Wallabies v England: Michael Cheika to persist with running game

Michael Cheika says his Wallabies side will persist with a ball-in-hand strategy in the dead-rubber against England.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika will make some personnel changes for Saturday night but he says the game plan won’t change.

Michael Cheika says his Wallabies side will persist with a ball-in-hand strategy in the dead-rubber against England in Sydney on Saturday night, despite the tactics resulting in a historic series defeat.

The Wallabies played all the rugby in the first two Tests in Brisbane and Melbourne but lost 39-28 and 23-7 respectively.

Even though Australia had 68 per cent of possession in Melbourne, their attack was so predictable they could not make a line break, prompting England coach Eddie Jones to claim they had used “rope-a-dope” tactics.

But an unapologetic Cheika insisted yesterday the Wallabies would not change their trademark running game, they would just execute it better.

“In some technical issues we haven’t been quite so accurate in the game, but when I sit back and look at the way the games have panned out there are a couple of things that are clear. One, we want to continue to play running footy,” Cheika said.

“It’s part of how we play. Obviously, we have to improve the quality so we can do it consistently because otherwise you leave yourselves open to the games we have had where we’ve played most of the footy and we’ve ended up on the other side of the scoreboard.

“That can happen once every now and then, that situation, and I know you’ve maybe got more room for that in a provincial or club team, but it depends if I’m just coaching to keep my job, or if I’m coaching to have Australian rugby play the type of football that we want to play and go through the difficult bits when it happens and stick at it. That’s what I’m committed to.

“OK, a few losses and all that stuff happens, but I feel like I’ve got big enough shoulders to carry that because I know the way we want to play footy.”

Asked whether he was concerned the Wallabies had become predictable, Cheika said: “I don’t see many other teams around that are changing that much. Have England changed what they have done from the Six Nations to here? Not really. Everyone has their style. Maybe we went away from ours and it's a matter of rebuilding that.

“I know that’s what people in this country want to see. They want to see us play footy. That’s been showed by the rugby that was played maybe five or six years before. Sometimes it doesn’t go the right way so what do you do? Panic and do something different just to have a win? I’m not like that. I’ve got bigger aspirations than that. Sometimes you’ve got to take a knock on the chin.”

Cheika repudiated the suggestion that the England series had marked the end of his honeymoon period as Wallabies coach, saying it was already over.

“I saw someone say the honeymoon was over,” Cheika said. “I think the honeymoon was over straight away. No one is looking for a honeymoon either.

“There is a cycle to things we are doing in the background. We have a plan of what we want to run and how we want to do that.

“We had several choices we could have made in this series and we made conscious decisions to do certain things. Even though we haven’t won a couple of games, I’m still glad we have taken that approach.”

Cheika said he would make changes to the team for the third Test but had always intended to irrespective of results.

“I always thought I would make a couple each game just to have a look at guys who are vying for spots,” Cheika said.

Matt Toomua ran at inside centre for all of the Wallabies’ opposed training session in yesterday, while second rowers Rob Simmons and Will Skelton also spent a lot of time in what appeared to be the run on side.

Backrower Ben McCalman will be sidelined for four to six weeks with a shoulder injury he suffered after he came on as a replacement in Melbourne. Wycliff Palu, Liam Gill and Leroy Houston are competing for McCalman’s spot on the bench.