Cheika hurts arm after Wallaby clash
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has come up with a painful excuse in rejecting All Blacks counterpart Steve Hansen’s peace-making beer invite.
The beleaguered Australian complained after the All Blacks beat his side at Eden Park on Saturday that the Wallabies had not been invited for a drink with their hosts.
He was angry at being portrayed as a clown in a newspaper cartoon and let fly with a number of missives after the test in which the New Zealanders continued their dominance over their trans-Tasman rivals.
Hansen, who had accused him of hijacking the All Blacks’ celebrations on Saturday night, softened his tone on Sunday and said perhaps it was time they had a beer together.
‘‘For a long time the relationship with Australia has probably been a little frosty and maybe we need to sit down and have a beer together and sort it out,’’ Hansen told Australian reporters.
But it’s not a beer that’s going to be drunk any time soon.
Cheika spoke to reporters on Wednesday with his arm in his sling, after taking a hit from a player at training this week. He has had surgery as a result and quipped that it would prevent him from taking up Hansen’s offer of a beer, Fox Sports reported
‘‘I’m off the alcohol since the operation so I’m ruled out of all drinking contests,’’ he said.
"I’m going to be in a sling for most of the [European] tour so it’s going to be pretty tricky half the time but they said if I didn’t do it I wouldn’t be able to use my arm properly.
‘‘When I rang my missus up and told her what happened, the first thing she said was ‘is the player all right?’
‘‘It was an interesting day out but there was no damage to the player.’’
Pressed further on whether he would be willing to break bread with the All Blacks, in the wake of his fiery media conference after their Bledisloe Cup defeat last weekend, Cheika made it clear he’d drawn a line under the ‘Clowngate’ controversy and was ready to move on.
‘‘The New Zealand series has been well and truly concluded and we got well and truly beaten,’’ he said.
‘‘The only thing regarding that is for me to get my team playing better for the next time that opportunity comes.’’
Meanwhile, Cheika has defended fast-tracking rugby league convert Marika Koroibete into his tour squad for Europe after the Fiji-born winger’s selection was derided on social media.
Koroibete has never played a professional game in the 15-man code in Australia but was named in Cheika’s 32-man squad for the season-ending tour after coming off his fifth season in Australia’s top-flight National Rugby League.
‘‘The fact of the matter is I am not cheapening the jersey because he hasn’t got one yet,’’ Cheika told reporters. - Fairfax NZ with AAP