No excuses as Cheika’s men chase retribution
ENGLAND’S bullyboys will push the legal limits to target Will Genia with their niggle and late grappling at Twickenham where the new no-excuses culture of the Wallabies must shine to protect their matchwinner.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika warned there’d be no victory unless the Wallabies hurled their own physical statement back at England to protect halves Genia and Bernard Foley from the intimidation aimed at them early tomorrow morning (AEDT).
This was no lame plea for help from Kiwi referee Ben O’Keeffe but Cheika publicly challenging his troops to rise against English tactics far older than the two-year reign of coaching adversary Eddie Jones.
“They are a very big, powerful team and they’ll try to bully us around and wait for us to crack,” Cheika said.
“That’s traditionally how the games have gone ... try to bully us at the scrum, the lineout, the rucks and, with the niggle, try to get into our halfback (Genia) after he passes and the No.10 (Foley) after he passes.
“There is so much footage of that ... and if you get away with it, it’s legal isn’t it.”
The Chris Robshaw necklock on Nick Phipps in Melbourne and forcing the thenhalfback into a messy shovel pass when a try was conceded in Sydney were typical of the tactics paying off in the ugly 3-0 series loss to England last year.
Training spectator George Gregan agreed a fresh onslaught was coming but is backing Genia: “They’ll disrupt and try to take the rhythm out of the Wallabies attack but I’ve not seen Will healthier for a long time and he’s got his spark.”
The Wallabies’ style of flat passing in the face of the defence puts creators like Genia, Foley and Kurtley Beale in the firing line for a whack but Cheika believes his remodelled squad has resilience.
“Since the (2015) World Cup we’ve been building a noexcuse culture because you can’t let things like that get you rattled,” Cheika said.
“You get up off the floor and get to the next thing because not having resilience is a big symptom of an excuse culture.”
After the 4-0 Cheik-mate of the Wallabies last year, Jones is hoping that is worth something psychologically when the tension of this blockbuster rises.
“When the game gets tighter, their memory will go back to those previous games so that’s an advantage for us ... that itch in the back of their head,” Jones said.
Having enforcer Adam Coleman (thumb) prove he will be fit to throw some heat back at England was yesterday’s big lift for the Wallabies while the way winger Marika Koroibete burnt Henry Speight on the outside for a 50m training try needs to be indicative of the sharpness of the attack at game-time.
England have won their last 11 Tests at Twickenham but the ground is not so daunting for the Wallabies, since they virtually called it home during the 2015 World Cup.