Hammered on the field, pilloried by fans and local media off it, the woefully out-of-form Wallabies have even been called delusional by one of their former players this week.
Such is the perceived gulf in class between Australia and New Zealand, bookmakers on both sides of the Tasman Sea have made the All Blacks almost unbackable favourites ahead of their Rugby Championship clash in Wellington today.
Coach Michael Cheika, however, was not quite prepared to wave the white flag and leave the Bledisloe Cup, the symbol of trans-Tasman supremacy, in New Zealand Rugby’s trophy cabinet, where it has sat since 2003.
His reasoning was that the side had been backed into a corner after their 42-8 loss to the world champions in Sydney last week and there was not much else they could do but simply perform better.
“It’s very easy for people to jump on and put the boot in,” Cheika, channelling Shylock’s ‘if you prick us, do we not bleed?’ speech from the Merchant of Venice, told reporters at Wellington Regional Stadium yesterday.
“That obviously hurts us. (But) we’ll take it because we haven’t performed but when it gets tough, that’s the time when you show your colours. I know where my colours are.”
Cheika understood that fans, the media and former players had every right to criticise the team, even publicly, but he had been encouraged by the quiet support offered by others.
“There is a lot of ex-players who contact you (privately)... and say ‘we understand that it’s painful but we support you’, because they will support Australians no matter what,” Cheika said.
“At the end of the day, no matter what sport Australia is playing, I’ll be supporting them.”
The Wallabies were blown off the park by the All Blacks’ speed of pass and ability to get their hands free when they were brought to ground last Saturday, while Steve Hansen’s side were ably assisted by an astonishing 40 missed tackles.
Cheika, however, felt his team’s tactics last week had been right. They simply did not execute them, and the subsequent performance was not good enough.
His job this week had been to build up the team’s confidence. To question each player as individuals and ask them what they could do better when they ran out on Saturday, he said.
“Over the week you need to regain your confidence and belief and say how are we going to do this and work out the way you can come back,” he said.
“We feel like we’re in a pretty good space there so we will see how we go.”
Michael Cheika
