Cheika fighting for his job as Aussies humbled again
SOUTH AFRICA heaped more pressure on Michael Cheika as the beleaguered Australia coach saw his men beaten in Port Elizabeth far more convincingly than the 23-12 final score indicated.
It means Cheika has only overseen victory once in his last five matches - the reverse fixture against the Boks in Australia - and on the back of their summer series loss to Ireland and poor results last November, the Wallabies coach is fighting to hold onto his job.
Cheika’s decision to select Kurtley Beale at out-half ahead of Bernard Foley backfired spectacularly after just 25 seconds when Beale’s floated pass five yards from his own line was pounced upon by electric winger Aphiwe Dyantyi.
Scrum-half Faf de Klerk also scored a try for the Boks and out-half Handre Pollard kicked two conversions and three penalties as the South Africans backed up their stunning 36-34 victory in New Zealand a fortnight ago with another win.
Australia’s tries came via centre Reece Hodge and scrum-half Will Genia, but despite seeing much of the ball, they lacked an incisive edge in attack in an errorstrewn effort.
Afterwards, a crestfallen Cheika bemoaned his side’s lack of consistency and accuracy and accepted that the Wallabies were once again out-muscled by the opposition – a consistent theme on the former Leinster coach’s watch.
‘We didn’t manage the physical contest, but we still managed to create opportunities. But we just didn’t take them,’ Cheika said.
His captain Michael Hooper paid tribute to the South African performance and admitted the poor start was hard to recover from.
‘I’m proud of our guys, they were a bit down after a shaky start,’ said the flanker. ‘South Africa put us under a lot of pressure early. There was a lot of running rugby and it was a good Test, just not the result we wanted.
‘It was a brilliant defensive performance from the South Africans.’
Cheika now faces a daunting trip to Argentina for their final Rugby Championship outing and defeat there could spell the end as head coach, on the assumption he makes it through the next week.
Meanwhile, Rassie Erasmus’s Boks – likely last eight opponents for Ireland at next year’s World Cup – will relish another crack at the All Blacks in Pretoria.