Neither backing nor sacking Michael Cheika left Wallabies in no man’s land

While everyone in Australian rugby is tearing each other apart, I blame Craig Joubert.

Referee Craig Joubert awards Australia a controversial late penalty during their 2015 Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Scotland. Picture: Getty Images

While everyone in Australian rugby is tearing each other apart, I blame Craig Joubert.

A controversial penalty the South African referee awarded to the Wallabies at the 2015 World Cup in England set off a chain of events that has plunged Australian rugby into its deepest crisis in living memory.

Of course, I am being facetious about Joubert’s role in Australia’s downfall, but let’s examine what has happened since he gave the penalty that allowed Wallabies five-eighth Bernard Foley to kick a matchwinning penalty goal against Scotland in their quarter-final.

If Joubert had not penalised Scotland for an offside, which World Rugby later confirmed was an incorrect decision, Australia would have been knocked out of the World Cup.

I doubt whether Wallabies coach Michael Cheika would have been sacked, having been appointed only a year earlier but I also do not believe his contract would have been extended.

After replacing Ewen McKenzie at the end of 2014, Cheika was only contracted to 2017 but after the Wallabies’ unexpected success at the World Cup, he negotiated a contract extension to the end of this year. Cheika had Rugby Australia over a barrel. He had been named International Coach of the Year for turning the Wallabies around in a short period of time. What else could Rugby Australia do?

Maybe Rugby Australia should have realised just how close Australia came to bowing out of that 2015 World Cup.

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If they had judged Cheika’s performance in that light, perhaps the recent history of Australian rugby would have been very different. If Cheika’s contract had not been extended, there was a good chance he would have been sacked at the end of 2017, when his original contract was due to expire.

In the two years that followed the 2015 World Cup the Wallabies won just 13 of 29 Tests with two draws. That included five losses from six Tests against the All Blacks, an aggregate score of 215 points to 113.

Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle was appointed in December 2017. Her first decision should have been whether Cheika should continue as Wallabies coach.

Instead, Cheika’s extended contract rolled on and in 2018 the Wallabies had their worst season since 1958, winning just four of 13 Tests.

Rugby Australia decided against sacking Cheika, and acquiesced to his demand to remove attack coach Stephen Larkham.

I played under three Wallabies coaches, Bob Templeton, Bob Dwyer and Alan Jones, who were all sacked, or not retained if you prefer, after producing better win-loss records than Cheika’s.

Why was Cheika spared? Did Rugby Australia not have the money to pay him out? Was the timing too close to the World Cup in Japan? Did they believe Cheika could turn things around again like he did in 2015? Maybe all of the above. Rugby Australia should have sacked Cheika or backed him but instead they did neither.

Rather than get rid of Cheika they tried to control him and that was a monumental mistake.

Scott Johnson, who likes to be the one pulling the strings, was brought home from Scotland to become Rugby Australia’s director of rugby, a newly created position.

Significantly, Cheika answered to Johnson, who also became part of a new Wallabies selection panel along with Cheika and dual international Michael O’Connor. It was never going to work.

Given Cheika’s caustic remarks since quitting about his relationship, or lack thereof, with the Rugby Australia hierarchy it is clear he resented attempts to rein him in.

Rugby Australia would argue they were only trying to support Cheika but he is fiercely individualistic. You cannot control someone like Cheika. You either let him do it his way or you don’t have him as coach. It’s really that simple.

If media speculation is correct, Rugby Australia will appoint New Zealander Dave Rennie as the next Wallabies coach.

Johnson and Rennie had an association in Scottish rugby, where Johnson was Scotland’s director of rugby while Rennie is still coaching the Glasgow Warriors.

By all accounts Rennie, who won two Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs, is a good coach but there are lots of good coaches out there, including Kiwis Jamie Joseph, Scott Robertson and Chris Boyd, and our very own Eddie Jones.

If Rennie’s appointment is not a fait accompli, Rugby Australia should undertake an exhaustive international search for the best possible Wallabies coach, Australian or foreign, it does not matter.

Meanwhile, Johnson looks set to tasked with conducting a review into the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign. Rugby Australia does not seem to have learnt anything.

The review should be independent and cover not just the World Cup in Japan but the entire World Cup cycle, examining every major decision that was made or not made.

Who knows what an independent investigation will unearth, not that we plebs will ever hear or read the final conclusion.

Test matches and indeed whole eras, often turn on small things, like one bad call.