to broaden depth by including overseas players is a good one especially when one considers that our local team the Exeter Chiefs will have 8 Aussies in its squad next year. Cheika embodies for me a lot of qualities that I love about Australian sport.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Well just NZ then.
Dan in Devon
Guest
Not sure we could say the academy system has worked in the UK. Only a few months ago they were being lambasted for their mechanical and tedious style. One problem is that they create false expectations for hundreds of young boys and disrupts their education; further, the home teams have all gone to SH coaches to improve their game play - a little puzzling in light of the extensive academy structure. Lastly, it remains to be seen whether this new dawn will endure for English rugby.
Loup
Guest
If the Wallabies made more use of mauls they would have created more space out wide.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
They work for NZ and England...
Loup
Guest
Endless directionless phases remind me of the Wallabies under EJ…Wallabies need to be much more efficient with their ball. Daryl Gibson should be considered as a backline assistant because he has the Tahs attacking more efficiently than any other Oz Super side; for example they score about as many tries on turnover as the Chiefs. Larkham is a mediocre backline coach.
Charlie Turner
Guest
Mike, Larkham was a great runner, passer and defender but his kicking game was only satisfactory. He is learning the coaching game as he goes along and will take time to develop but remains to be seen if he'll be a great coach.
James Manchip
Roar Rookie
Agreed. All of the home nations play A teams and it can only develop players for the senior teams.
Jigbon
Guest
I believe we had the wrong game strategy. This is not the first time cheika has been out tacticed or out strategised by an opposing coach. - Hansen and Joseph spring to mind. Other teams often play to our weaknesses, they have analysed our game in detail but do we do the reverse ? Why didn't we play to their weaknesses. ? Additionally the dropped ball was laughable. So much dropped ball. All that possession , territory and no variation in our play. What we did wasn't working so time and time again we did the same thing. That astounded me. Don't we have a plan b ? Definitely need a line breaking no 8 and more dash from our forwArds. I am concerned the wallabies were outdone on the psychological front too. Too much reactionary stuff Focus was broken during those outbursts.
Squirrel
Guest
It's the ARU's fault