Cheika era needs to be buried nine feet deep and the mistakes never repeated
If it wasn’t clear that Rugby Australia need to move in a different direction before the Wallabies quarter-final loss to England, it should be crystal clear now.
His decision to walk away is the right one. Early coaching credentials aside, the results have proven that Cheika is becoming as outdated as a dinosaur as the game evolves forward with finer margins, greater attention to detail and analytics-driven strategy and improvement.
As in life, some get left behind and it’s hard to argue Australia’s passion-driven coach hasn’t been with one of the worst records as a Wallaby head coach.
It’s not the losing that confuses the most, as Australian Rugby has well-known structural issues that present challenges for any head coach, but it’s the continual defiance and denial that paints Cheika as a man completely out-of-touch that infuriates the fan base.
England have qualified for the Rugby World Cup semi-finals in comprehensive fashion, downing Australia 40-16 in the opening knockout clash of the tournament in Oita. #RWC2019 #ENGvAUShttps://t.co/JPp2WtVXJM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 19, 2019
The magnitude of the ‘reality disconnect’ for Cheika borders on asylum-level insanity as the one-liners and verbal projectile continue to show he is living in a self-insulated echo chamber.
“I think we have come to the tournament and played, over the last two years, our best rugby,” Cheika told the press following his side’s comprehensive 40-16 loss to England.
If ‘best rugby’ means losing a record amount of fixtures in a calendar year and presiding over the worst results to New Zealand in Australia’s history then yes, they played their ‘best’ rugby. But perhaps that is not an accurate claim to make.
In 2018, this side lost a historic nine of 13 test matches for a win return of just 30 percent, lost to Argentina at home for the first time in history, while an end-of-year tour that had a sole win over Italy was a lowlight as well. Cheika’s reign has been littered with undesirable results, like the 2017 end-of-year tour that saw a record defeat to Scotland. Everywhere you look there are flashing warning lights.
New Zealand are averaging 35.63 points a game against Australia since the 2015 Rugby World Cup, up five points from the 2015 cycle and up 10 points since the 2011 one while scoring twice as many tries.
“We’ve played a lot of attacking rugby, scored some good tries,” Cheika added to bolster his claim that this Wallabies side reached the peak of their abilities.
It’s not attacking intent that is the problem, it is where that intent has been applied combined with a severe lack of execution over these years. Poor timing, poor handling, poor line running and poor passing have been hallmarks of this side, all of which haven’t been improved much with the oversight of Cheika.
It took the sacking of Larkham after the 2018 season and the appointment of Scott Johnson and Rebels attack coach Shaun Berne to see any discernible changes to the Wallabies game, highlighted by a clinical performance in Perth over the All Blacks that offered a glimmer of the potential within this squad.
This is a head coach who can’t seem to diagnose the problems in front of him and find solutions to fix it or adjust his approach to suit what the players are capable of, instead, spilling out garbage rhetoric about belief and happiness within the squad and the work behind the scenes that will pay off tomorrow.
It seems he has created a dangerous environment where the feedback loop is broken, the side seems immune to the results they are responsible for.
Prior to the quarter-final against England, he claimed that he doesn’t analyse opponents before playing them, preferring to focus on his own side. This admission is baffling in itself and flies in the face of logic at the elite level of professional sport.
Six-time Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick adheres to a few main philosophies – taking away what the opponent does best, playing to their weaknesses and a biblical-like dedication to understanding situational football.
Each weekly game plan is tailored to that opponent, something that cannot be done without scrutinising what they do and how they do it and then preparing his side for the situations that may present themselves.
If Cheika is really encouraging his staff not to look at what the opponent does, they are blindly heading into battle each time riding on nothing more than dumb luck and chance.
Reviewing the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship campaign showed they used the same menu of set-piece plays regardless of their opponent, not an indictment but a sign that the Wallabies probably are a long way off Belicheck’s methods.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3y3V7Vg5B9/
When queried over whether Australia were tactically outplayed against England, Cheika responded in typical fashion, defending his game plan with a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude.
“Ah no I don’t think so at all,” he said in complete disagreement to the assertion despite a lopsided scoreline.
“Listen, that is the way we play footy. I am not going to a kick-and-defend game.
“Call me naive but that’s not what I am going to do. I would rather win our way or no way. That’s the way Aussies want us to play.”
Exiting out of your 22 with an urgent clearing kick is not ‘going to a kick-and-defend game’. Depending on your approach, a contestable kick moving to a midfield zone can open up fast-break opportunities and open up your counter-attacking game.
It is also just the easiest way to release territorial pressure from a zone in which errors are extremely costly, which this Wallaby side could benefit from instead of playing mindless carries with limited hopes of breaking the line.
You can trace back many instances of the Wallabies coughing up points through ill-thought exit strategies all through Cheika’s time at the helm. Again, in a World Cup knockout game, it cost them 10 points in the first half and it could have been more.
All the while the Wallabies pounded away against a 14-man white wall when they did get to the other end, with just Elliot Daly scanning the backfield by himself. The time and place to put in a few targeted short attacking kicks was in England’s 22, not on their own 10.
This all fed into England’s hands as they built the scoreboard pressure they needed to choke Australia out of the match with clock-draining territorial kicking moving from set-piece to set-piece and winning kickable penalties.
The compounding pressure led to a couple of horrendous passes leading to more points for England to seal the deal. Look back at all seven of Cheika’s losses to England and you will find games that played out in very similar circumstances that haven’t been learned from.
Despite all that is going on in Australian Rugby, there are some extremely talented players on this team. When you see mindless rugby being played over-and-over, you can’t help but think better results and performances were achievable, not just at the World Cup but over this entire four-year period.
No coach in Australian history accumulated as much power yet delivered so little and not been held accountable. Cheika’s ivory tower needs to be torn down in no short order following his departure.
Without the dignity to fall on his sword quietly or take any accountability publicly for what has transpired over the last few years, Cheika walks away on his terms with pure arrogance pointing fingers.
“When the time comes I’ll tell them,” he said in the post-match press conference.
That right there sums up the whole problem with this situation with this power vacuum he has built for himself.
They should have been telling you, mate, and probably about 18 months ago.
Raelene Castle labels Cheika’s legacy as ‘incredibly disappointing’:
Comments on RugbyPass
I bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments