A big reason why Australia are World Cup finalists and England sank in the pool stages is becoming increasingly clear. It has a little to do with rugby and a lot more to do with the blend of personalities in the Wallabies dressing room. Rather than suppressing character and cracking down on free-thinking, this Australia squad have consciously gone the other way.
Thus it was that while some team members celebrated their semi-final win over Argentina by buzzing around their hotel on Segways, the flanker David Pocock was watching a Sir David Attenborough documentary on African wildlife. “We’ve got the jokers, the lovers, the fighters,” said Michael Cheika, the head coach. “I really like to have lots of different characters in teams, people who think differently about everything. I won’t say we’ve got the extreme right but we’ve got the extreme left and centre right in the way we think.”
Win or lose against New Zealand on Saturday, this diverse group are fast rejuvenating the image of Australian rugby. Not so long ago they were ripping into each other, sending ill-advised texts and operating in an environment described as “toxic” by their fly-half Quade Cooper. Now, after barely a year under Cheika’s enlightened stewardship, the mood is transformed. For the first time in a long while, lovers seem to be outnumbering the pugilists.
The Wallabies captain, Stephen Moore, admits to belonging to the more serious-minded element within the camp but reckons embracing all and sundry for the common good has been central to the Cheika revival. “Sometimes there’s a tendency to want everyone to do the same thing,” Moore said. “Over my career I guess I’ve learned a lot about allowing each character to express themselves in different ways. Cheika’s very good at that. You have guys bringing different things and that’s what makes it special. We don’t have any rules around the place, we’ve just got common sense.”
Another key element has clearly been the reintegration of overseas-based players such as Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell, a decision that has had such a positive effect on morale it makes England’s exclusion of France-based players from World Cup involvement feel more wasteful by the day. How many English players, furthermore, are remotely as multidimensional as the Zimbabwean-born Pocock, an environmental campaigner and committed advocate of gay marriage as well as the best turnover specialist in world rugby?
Allied to Cheika’s expertise at the sharp end of tournaments – already he is the only coach in history to have guided teams to European Cup and Super Rugby success – it makes the Wallabies dangerous opponents for the All Blacks.
Australia have beaten New Zealand in Sydney en route to winning the Rugby Championship and their cricket and netball sides have won world titles against Kiwi opposition this year.
Given the 48-year-old Cheika took over 12 months ago, knocking over the All Blacks would certainly complete one of sport’s more stunning turnarounds.
The fitness of Giteau, Israel Folau and the prop Scott Sio will be important; there is cautious optimism all three will recover although Sio’s elbow problem could well impact on his scrummaging and lifting. “There are some sore bodies but no more than normal for a World Cup semi-final,” Cheika said. “Matt’s better than we thought he would be.”
The management, either way, do not feel weighed down by external expectation. “This time last year I had only just got the job,” Cheika said. “I wasn’t even thinking who was in Australia’s pool … I thought I’d be on holiday somewhere. I didn’t feel I had the credentials to think about it.”
This week he will simply challenge his players to improve on their performance against the Pumas and urge them not to settle for second best, regardless of New Zealand’s status as favourites.
“Do you want to be happy and go home where they’ll pat you on the back and say well done, or do you want to do something different?” he asked rhetorically.
“Or do you want to achieve something you will have for the rest of your life? They are the choices and I know what choice this team will make.”
