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Michael Cheika unapologetic about Wallabies' error-riddled World Cup win over Georgia
By Online Editors
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika won't apologise for his unblinking commitment to ball-in-hand rugby in Japan.
His only concession is they'll need to do it an awful lot better in a quarter-final against England if they're to bring home the Webb Ellis Cup.
An error-riddled performance in beating Georgia 27-8 on Friday showcased both the positives and negatives that come from a game plan where kicking in general play is a rarity.
By retaining the ball on the back of a dominant pack display, the Wallabies had a mortgage on possession and territory, forcing their tier-two foe to attempt more than 200 tackles.
However, the chances of making mistakes escalates, only heightened by playing in wet, windy pre-typhoon conditions in Shizuoka.
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Cheika had warned the high-risk Australian method was coming in pre-match interview when asked if it was ideal conditions to unleash a tactical kicking game plan.
"I don't think we've got one of those. Kicking the ball, it's not in our nature," he said.
His tune hadn't changed after the final whistle.
"It's pretty obvious, we're the lowest kickers in international footy.
"We like to play with the ball in our hand... but there were a few things that we definitely need to work on out the back. We'll get to that during the week."
Cheika outlined some of his concerns, believing the backline should have stood flatter on attack and been more decisive when attacking holes.
It's hard to know if those comments will count against Matt To'omua, who was handed a start at five-eighth for the first time in nearly a year.
Cheika described the utility player's performance as "solid", giving little away over whether to persist with To'omua or restore specialist No.10 Christian Lealiifano.
One player not under any threat is winger Marika Koroibete, whose sensational solo try in the 60th minute was the best of four register by the Australians. It helped to spark the Wallabies, who were just seven points up at that stage.
Two who had less memorable days were fullback Kurtley Beale and No.8 Isi Naisarani.
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Latest Comments
BB can’t pass? Right…
Go to commentsEven the 20/30 cappers did too I reckon.
IDK, I think Jordan has a limited life span in this side unless he can develop more to his game. Like you go on to mention, I think theyres more important things to worry about than the effectiveness of someone's extra strings, or secondary components to their game.
Bash backs are Fosters thing, and to a large part they've made it work. Theyre now one of the best teams in the world.
They boy's trucked it up a bit against Italy in the redzone, and against France, wasn't that effective without the right players probably.
Try and take a look at it this way. Dissapointed Havili and Blackadder were in the side? Havili despite clearly shown that he can't do what the team needs at 12 was kept on for the RWC. Back goes down and he brings in Blackadder who doesn't play. Refuses to drop Christie when he should and look who starts this season. Beauden Barret not playing well enough to keep his 10 jersey but we gotta keep him in the side. Weve only got one 8, we stuff developing another I'll just play Ardie every game.
This years team wasn't burdened overly with injuries but they were in every position Razor might have wanted to try and development, severely limiting options. I'm not defending Razor as there was also plenty of other opportunity to make up for it and he was a little gunshy, but I'm also not going to overly criticise him because he chose cohesion over a black slate.
I think more and more people are on board with it being time to try alternatives, but then again, how would they have reacted to a loss against Italy? 😉
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