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Opinion

Cheika's league tactics explain the Wallabies' fall from grace

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6th May, 2020
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Roar Pro
6th May, 2020
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It is easy to get caught up in recent experiences at the expense of the past.

If you ask any average Joe on the street if Australia was a top rugby nation, they will probably say we are useless. And why not? We are ranked number six in the world, bowed out of the World Cup in the quarters and have had some demoralising losses lately.

But this recent period is the exception and not the norm and maybe that is why our recent lack of success upsets us so much.

In the nearly 25 years since rugby union went professional in 1996, the Wallabies have been a very successful team. If you look at the period overall, it is a toss-up between the Wallabies and the Springboks as to who has been the second-best team overall. The All Blacks are obviously at the top and England are fourth.

Here is how the Wallabies have fared against our big three rivals since 1996. Against South Africa, Australia has won 27, lost 25 and drawn three for a winning percentage of 49 per cent. Against England, Australia has won 13, lost 18 and drawn one for a winning percentage of 42 per cent. And against New Zealand, Australia has won 17, lost 47 and drawn two for a winning percentage of 26 per cent.

Tevita Kuridrani fends off Beauden Barrett

(Phil Walter/Getty Images)

So if you look at the numbers, we just had the wood on South Africa overall. England has just got us although they do have the big advantage of six more home games in those numbers and our horrible recent run against them. And the All Blacks, well, they got us pretty good just like everyone else. But we have the equal best win percentage against the All Blacks, equal with the Springboks and ahead of England on 17 per cent.

Included in these figures are horrors of the last few years, arguably the worst in Australian rugby union history. Under Michael Cheika we only won 22 per cent of our matches against these three major foes compared to 40 per cent for the rest of the professional era.

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Under Cheika, the Wallabies’ win rate against New Zealand fell from 26 to 21. Against South Africa, it fell from 49 to 38, and against England, it fell from 52 to just ten.

The English figures are particularly shocking with the last seven matches going to the Poms. I recently watched a replay of the Wallabies versus England from 2006. The Wallabies had about one third of the possession but easily ran out winners 43-18.

We kicked excellently and produced lovely cross-field kicks in attack. We were menaces in the ruck and choked out England’s attack with aggressive defence. We forced English turnovers and counter-attacked for a few beautiful tries towards the end of the game. The Wallabies focused on quality of possession and not quantity.

You could basically switch the teams and use the same summary to describe the last seven losses in a row that Cheika’s teams have had to Eddie Jones’ England.

Michael Cheika was once a successful coach but in recent years he forgot he was coaching a rugby union team. In the end his strategy was a hybrid of league and union built around a bunch of big physical players continuously hitting the ball up in attack.

His defensive strategy was basically a league one of tackling and waiting for an unforced error with next to zero competition to win the ball back. His kick strategy, well, he joked they didn’t even practice tactical kicking at training!

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Michael Cheika

(Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Unfortunately, these strategies have trickled down to our Super Rugby teams too. Super Rugby players are more likely to play the style of the Wallabies as they feel that will give them the best chance of selection.

Maybe it was not entirely his fault and he was pressured more towards this. There is an idea in Australian rugby union that we must compete with rugby league and play running rugby to bring in the crowds. We do not!

All the Wallabies must do is win. The Wallabies team that held the Bledisloe for five years straight is a prime example of this. And fortunately, winning rugby is attractive rugby to watch too. I have not seen too many bad matches involving the All Blacks.

In the late ’90s and early 2000s we were the best rugby team in the world. From then until pretty much the last couple of years we were consistently in the top three teams in the world. We should all be positive about the future of Australian rugby.

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel and all we need for the Wallabies to succeed is to play a simple classic rugby union strategy: effectively clear your 22, attack from broken play, pressure and force turnovers in defence, kick for territory and as an attacking weapon.

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The Wallabies were once known as the smartest team in the world. As such, we need to go back to our old style of selections with more of a focus on a player’s rugby smarts over physical attributes like size, strength and speed. The most important asset of the rugby player is their decision-making skills.

If the next 20 years of Australian rugby are like the first 20 of the professional era, we should all be very happy. The future is looking bright for Australian rugby. All we must do is copy the Wallabies’ successful past and just play rugby union.

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