HE S WE ARS THE POMS ARE CHE ATS
ZIP it Cheik. Enough.
The “f***** cheats” shout from the Twickenham grandstand that has dumped Wallabies coach Michael Cheika ( right) in strife has tarnished him as a bad loser and eroded the “no excuses” culture he demands of his team.
World rugby officials may yet take action over Cheika’s unseemly crack during yesterday’s tense battle when three disputed try calls went against his team in a jolting 30- 6 loss to Eddie Jones and his crowing English team.
Australian rugby fans want a coach like Cheika, who is passionate, fierce, funny, frank, full of strong opinions and drives his team brilliantly to wins over the All Blacks.
They don’t want to google “www. rugby. com. au” to find it stands for Worldwide Whingers.
Rugby followers these days are largely unmoved by the F- word, but they still demand dignity from those in charge of national teams.
Cheika was out of order and gave a lame excuse that letting anger bubble out immediately was best for him.
“That’s my own way of dealing with stuff. I like to get it out and get on with things,” he said. “It’s not like it’s affecting anyone else.”
Maybe, only the image of the Wallabies because this is not an isolated venting. Cheika’s fuse blew with his kneejerk line and sarcastic handclapping GRINNING victor Eddie Jones rubbed the Wallabies’ noses in their soggy Twickenham pain by likening England’s triumph to completing a 5- 0 Ashes whitewash in cricket.
Jones has done such a stunning coaching job turning around England’s rugby fortunes it was the fifth victory in 18 months over old mate Michael Cheika’s Wallabies.
Jones’ point was well made even though he got a little muddled with history by when no- try was called on skipper Michael Hooper for being off- side at the 26- minute mark.
Even the phlegmatic Hooper was nonplussed because he thought he’d adapted to initially being off- side when Tevita Kuridrani toed ahead.
“I thought I worked back, hands in the air and Marika ( Koroibete), who was onside, kicked the ball, and put me onside,” Hooper said.
Winger Koroibete had a superb game, including a hustling front- on tackle that helped Maro Itoje murder a two- man overlap when the Wallabies were reduced to 13 men for three minutes with Hooper and the unlucky Kurtley Beale in the sin bin.
The Wallabies grittily conceded just three points when undermanned and would have tied the Test at 13- all after 69 minutes but for Kiwi referee Ben O’Keeffe’s worst call of the Test.
The English were so on the backfoot from a scything Koroibete run that flanker Chris Robshaw was clearly offside at the ruck moments before he turtled the winger to save a try that was oddly rejected for Stephen Moore obstructing him.
The Wallabies seemed to pause after that incident, handing a faster- finishing England the momentum for three late tries.
ENGLAND 30 ( J Joseph, J May, E Daly, D Care tries; O Farrell 2 conv, 2 pen goals) d AUSTRALIA 6 ( R Hodge pen goal, B Foley pen goal). recalling the 1970- 71 Ashes series in Australia as a 5- 0 result to England rather than the 2- 0 it was.
At Twickenham, 17- tackle man- of- the- match Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and Co were his dominators for their thumping defence to help rattle handling errors, including two from lock Rob Simmons, with the wet ball.
Jones would have none of Australia’s angst over three hotly debated try calls going against them. He said his team played the wet conditions better with smart kick tries and was always going to finish the stronger.
“Why do we have a referee?” Jones said. “They do 10 replays of a video and make a decision and you’re saying we’re lucky because the decisions went our way. Sorry.”
The disputed tries were three desperately tight calls that could have gone either way in the heat of battle. SCOTLAND captain John Barclay ( left) was left rueing “the one that got away” after his inspired side came close to a historic victory against New Zealand in a 22- 17 defeat against the world champions.
Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks but a converted 76th- minute try by centre Huw Jones put Gregor Townsend’s team within five points and the c capacity 67,500 crowd at Murrayfield was at fever pitch when Stuart Hogg threatened to break through for a last second try that would have tied the scores – and given fly- half Finn Russell a shot at a winning conversion.
Only a copybook cover tackle by New Zealand outside half Beauden Barrett denied the flying Glasgow fullback. “We’re gutted,” said Barclay. “We feel that maybe that’s the one that got away, but I’m very proud of the effort and the intensity that we put in out there. We had a great mentality.”