Another Bledisloe Cup game, another Wallabies defeat at the hands of the All Blacks. After 30 years the Eden Park hoodoo remains and New Zealand have the record for 18 consecutive wins in Test rugby. It’s the same old story, isn’t it? Well, not exactly.
Despite the lopsided 37-10 scoreline, the Wallabies actually played pretty well and matched the All Blacks for large periods of the game. Down 15-7 at half-time, they cut the deficit to five points in the second half. Then came the match-turning moment – Henry Speight’s disallowed try. It was an ordinary call, incredibly harsh on the Wallabies, and stopped them dead in their tracks. To further rub salt in the woods, Bernard Foley missed an easily kickable penalty soon after.
The All Blacks then did what they always do – counter-attack with surgical precision and skill. As the Australian errors mounted up, the men in black ran in three tries in 19 minutes to kill off their opponents. Two came to wing wizard Julian Savea who was doing his best Jonah Lomu circa 1995 impersonation. Big, fast, scary. Game over, case closed. New Zealand, rugby’s great escape merchants, had done it again and in some style.
A 27-point defeat might not seem anything like a close contest but it was. The stats tell the tale. The Wallabies had 65% possession and 68% territory, making more metres, passes and runs. Their scrum held and they were more successful at the lineout, while the Kiwis were forced to make nearly 100 more tackles. But once again it was the awesome All Blacks who emerged victorious.
After the game Cheika blew his stack. Asked for a comment about New Zealand’s record-breaking winning streak, he bellowed: “I don’t think they really want my comment anyway. They dressed us up as clowns today, so they wouldn’t really want our comment. I don’t think they respect our comment anyway”.
Cheika then let rip about the suspected listening device that was found in the All Blacks camp before the Bledisloe tie in Sydney. “The thing that got me a bit offside was the accusation that we tried to bug them, like really? Hello. Honestly? I wouldn’t even be smart enough to get that stuff organised. I’m too busy working on my own team. They hold onto it, drop it on the day of the game. They don’t need to do that stuff. They’re too good anyway. It’s only because they want to do it to try and needle either me or us.”
In the usually staid world of international rugby press conferences this was explosive stuff. As a forward Cheika played with immense passion and pride, and he coaches no differently. But this is one instance where he lost the plot. Firstly, the Herald depicted him as more Krusty the Clown than Stephen King’s It. Scandalous or inflammatory it was not. Strangely, for someone who once played on in a game where he was nearly scalped by a stray boot at a ruck, the former Randwick man needs to harden up.
The Australian media has done the same in the past, if not worse. Who can forget the “Richetty grub” spread from Sydney’s Daily Telegraph before last year’s World Cup final, aimed at Richie McCaw? Or the infamous “Dad’s Army” front page once aimed at England’s ageing forward pack? This is what the media does in all sports. They trade barbs, poke fun, try and stoke fires. The Kiwi media is as parochial as anywhere in the rugby world, but their Australian counterparts are not wallflowers. Surely Cheika knows this. People in glass houses and all that.
The focus needs to be more on Cheika’s team and not on outside distractions. Giving the All Blacks even more ammunition is madness. Cheika lost the war of words with Eddie Jones earlier this year, as England spanked Australia 3-0. Jones and his men revelled in the sledging war, exposing a soft Australian underbelly. Now it’s clear that Steve Hansen has got under his skin as well. For years the Wallabies have talked a good game but rarely produced when it mattered.
There is a need to get back to basics and stick to on-field matters. Fix their turnover rate and the way they needlessly give away penalties. Find Israel Folau’s mojo and a more reliable goal-kicker. Create a stronger spine and toughness to a team that too easily breaks down when the pressure is dialled up.
You earn respect by what you do on the pitch, by your actions actually in the game, not off the field. Of course, Cheika knows this – you don’t win Super Rugby and European Rugby Champions Cup titles otherwise. But it’s been a long, tough year and it’s far from over yet. The UK and Paris await next month and at this point the Europeans will be licking their lips in anticipation.
