Australia’s worldly-wise coach leads his side into their Rugby World Cup opener in confident yet pragmatic mood.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is a man of the world. He made millions in the fashion trade after Victoria Beckham – Posh Spice as she was then – took a liking to jeans his company distributed. One tabloid picture of her in Cheika’s threads and he was set for life. He speaks fluent Arabic, French and Italian. Setting aside the one time he dined with Beyoncé without knowing who she was, there’s not much of the world Cheika isn’t clued up to. From the catwalks of Paris to war-torn Belgrade, Chieka has seen it all. And taken notes.
This worldliness has the self-made Cheika extremely wary about the Wallabies’ first World Cup pool opponent, Fiji. He’s coached Fijian players all over the world. He even picked a couple in his World Cup squad – Henry Speight and Tevita Kuridrani, and there’s another one, Taqele Naiyaravoro, he’s grooming on the side. Cheika knows exactly what Fijian players bring. And that’s why he’s under no illusions as to the magnitude of the threat posed by Fiji’s newfound scrummaging prowess when the two sides clash in their Rugby World Cup pool A game at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Wednesday.
Talking to the Guardian, Cheika dismissed the notion the side he has named for Fiji – which includes the dial openside combination of Michael Hooper and David Pocock – was his best team (i.e. the preferred line-up for fellow pool A quarter-final aspirants England and Wales), and one that was always going to be penned in for Australia’s opening pool match, with a supposed B side getting a run against Uruguay on Sunday.
“This selection is for Fiji,” he said. “I know people think we’re always looking ahead, but the truth of the matter is that’s not how we’ve done it. Our mindset is one day at a time, and right now we’re only worried about the Fijians. We’ve already seen how strong Fiji was in the set piece against England. It’s a big game for us.”
However, as impressed as Cheika was with the Fijians’ rugged performance against England, he said it was important the Wallabies played the way they intend to play, and not let a reaction to Fiji’s evolving mastery of the scrum dominate how Australia approached the game. “We want to make sure we play how we want to play,” he said. “There is absolutely no other expectation except to play our game. That’s what I want from this team.”
He said “in general” the Wallabies would “lean on the attacking side”, suggesting Australia would use the same fast line-speed tactics Fiji employed to great effect against England to see how they cope with their own medicine.
Understandably, Cheika was somewhat coy in elaborating further on the game plan for the Fijians. Of course, he knows the Wallabies need a four-try bonus point to keep pace with England and Wales who have already picked up five points apiece. Indeed, qualification to the quarter-finals might turn on bonus points when all is said and done.
Yet Cheika is having none of it. “That’s not how we’re planning our games at all. It literally is day by day and looking for a small improvement each time. If we’re good enough, we’re good enough – that’s it.”
One area of the Wallabies’ preparation Cheika was happy to talk about was decision-making – a key area he believes will separate the wheat from the chaff at the pointy end of World Cup. “I think it’s a really important thing for us. We’ve been training hard in all areas about good decisions – when to do what and how to do that. We want to be smart about how we play rugby. That cleverness is part of Australian rugby’s identity. Of course we will need to work hard in the set pieces against Fiji but, more importantly, I want to see us make good decisions in games,” Cheika said.
He said good decision-making across the team was sometimes mistakenly perceived as being an exclusive quality possessed by experienced team leaders, a way of thinking that perhaps left South Africa vulnerable to the greatest upset the sport has seen when spectacularly upended by 80-1 underdogs Japan in Brighton on the weekend.
“I like the leaders we have in our team, and no doubt experience is a valuable teacher. But I also think you have to have some of the spark of youth in there. It’s a fine balance between experience and inexperienced but exciting talent. The key is to make sure everybody makes good decisions, not just the leaders.
“Particularly at this level, I’m learning good decisions on the field are the key. So far, things have gone exactly as we have planned in terms of preparation and now the lads just want to get out there and play footy,” he said. “We’re ready.”
Cheika has always been ready it seems. He was ready when he saw an opportunity to be a distributor for high-end jeans when his fashion industry peers hadn’t fully grasped the mass market potential for pricey brand denim. He was ready when Ewen McKenzie quit as Wallabies coach just days before the 2014 end of year European tour. And he’s confident his clever Wallabies team is ready to stake its claim for rugby’s greatest prize.
