Michael Cheika highlights the ‘huge challenge’ which the Wallabies must overcome to be more competitive
Former Australia coach Michael Cheika and the Wallabies players stand dejected after their loss to the British & Irish Lions in Melbourne.
Former Australia head coach Michael Cheika believes consistency is the key aspect which the Wallabies must attain before they can become a force in the international game again.
The Wallabies are one of the traditional heavyweights in the Test arena who have already won the Rugby World Cup twice – in 1991 and 1999 – but they have not reached those heights in recent years.
In 2023, they won only two of nine Tests under the guidance of Eddie Jones and crashed out of the Rugby World Cup at the pool stage for the first time after defeats to Fiji and Wales.
That led to them dropping to an all-time low of 10th in World Rugby’s official rankings after Italy beat Scotland during the 2024 Six Nations.
Joe Schmidt took over the Wallabies‘ coaching reins from Jones last year and there has been a slight upswing as they are currently in sixth position in the world rankings, but Cheika believes there is still plenty of room for improvement.
Australia are currently involved in a three-Test series with the British & Irish Lions and the famous touring team have already won the first two Tests which were played in Brisbane and Melbourne.
In the latter encounter, the Wallabies raced into a 23-5 lead after 30 minutes but they could not build on that impressive start and the Lions eventually sealed a nail-biting 29-26 victory.
Appearing on the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin, Cheika, who was Australia’s head coach from 2014 to 2019 and guided them to a runners-up spot at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, was asked about Australia’s current form, especially after that narrow loss to the Lions, and said: “I’ve been asked about it a few times.
“I think Australia’s got those good games in them over the last five (years), since I stopped coaching.
‘They’ve got those games in them’
“If I’ve watched the games there, they have a great game in them. Look on the tour last year, they beat England over there. They’ve got those games in them, but it’s the back-to-back nature for teams to be good teams then to become great teams.
“And I think that’s the challenge for all teams that are playing at this level, but at all levels. And I think for Australia, that’s the huge challenge is to be able to go back-to-back-to-back so that they build that consistency and that’s the belief.
“I think they asked a lot of the big forwards early on last weekend.
“When I was watching the game on TV, I felt like the back end of the first half and the second half is going to be difficult for them because they asked a lot of their forwards early on. They asked them to carry a lot of ball. They did a lot of work.
“And that’s good and powerful, but there’s always a fuel reserve scenario, you know what I mean? You’ve got to be able to play according to your means in that regard.
“So I felt that that would happen, that they wouldn’t be able to maintain that type of forward power right throughout the game because they haven’t done it before. So I don’t know if they’re prepared for it.”
Over the past 12 years, the Wallabies have been coached by highly rated coaches like Cheika, Robbie Deans, Dave Rennie, Jones and Schmidt but they’ve battled to remain amongst the leading nations.
Cheika believes the Wallabies fortunes in the Test arena is not just about coaching.
‘We’ve got to make some clear differentiations’
“Look, I think we’ve got to make some clear differentiations between coaching and the system that’s delivering the players and the competition that’s delivering the players, because the coaches aren’t responsible for that,” he said.
“Whether it be from Robbie right through to Joe, who’s in charge now. I think you’re coaching the players that come out of the system and the competition that’s been built or the economy of the game that’s been built here in Australia and the decisions we make, whether we’re playing Super Rugby or what do we do, how the tours look, etc. Do we pick players from overseas? All of those things.
“And then you’ve got to try and coach from the back of that. And then you’ve got to cater for this other piece of the puzzle that says, ‘right, well, Australia’s got to play New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina’, who are coming up now more and more, twice in the normal years, right?
“They’re playing them home (and) away. And then they’ve got to go on a northern tour and play away from home against the northern forces, usually England, Ireland, teams that are up there in the top five or six of the world.”
He added: “It’s not easy. It’s not easy opponents. You’ve got to make sure you’re on your metal all the time.
“So, you know, we’ve always had that. We’ve always had that tussle to stay competitive. And when the flow of, I suppose, the pathways through and the structure through is delivered, you know, the depth required.
“I want to say the players, the depth required to go and compete in those four tours, four games in a row, Rugby Championship, et cetera. We’ve been there, but I think that you’ve got to be able to differentiate the two things because they are different.
“And I feel like the Australian teams that go out and play Test footy are always trying to do their absolute best for the country as far as playing is concerned.
“It’s just that they’ve had inconsistency, probably because of how the team’s been built from the competitions they’re playing in and the pathways the players are being delivered from.”
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