Wallaby coach Michael Cheika goes into next Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with the Pumas on the Gold Coast with a perfect record of six wins from as many attempts.
The last time the Pumas beat the Wallabies was October 2014 in Ewen McKenzie’s second last game as Wallaby coach, a month before Cheika took over.
But Saturday has a twist to it.
Cheika’s opposite number will be Mario Ledesma who was the Wallaby forwards coach from 2015 to last year, and he has inside knowledge into what makes Cheika tick.
The 45-year-old Ledesma, a world class hooker in his day with 84 Puma caps, has only been at the helm for three Tests that included a surprise win over the Boks. Last week they experienced a 24-46 loss to an experimental All Black lineup that rested Beauden Barrett, Liam Squires, Sam Cane, and Aaron Smith.
But the Pumas gave the All Blacks a hard night with their two toughest campaigners – hooker Agustin Creevy with 77 caps, and fly-half Nicolas Sanchez with 67 and 658 career points – calling the shots.
Nick Sanchez (AFP PHOTO / MARTY MELVILLE)
That makes it imperative vastly experienced Wallaby hooker Tatafa Polota-Nau plays as many minutes as possible, and Matt Toomua’s switch to fly-half, allowing Kurtley Beale to return to inside centre where he has more room for his x-factor rugby.
Bench hooker Folau Fainga’a is a liability as a lineout feeder, with the last week memory of two crooked throws with the Wallabies on attack on the Boks quarter line that could have cost the men-in-gold a much-needed victory.
The latter Toomua selection is even more important if Israel Folau (ankle), and David Pocock (neck), are still on the injured list.
Winning and using the ball will become even more important than usual, with the Pumas outside backs very lively under Sanchez’s command.
Effectively, Cheika’s comprehensive track record against the Pumas of 34-9, 29-15, 33-21, 45-20, and 37-20 for a total of 214 points to 105, including 28 tries to eight, will amount to nothing.
This will be a very different ball game.
Winning ugly against the Boks last week was so important to the morale of the Wallabies that cannot, and must not, be underestimated.
Kurtley Beale of the Wallabies (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The Wallabies had forgotten how to win against the odds. They now know how, and must never forget it.
The return of giant lock Adam Coleman to link with his tall-timber partner Rory Arnold will be another huge plus.
And a start for rugged prop Taniela Tupou goes without question.
Once he came on against the Boks off the bench, the heavens moved. His was a stunning performance worthy of a far more experienced player.
‘Thor’ is here to stay.
In short, this Puma clash has taken on even more meaning than that win over the Boks.
There’s no doubt the Wallabies are very capable of winning their last three Rugby Championship games.
Just do it.
Uncle Eric
Guest
Of course there is no reason why the Wallabies can't be undefeated for the rest of the RC. In fact the Wallabies may never lose for the next decade. But would you bet on either of these possibilities Connor?? Personally I would not back the Wallabies on option one, let alone option two.
CJ
Guest
The Boks looked awful last Saturday and were relatively easy to defend against as they could not provide any width in attack. The Argentinians will provide a sterner test. They are playing pretty good 15 man rugby these days. The Wallabies look pretty lost in attack without Folau. I think it will be neck and neck.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
That's not true. George Ford said he was the best 12 he had ever played with, and Ford had combined with Farrell and Tuilagi among others.
Kane
Roar Guru
If they get back to their best and their form warrants selection in the RWC then I’ll be the first to demand they be selected. If they’re better than the next best then the deserve to be selected.
Kane
Roar Guru
I’ll give you the 1% Yes Cheika has a 1% better success rate. If 51% and 50% is the difference between success and failure from you why wasn’t Cheila sacked last week when he only had a 1% win rate? The problem we’ve stated which you’ve not answered is why is Cheikas results acceptable when it’s clear they’re getting worse? He’s won 40% of his last 22 tests. His first 22 were 54.5%. Let’s say he won every test for two years and then lost every test for two years would his 50% win rate be acceptable then?
Kane
Roar Guru
Both were against very good teams and Hansen got the monkey off our back with overseas RWC wins and also successfully defended an RWC. He’s done this while losing less than 7% of tests. I’d say that’s fairly acceptable.
Connor33
Guest
So I was genuinely puzzled how you and Kane were getting 50%—and that McKenzie either had the same record or better record than Cheika because I recall going into Saturday’s SA game commentators were saying that their records were both 50%. Coming out of the SA game, they had to be different—right? Of course, correct my maths since Cheika came in if it’s wrong: SA - 6 NZ - 11 Arg - 6 Ire - 5 Fr - 2 Eng- 7 Italy - 1 Scot - 4 Wales - 4 Fiji - 2 Japan - 1 US - 1 Uruguay -1 Cheika 51 games total for 26 wins and 2 draws = 51 % (during a period where the North has certainly risen with Irish and Lions results against New Zealand being examples of this). Versus McKenzie 11/22 = 50% Heck my numbers may be wrong, but it just doesn’t make sense to spruik that they have the same record when apparently, they are not. Did you and Kane calculate that we have played 6 games against SA?
Stu
Roar Rookie
Oh yes.. Shall we get Lynagh and Ella back too? Might as well ask.
Stu
Roar Rookie
Correct. Toomua = serviceable and that's about it. The Kiwis must laugh when we bring that level of quality in and get excited about it. We don't even notice anymore..
Kane
Roar Guru
If the All Blacks can keep pace with the Lions for 55min down a man then the Wallabies should be able to keep pace with Scotland for 40
Kane
Roar Guru
1. Scrum.com has them (although it tends to see a draw as half a win, ie someone who draws every game has a win rate of 50%) pickandgo.info has them too. 2. After 22 tests (same as McKenzie) his win rate was 54.5%, based on his last 22 games its 40.9%, that's the point is that he's no longer improving, he is going backwards. 3. Neither Cheika nor McKenzie played against the Lions so their rise is irrelevant.
Connor33
Guest
So I think McKenzie was 22 games, 11 wins = 50%. Where are you get Cheika’s numbers to = 50% I know Kane has got 50% also, and I’ve inquired where he got the 50% stat from. What’s the source that allowed you add them up?
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
Yeah, Cheika's Wallabies aren't smart and have poor discipline. They also had non idea how to play with a man down. We kept spinning it wide despite only having 14 men.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
I calculated them myself. It isn't difficult to do. Who really minds? Cheika inherited a team that Link had been building and were on the way up. Cheika also had an easy run in the RWC where you always play lots of tier 2 and 3 teams, a diabolical England that never made it out of the group, a Welsh side we have beaten about 12 times in a row and then got through the QF due to a refereeing blunder. Since he has had to play tier 1 teams consistently and had to build his own team from scratch he failed miserably. The 'the north has improved' argument is such a joke. Well, why have they improved but not us? Because they are being well coached, while we are not. You'll go to any lengths to excuse Cheika's diabolical record, but you can't change those facts I point out above. Link isn't an option unfortunately, but that doesn't change how poor Cheika's results have been in 4 of his 5 years in charge.
Melburnian
Roar Pro
Fionn, To be fair, the record loss to Scotland did come after a red card on half time. The Scots also ran the AB's fairly close so are a much improved outfit. I don't disagree with the rest of what you are saying though.
Connor33
Guest
1. Where are you getting these specific win percentages from re Cheika and McKenzie? And what source are they based on? 2. Given that McKenzie coached for less test matches than Cheika, 20 odd, what would be interesting to also know was what was Cheika’s record after 20 odd tests? Of course this was before the rise of the North re Ireland, England and the Lions that McKenzie did not have to deal with—but what was Cheika’s record after the same number of tests as McKenzie?
Mike
Guest
Strictly from a layman point of view, and having watched both games last week, it is self-evident the Argies model themselves on the AB’s game. That said, I believe the WB’S will need to be on the front foot for the full 80 minutes to toss this energetic Argie side.
Mike
Guest
Strictly from a layman point of view. Having watched both games last week, it is self-evident the Argies model themselves on the AB’s game. That said, I believe the WB’S will need to be on the front foot for the full 80 minutes to toss this energetic Argie side.
Connor33
Guest
In a rugby religious country like NZ, failing to win a Lions’ series is probably equally unacceptable, as is losing to Ireland for the first time in a 100 years...it’s all relative, really...
Flyman
Roar Rookie
Sorry David, the Boks lost rather than the Wobblies winning. Both sides were appalling - not even the basics were executed correctly. I believe Argentina is on the cusp of a historic win against the Wobblies and the Boks are going to go home with another +50 to zip score against them.