Cheika’s fury at referee as Ireland bask in glory

AUSTRALIA head coach Micheal Cheika has criticised the performance of referee Pascal Gauzere in Ireland’s 20-16 series-clinching win in Sydney. Cheika was particularly unhappy with the decision to ping hooker Tolu Latu for a late penalty which allowed Johnny Sexton to kick Ireland into a four-point lead in the 79th minute. ‘I don’t want to be the guy who looks like: “oh, he’s a moaner”. That’s how it always ends up. They [the referees] can answer it themselves, to be honest,’ Cheika said. ‘I think you guys saw what happened. Tolu is first there with no ruck formed and he gets awarded a penalty against him. The only people who can answer the questions are the referees or the referees’ boss, if we’re fair dinkum. I’ll keep it to myself.’ Meanwhile, Ireland hooker Rob Herring believes the best is yet to come from Joe Schmidt’s side as they brought the curtain down on Ireland’s most successful season. ‘The last year has been massive for us,’ he said. ‘We know that as a squad we still have more to give. ‘We have a tough autumn [series] coming up, and then the Six Nations,

leading into a World Cup. ‘These next 18 months are going to be massive to keep building on. ‘Being out there on the pitch after the game, the support we’ve had throughout this tour has been phenomenal and we were out there, clapping on the crowd... jeez, it’s just those memories that will live forever. ‘Hopefully, there is more to come and it’s a massive 18 months coming up for us. We’ll keep building to the World Cup.’ Although bitterly disappointed, Wallabies number eight David Pocock praised the Irish effort. ‘Their gamemanagement has been really good,’ Pocock said, ‘you don’t become number two in the world for nothing.’