Michael Cheika refuses to blame Israel Folau for loss

Under-fire Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has refused to blame Israel Folau for the 23-19 defeat to Argentina on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Folau has come in for heavy criticism from Australian rugby circles for butchering a try-scoring opportunity to win the game, opting to go alone instead of passing to an unmarked Bernard Foley.

But Cheika said it would be unfair to hinge the whole game on one instance and said he thought Folau had actually been one of his side’s better players over the course of the 80 minutes.

Asked if he thought the Wallabies would have won the game if Folau had passed to Foley, Cheika said: “Yeah, but it’s irrelevant.

“It doesn’t come down to one instance. Yes, you win the game by the score, but the performance was still the same.

“If the last pass goes, that doesn’t change anything for the other 79 minutes and 59 seconds of what went on.”

Instead, Cheika believes the reason for the loss boils down to a lack of enthusiasm and ‘energy in the key moments’.

“There just wasn’t enough enthusiasm is what it all boils down to and you need to be accountable for that,” he said. “There just wasn’t enough energy in the key moments.”