Wounded Wallabies need to find new direction
ACCORDING to the internet, Winston Churchill once said: “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
It turns out Churchill never said it but one man who would embrace the line anyway is Michael Cheika.
The Wallabies – and Australian rugby – are touring through the fiery pits after an awful year descended even further into despair with another embarrassing loss to New Zealand. So where to for the wounded Wallabies?
It would be easy to imagine the only option is to keep going. And Cheika said as much post- match – they’ll keep the faith and keep going. Only that would be a mistake. Australia must stop the bus right there in hell and whack it in reverse.
Based on the evidence of the past two years for the Wallabies – in the way they play compared to the rest of world rugby – to keep going on Australia’s current path is to drive further down a one- way street.
If the Wallabies don’t change their strategic thinking they’ll be also- rans at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Cheika said the Wallabies had to keep working and back their style. The problem is that style, the attack- ing mentality – is just not working.
Cheika returned home from Ireland in 2013 and tapped into the romantic Galloping Green version of rugby; high- pace, high- skill, highattack. It was high- risk, too, but it worked at the Waratahs. They won Super Rugby in 2014 based on negligible kicking and waves of attack.
But at Test level, rival defences are much better and that style brings exponentially higher risk. When the ball is turned over, teams like New Zealand punish the Wallabies. England, Ireland and Scotland have defended and used Aussie mistakes to score points and win. Italy almost did it, too.
The Wallabies’ defensive meltdown smacked of a team desperately low on confidence. Basic missed tackles, disjointed lines, players not trusting their inside man and biting in. The Wallabies defence was a rabble, and looked like a severely atrophied skill.
Cheika said recently he didn’t plan to follow the defensive trend in world footy and admitted his attacking style could be the “the hard road”.
“Maybe, but I do believe that’s the way Australians want to see the game being played,” Cheika said.
Wallaby fans will disagree with him. They just want to see Australia win. They are in hell too.