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 Early coaching credentials aside, the results have proven that Cheika is becoming as outdated as a dinosaur as the game evolves forward with finer margins, greater attention to detail and analytics-driven strategy and improvement.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.
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
It was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
5 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
5 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to comments