Senior Wallabies crack whip for Cheika
WITH the Wallabies trailing Argentina by three points after a dozy first half in Canberra, the scene was set for a trademark Michael Cheika spray.
The kind that blisters paint on a dressing room wall.
But Cheika didn’t need to fire up.
When the coach hit the dressing rooms, senior players were doing the job already and after significantly upping the intensity, the Wallabies went on to pump the Pumas by 25 points, 45- 20.
It was the Wallabies’ first win in almost three months but of all the welcome sights for Cheika on the field in Canberra, the team’s self- correction in the sheds was among the most satisfying. Cheika said yesterday it was the first time he had seen that trait from this new Wallabies team.
“It’s just the stepping stones the team is going through. Last night at halftime that was just another step forward because players were very vocal about turning that around, and turning the attitude around,” Cheika said.
“The players are driving that more and more. I think that’s a good step forward because when it comes from them, and they realise it, they own it and they have to change it.”
Cheika’s main gripe – shared by the team – was they had failed to play with the urgency required for Test rugby in the opening 40 minutes against the Pumas.
The encouraging part about the player- driven response, said Cheika, was that it wasn’t even initiated by captain Michael Hooper.
Senior players like newlyappointed vice- captains Bernard Foley and Will Genia, and returned star Kurtley Beale, were the loudest voices before Hooper took over.