Cheika returns Eddie’s volley
AUSTRALIA head coach Michael Cheika fired the first salvo at England and his old Randwick team-mate Eddie Jones after watching his Wallaby side struggle to put Georgia away.
Barring an upset in today’s match between Wales and Uruguay, Cheika’s side are set to face England in Saturday’s quarter-final in Oita and the Australian got the first blow in ahead of the anticipated week-long war of words.
England were on the beach in Miyazaki, after their game against France was cancelled, while the Wallabies, in torrential rain, made heavy weather of beating a team ranked 13th in the world.
Jones’ England have a 6-0 winning record over the Australians since 2016 but Cheika says that is of no consequence should the teams meet in the last eight.
And Cheika could not resist a dig at Jones who last week, as Typhoon Hagibis approached, said the weather gods had been smiling on England and given them an extra week of R&R.
“I don’t know what relevance it will have, I don’t know if it will have any and I don’t really care to be honest. The only relevance is Saturday,” said Cheika.
“All the different things, who’s had a week on, who’s had a week off, who’s been resting, who hasn’t, it all comes down to kick-off. They’d better win, they’ve had the best preparation according to the coach.
“I saw that he was saying that would be an advantage and that the typhoon gods were smiling on him, so I suppose they better win.”
Behind the bluster Cheika must have been seriously worried about the performance from a starting side that contained about a dozen players who can expect to play against England.
They took an hour to score their second try, when wing Marika Koroibete ran in from 40 metres, against a tenacious Georgian team.
The Georgians, who have had former England flanker Joe Worsley working on their defence here, put their bodies on the line and trailed just 10-3 at the break when they were expected to be blown away.
Milton Haig’s team will have to go through qualification for the 2023 World Cup, in France, as they missed out on third spot in Pool D which would have seen them through automatically.
But they were heroes on Friday with captain and centre Merab Sharikadze leading the defensive effort.
They made nearly 200 successful tackles as the Australians dominated possession but came up against a maroon brick wall of defiance.
And they got the biggest cheer of the night on 70 minutes when wing Alexander Todua ran in from 40m to finish off a move that started with a lineout deep into Georgian territory.
Australia first breached the Georgian line on 23 minutes when scrum-half Nic White dived over from short range but that was that for the Wallabies until Koroibete’s intervention.
Between those two touchdowns they looked toothless, inaccurate and lacking in communication. Even Matt Toomua could not sort it out from fly-half in the third starting halfback combination Cheika has used in four games.
James O’Connor was hardly seen in midfield and the Australians would have been completely off the pace without Koroibete and the big carrying centre Samu Kerevi.
A couple of late tries from flanker Jack Dempsey and replacement scrumhalf Will Genia put a gloss on the scoreboard but Cheika has some work to do.
The Wallabies were good up front, with lock Izack Rodda the pick of the pack, but their backline showed a worrying lack of fire power. If you are Australian that is, but one Australian who won’t be worried about it is Eddie Jones.