The ARU’s decision to keep coach Michael Cheika in the big chair is the best move they could make
Rugby Australia has made a lot of bad decisions over the past few decades, but keeping under fire coach Michael Cheika on until after next year’s World Cup isn’t one of them, writes Greg Davis
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BREAKING: Rugby Australia doesn’t do something stupid.
For once, rugby powerbrokers have made the right decision by keeping Wallabies coach Michael Cheika in the top job until the World Cup.
For those calling for his immediate sacking, you need a reality Cheik.
They simply could not chop Cheika now. Not this close to the tournament in Japan next year.
The Wallabies are already at long odds to hold up Bill (that’s the William Webb Ellis Cup for those who have not met him… and it could be a while before you get the chance to get acquainted).
By bringing in a coach at the 11th hour, it would be so disruptive that they may as well pack a white flag with the rest of their kit for the flight to Tokyo.
The past year has been a disaster for the Wallabies with nine losses from 13 Tests. They lost nine Tests in 2016 too on Cheika’s watch – but who is counting – and 2018 was the worst year for the national sides since 1958 when the Wallabies won two from 11 Tests.
If you go back a little further, Australia has lost 11 of its last 15 Tests.
So why on earth would you keep Cheika with such historically bad numbers? The answer comes in the form of a question.
Who do you get to replace him? Seriously, who?
There is no single outstanding candidate knocking down the door to take his job.
Stephen Larkham – Cheika’s current assistant – could be an option but he is tainted by being a part of the coaching staff presiding over this current funk.
Our provincial sides are largely coached by Kiwis and South Africans. You need to look overseas but all the Aussies coaching in far flung places have contracts up to the World Cup.
We simply do not have the cattle or the depth in the playing ranks to compete with the likes of New Zealand (especially), England, South Africa and Ireland.
The talent is just not there. When you more or less rely on a production line from private schools in Sydney and Brisbane, what do you expect?
We are increasingly taking a knife to a gun fight. World rugby is so much more competitive that it once was, Australia being in the top two or three nations is anything but guaranteed. We just aren’t that good.
Deal with that people. We suck right now. That’s sport.
Some days are diamonds and some days are stones. Nobody – apart from the All Blacks – wins all the time.
The golden days of the 1990s with John Eales, Tim Horan and their band of merry men in gold winning trophies at every turn are gone. Long gone.
Cheika can coach. His results with NSW and at overseas clubs tell you that. He was clearly the right man for the job when it came up.
Has he had too much power within the Wallabies set-up? Yes.
Is it a good idea to strip back some of that power? Yes
Has he chopped and changed his line-up too much? Yes
Should provincial teams fall into line and help the national team like other countries? Yes.
The Wallabies are the shopfront window to the code and the glass is shattered at the moment, so a collaborative approach benefits everyone, eventually.
Whether you like it or not, the reality of having a World Cup as your ultimate prize means rugby now operates in a four-year cycle.
Everything is now done through that prism so Cheika has to stay. It also gives Rugby Australia time to find the right man for the job after the World Cup is done and dusted and the Kiwis walk away with Bill, again.
The old ARU – now Rugby Australia – hasn’t done Cheika any favours.
They needed to emphatically back him or sack him.
But instead they have been wishy-washy and indecisive with their support.
They are happy to talk to South African Jake White but canned the call when it was leaked to the media.
The 51-second press conference from chairman Cameron Clyne after a board meeting in Sydney this week – when he refused to take questions but broke the world record for saying “process” – was another laughable moment in time for the game’s fumbling and bumbling administrators.
But they are reportedly not going to sack him.
So it’s time to back him and the team – for better or worse - and hope they can shock the world in Japan next year.
Originally published as The ARU’s decision to keep coach Michael Cheika in the big chair is the best move they could make
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