Cheika rebukes media and says job security the last thing on his mind

Auckland: Michael Cheika says he will continue fighting to get more out of the Wallabies in the wake of two dismal Bledisloe Cup Test losses.

Australia fell 40-12 to the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday night, sealing the Wallabies' 16th straight series defeat after a 38-13 loss in Sydney the week before.

Commiserations: Michael Cheika says turnovers hurt Australia, but their other facets of play were of a good standard.Credit: AAP

Cheika was up-front about the Wallabies' inability to stem New Zealand's lethal counter attack but became agitated when the questioning turned to his position with the team.

"The last thing I’m worried about is that [his job], really," he said.

"Some people might do rugby coaching for a job, I’m doing it because of passion. I want Australia to win more than anything. And I’ll do my very best, for every day that I’m honoured enough to have the position."

Cheika's success rate dipped to 50 per cent with Saturday night's loss, putting him level with his predecessor, Ewen McKenzie, who quit after a year in the job in 2014.

The Wallabies have won just one of their last seven Test matches, dating back to their loss to Eddie Jones' England side at Twickenham in November.

Cheika said he had not given his own job security any consideration this week as some fans' frustrations boiled over.

"Georgina, if you are naive enough to think that I’m worried about myself here, then you don’t know me at all," he said when Fairfax Media asked him how he would handle the pressure on himself and the team.

"You’ve known me for a while now, the last person I’m thinking about is me. I want Australia to play good rugby, and be the best it can be. So if you think that I’m worried about myself then you’ve never known me."

Before things turned heated, Cheika maintained the Wallabies had not regressed in their opening two Tests of the Rugby Championship.

The nature of the losses to New Zealand has alarmed fans, who witnessed a tight and competitive series with Ireland and did not see the past two second-half score blowouts coming.

The Wallabies managed to fix their set-pieces this week, with the forward pack laying a solid platform from which their backs could attack.

The last person I’m thinking about is me. I want Australia to play good rugby, and be the best it can be.

Michael Cheika

On too many occasions, however, the Wallabies attack failed to choose the right option, staying narrow when there were opportunities out wide, for example.

In other instances, a pushed pass or poor handling gave the All Blacks the chance they needed to launch a counter raid. Australia were outscored six tries to two.

"I think we’ve got the same rugby we’re playing. I think we did lots of things right tonight in all the other sectors except for the turnover," he said.

"And they knew it too, they tried to go there and we stopped some of them but we couldn’t stop others because we couldn’t get enough men up on their feet to make sure we closed that down."

Safe for another year: Kieran Read receives the Bledisloe Cup from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Credit: AP

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen tried to put the result in some context and said Cheika's response in coming weeks would say as much as anything.

"It's about how well you deal with that [pressure] and personally I think there is a lot of stuff that he does which is good," Hansen said.

"But like all of us there is probably some other stuff he would like to do better. Because they lose to us, it doesn't make them a poor team. We've seen two Test matches where we have hurt them on turnover ball and tonight we managed to hurt them from set-piece play as well.

"It's a pretty special team down there in that change room and when the time comes in a few years – five, 10, 20 years – we will look back and think that's a special group. I don't think a coach should be under pressure for losing to us."