Michael Cheika and Eddie Jones are kindred spirits. They are either lunatics, or visionaries.
It’s the latter in my book, but there will be many thousands at Twickenham early Sunday morning AEST our time who will be keeping an eye on the two national coaches and their reactions, while television cameras won’t be far away either.
The two Aussies come from foreign backgrounds, Cheika’s Lebanese, Jones with a Japanese-American mother. Both played many times for the Galloping Greens at Randwick, both played for NSW, both missed Wallaby selection even though both deserved the chance.
Both have coached Randwick, Jones is a former Wallaby coach, Cheika the current, and both have taken the Wallabies to losing Rugby World Cup finals.
There’s seven years the difference in age – Jones is 56, Cheika 49 – but plenty of difference in their track records internationally this year – Jones with 12 wins from 12 for England, Cheika just six wins from 14.
Chalk and cheese, especially the three from three for England over the Wallabies last June Down Under.
Cheika was strangely quiet during that series, which was very uncharacteristic.
Both Cheika and Jones have another trait in common, they will never die wondering.
Now we are up-to-date with Cheika having a crack at his old time teammate criticising him for tarnishing his legacy as a former Wallaby coach.
This is where Cheika and Jones are very different.
Jones, by his very nature, is a cheeky bugger, he will stop at nothing to get under an opposition coach or player’s skin, anything to rattle their cage.
No greater example than the Rugby World Cup last year when the Jones-coached Japan beat the Boks for the first time in history with a sensational try in the corner in extra time.
It brought the house down, Eddie the Eagle had landed again big time.
So what will happen this weekend?
Cheika’s likely to lose champion halfback Will Genia to Stade Francais as the November window has gone, and that will be critical.
Even though Nick Phipps has improved of late, he will never be a Genia.
Dean Mumm has a disciplinary meeting to attend for his spear tackle in the Ireland loss, and if he doesn’t cop a week, Cheika should sideline him to end his career in gold.
Lopeti Timani should never ever be left out again.
And what of England, having scored 42 tries to 22 on the Jones watch?
Not since the halcyon days of Clive Woodward’s coaching in 2003 has England scored so many tries.
England won their only Rugby World Cup that year beating Jones’ Wallabies 20-17 in extra time in the final, winning 17 of 18 games en route, scoring 79 tries to just 17.
Woodward was knighted.
Jones hasn’t beaten the All Blacks yet, but if he does, will it be Sir Eddie Jones?
Then we’ll see the all-time high cheeky bugger.
Red Kev
Guest
How did he play ok? He's not bumping fellas like Arnold can and he aint working hard like Simmons does. Low work rate + low impact does not equal good game buddy! Get with it!
Frank Frank
Roar Pro
Phipps has a better pas than Genia (although on a bad day Phipps passes can be inaccurate) but genia takes 2 steps before he passes and his length of pass is what holds him back from being the no 1 scrum half in the world. sitting behind the psost this year in sydeny it is clear that Aaron Smiths bullet 20-30m passes are phenomenal when coapred to genias slow and short passing in comparison. Phipps pass is nowhere near as good as Smith's but it is better than Genia's. Plus Phipps is categorically fitter and a better defender. Genia is a better player because of his running game and when he is in form on that front he is the better option. Genia has better kicking game (not box kicks they are both terrible at that)
Frank Frank
Roar Pro
Rk thi is not a state bais thing other than I am simply trying to point out you can't make him a scapegoat because of who he is and where he is from. Everytime the wallabies lose it is only ever the fault of the 3 or 4 waratahs that are eslected. Curious because the waratahs have been the ebst side in the country for 2 of the last 3 years and this year they were the 2nd best side. Its aburd. Mumm played okay on the weekend. Got a acouple of things wrong, but mostly played well. Should he be selected again on that performance, absolutely yes, if we want tos hore up the lienout. if not then perhaps not. but he did not cost us that game. Dropped passes and the one sided refereeing cost us that game.
Red Kev
Guest
If you lose and have equal replacements! Where's the whole team of Super Rugby winning players buddy?
Red Kev
Guest
I'm talking about Matt Rowley! He just bans people who don't want to talk about how great the Wallatahs are and that Foley and Mumm are great!
Red Kev
Guest
Yeah Mumm's in fine form because some Waratah fan said so! HA! If Cheika picked Mumm and he made 0 tackles and 0 runs you'd try and tell us he had a great game!
Ben
Guest
McCalman too small? 192cm 108kgs compared to Kieran Read 193cm 110kgs. Ok...that 1cm and 2kgs must make a huge difference then in your opinion Fionn and how has he proven he doesnt have the physical strength, unless you have his training stats? I do agree with you re Mumm though as imo he offers little.
Kane
Guest
I missed Uruguay that England played last in the RWC. Yes nz had an easier pool but NZ did win an RWC Qtr Semi and Final in their run.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yes that's true Jacko, I just see the ABs are on 3 already, sixteen to go. Difference between the two is also that streaks like this are the norm for th ABs. Since 2010 the ABs have had runs of 9,7,16,17,8,18 where Englands next best is 5 in that period. Come 6 nations time, should England still be going for the run they'll be under immense pressure with everyone trying to stop them. I've seen the pressure the ABs have been under to keep winning. Might be only a few matches away but England will find out just how tough 19 wins is to chase. It helps having a tournament in amongst it because the hardest ones are where there's nothing on it but the win, Hong Kong and Chicago for the ABs examples. Ireland at Lawnsdowne road being the 19th will be tough, but I fully expect them to lose one earlier.
OJP
Guest
we already have that Jacko, they call it 'politics' :)
In brief
Guest
Farces cost us the match not Mummy. Discipline is a myth when so many calls are 50/50
In brief
Guest
Unfortunately he got caught up in the Ewen/Paton controversy.
In brief
Guest
Sounds refreshing. On the roar all they want to do is bag the wallabies.
In brief
Guest
That's a harsh thing to say about Eddy- Or are you looking in the mirror?
Dwards
Roar Rookie
Not that long ago I would have agreed hands down that Genia is better than Phipps. As a Queenslander it is my civic duty to unreasonably support anyone who play for the reds at this moment in time. But I'm not convinced the gap is as large now as it was. It seems to me, when Phipps came off the bench he was terrible. Trying to hard, doing stupid things, slow to pass. The few games he started though, with Genia unavailable, I thought he was a real asset. More accurate passing, more incisive running, better temperament. ANd the guy just runs all day. I find myself less concerned with the whole Genia/Phipps thing. I agree though, whilst Cooper is undoubtedly more dynamic than Foley, I would rather have Foley at 10 at this point in time. Mikelives comment expresses this perfectly. So now find myself happy with a Phipps/Foley combo (well maybe not happy, but ....not unhappy?) Does this mean I have to move?
soapit
Roar Guru
does make you ponder where we'd be now if not for that last minute injury that had him running on at wing. still england werent too flash that day so probably would have still won.
soapit
Roar Guru
apologies frank. that was unnecessarily snarky, you are missing my point tho.
soapit
Roar Guru
alternatively we shouldnt ever make any changes if we lose continuously. probably the sensible approach is somewhere between these two straw men (so a couple of changes if decent backups are there - which is what was suggested)
Jacko
Guest
Thats his tone every time he speaks. Cheika should avoid the man as much as possible but it appears he cant
soapit
Roar Guru
and no doubt you would still be avoiding the point. mumm didnt steal any lineout balls while he was off the field. being a man down is clearly more of an issue than a debate over selection and whether someone else could have helped that irishman drop the ball if given the chance instead of mumm. us being in front for a small period towards the end doesnt magically mean there was no significant negative impact of him being off and he'd need to have played pretty well to even get back to an even ledger. i agree tho we shouldnt discuss his performance when he was on the field tho as its proving pretty subjective.