Coach speaks out over bonus points
Australia’s focus on winning games, says Cheika
AUSTRALIA coach Michael Cheika was adamant that victory and not a quest for a bonus point had been the focus of his team’s opening World Cup game against Fiji on Wednesday. The margin was 28-13. The Wallabies scored three tries through David Pocock (2) and Sekope Kepu to Fiji’s one at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
But they crucially missed a bonus point awarded to teams who score four tries or more.
Only two teams qualify for the quarterfinals from each of the four groups.
Pool A rivals England and Wales have already bagged bonus points after their winning games.
But Cheika said it was not important that the twice world champions had missed out on the extras against Fiji.
“No, not really,” a straightfaced Cheika said. He has 15 seasons of top club coaching behind him, notably leading Irish prov- ince Leinster to European Cup glory in 2009.
“I’m new to test footy, right, and international rugby, but for me, winning a test match, that’s all you need to do and then move on to the next one.
“I’m not counting points – I just want to win one game and then go on to the next game and try and win that.”
Wallaby flyhalf Bernard Foley spent most of the first half spurning kickable penalties to go for the corner and it paid off hand- somely with Pocock’s tries.
But with 10 minutes left, Foley opted to kick at goal – a decision Cheika defended.
“What I do know is that if you lose a game, you’ll be in strife,” he said.
“It’s a very, very competitive pool, it’s unfortunate that two or three teams are going to miss out. It’s a very good quality pool for the players who are in it.
“I preach to my team to be humble, and I don’t think coming into a match and saying, ‘Yeah we’re going to claim a bonus point off Fiji’, especially after the way they played the other night.
“England got a bonus point [against Fiji] in the very last minute . . . and they’re a top, top team, probably the favourites in our pool because they’re the home side.
“We’re very pleased to have a win in our first game.”
“The boys have been waiting to play for a fair while and I think there was quite a good level of physicality – the lads had to do a lot of work.
“I think because we hadn’t played a lot of rugby recently, that was always something we had to come to terms with early in the competition.”
The coach said he would be demanding consistent performances to silence the side’s detractors, with the next match against Uruguay on Sunday.
“That’s been the opinion about us for a while and it’s up to us to try to change that via consistent performances,” Cheika said. – AFP