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What will the Wallabies be like after the World Cup?

19th September, 2018
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19th September, 2018
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I’ve been annoyed, frustrated and have lost it more often than not with the Wallabies, but never have I been on the verge of giving up all hope.

In all honesty I feel I’m writing this article to myself. God knows I need all the motivation I can get. And I’m guessing there maybe a few more out there like me.

Those of you who have had the time to read my previous articles know that I have been a long standing fan of coach Michael Cheika and have supported him throughout his tenure as Wallaby coach – even in perilous times.

In a way I still do, but nothing short of a World Cup win or a hard fought loss in the finals will be acceptable after what has transpired since the last World Cup final.

I understand that it takes time to build a winning team and Cheika has been given more than a World Cup cycle to do so.

My concern however is that even if the Wallabies do go to win the World Cup next year, what happens after that?

Will they lose to the very next team they play? Slip down the rankings within a year of being number one?

Start making basic errors again? Lose tight games which should be won? Or will they maintain their ranking of the number one team in the world by continuing the standard of play which got them the world cup?

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Winning the World Cup is the ultimate gift to a Wallabies supporter, but we don’t want the Wallabies to be just a World Cup team.

Michael Cheika Wallabies

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika (Photo by Jason O’Brien/Getty Images)

The All Blacks are the number one team not only because they have won the last two World Cups but because they play like the number one team in almost every game.

That is what we want the Wallabies to be, not just peak during the World cup every once in four years and then be awful in between.

Most Wallaby fans myself included will be happy even if they don’t win the World Cup providing that they play their potential and maintain and continue to improve consistently post World Cup.

I do honestly believe that if they do that World Cup success will follow. But as things stand currently, I do not see that happening.

Since the last World Cup final, this is how the ledger looks against the current top ten-ranked teams in the world. The brackets indicate the results since Michael Cheika has taken over.

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Ranking Team Won Lost
1 New Zealand 1 (2) 7 (9)
2 Ireland 1 (1) 3 (4)
3 Wales 2 (4) 0 (0)
4 England 0 (1) 5 (6)
5 South Africa 2 (3) 1 (1)
6 Scotland 1 (2) 2 (2)
7 Australia
8 France 1 (1) 0 (1)
9 Argentina 4 (6) 1 (1)
10 Fiji 1 (2) 0 (0)

The readings are not pretty, specially for a team who started as number two in the world in 2016.

The results mean that after the World cup final in 2015, New Zealand, Ireland, England and Scotland all have had the wood on the Wallabies. Whereas the Wallabies have managed to get the upper hand on Wales, South Africa, France, Argentina and Fiji.

I suppose we should be thankful for that considering all things. The alarming factor of these stats are that, prior to Cheika taking over in 2014, the Wallabies were beating most of these teams mainly, Scotland, Ireland and England in that specific order.

It is true that the Six Nations teams have all improved, but surely that is not an excuse. Going by this, what we should be worried about is not how the Wallabies will fare in the World Cup but how they will after the event finishes.

Michael Hooper

Michael Hooper of the Wallabies (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

I’m not having a crack at Cheika personally but since 2016, the Wallabies have lost four times to England in a single year. There have been record losses to New Zealand, they’ve lost a home series to Ireland for the first time, lost to Argentina at home after 35 years and have now dropped to seventh in the World Rankings for the very first time.

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If someone told me this a five years ago I would call him crazy. This is not how you follow up being runners up in a World Cup.

I am willing to forgive and forget the last four years leading to the 2019 Rugby World Cup if – and only if – the Wallabies perform well during the tournament and consistently maintain their standard in the top three leading into 2023. But if they have another cycle like they are currently having, I think it’s time for administrators, the players, and fans to accept the fact that the Wallabies are not a top three team in the world anymore and are not what they once were.

So we need to lower our expectations on wanting to win every game and be happy with the occasional close win, which is most likely what is going to happen give the current state.

Bernard Foley

Bernard Foley of the Wallabies (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

There is not one or two things which can be pointed out as areas to be fixed. It seems everything from basic skills to team selection is a problem area. Not long ago I wrote an article about the few areas which needed improvement. So clearly I was wrong – or the Wallabies have regressed to the bottom since then.

I will continue to trust and believe with everything I’ve got until I have nothing left to give. Mainly because they have shown us in glimpses that they are capable of living up to all our expectations and my heart tells me that they will. They owe it to us and more importantly they owe it to themselves.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
— Michael Jordan

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