Rugby World Cup: Michael Cheika has Wallabies embracing spirit of 1991 and 1999
THE Wallabies soaked up the antique surrounds in Bath but their focus is more on modern history ahead of the tournament starting on the weekend.
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THE Wallabies’ World Cup campaign officially began in historic Bath venues on Wednesday and it was fitting given Stephen Moore’s side are happily embracing their own past to try and hold aloft a third Webb Ellis Cup.
The Rugby World Cup circus finally kicked into gear for Australia with an official “team welcome ceremony” at the heritage-listed Bath Assembly Rooms, and then a photo op at the city’s famous Roman Baths.
The Wallabies soaked up the antique surrounds but their focus is more on modern history ahead of the tournament starting on the weekend; namely the record of Australian sides at the two World Cups in the UK.
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Australian sides have won both World Cups held on UK soil, winning at Twickenham in 1991 and in Cardiff in 1999.
Far from shunning the history, however, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has attempted to harness the cultural power and invited players of the 1999 World Cup side to hand out jerseys this year and also phone his players to inform them of their selection for the 2015 tournament.
It worked.
“It is certainly inspiration for us, to know that guys have come here in the past in the Wallaby jersey and done well,” Moore said.
“Be it the 1991 or 1999 side, we have spoken a lot about those players. Obviously they called us to let us know we are in the squad, and things like that give you a bit of belief and something to look up to I suppose.
“I watched both those tournaments as a young fella and I have very fond memories. It gives you that hunger to want to create something like that yourself as a team.”
Wallabies players don’t need to look far to tap into their golden history, either.
Two of the players in the 1999 World Cup-winning Wallaby squad - Stephen Larkham and Nathan Grey - are Cheika’s assistants for the 2015 tournament.
The coach said their presence was something players can, and have, drawn on when it comes to replicating the 1999 success.
“Self-belief is very important, and that’s not born out of what happened in 1999 or ‘91,” Cheika said.
“I think the fact we have two coaches who were in the 99 side, just from an experience point of view, helps. To draw on perhaps some of those experiences, even though it is a very different tournament now, just some of the mental side of things. How you deal with matches on a game to game basis, what the feelings are like, how good it will be. You can draw on a bit of that.
“But self-belief is drawn from what you do on a day-to-day basis.”
The Wallabies arrived in Bath earlier this week after a two-week training camp at Notre Dame, where Moore admitted they “flew under the radar”.
Even in Bath, however, geography means they continue to escape fever-pitch media attention but Cheika is preparing for it given they share a pool with host nation England.
The Wallabies are set to split into separate starting sides - one for Fiji and another for Uruguay - and Moore said the intensity had definitely lifted.
“We know now that we are no longer in that building phase. we are not in preparation phase any more, we are in game mode. It is all very real now and the pressure is on right from the start,” he said.
“There is always a bit of positivity and fanfare around the start of the tournament, the welcome and all that type of thing. But you have to park that to one side and get on with your preparation and to be fair, the boys have been really good in that area.”
Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Michael Cheika has Wallabies embracing spirit of 1991 and 1999
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