Nick Cain looks at the motivational forces behind England’s clash with Australia
That is because Cheika appeared to have no problem with the attempts made by the Aussie host broadcaster to lampoon either England, or their coach, Eddie Jones. As it was, Jones had the last laugh with a ground-breaking 3-0 series victory – and his old Randwick club-mate Cheika has been simmering ever since.
This week there will be the usual mind numbing media-trained messages about training well, staying focused, and being disciplined – and the ‘R’ word will be quarantined from the Wallaby camp as if it was some strain of super-virulent scrum pox. The likely party line? “No mate, this isn’t about revenge, it’s just about getting better every game…”
Of course next Saturday’s showdown at Twickenham is about revenge. It’s always been one of the greatest motivating forces in human nature, and it applies just as much to Rugby Union‘s Test arena as it does to Samson bringing down the house on his tormentors.
In Cheika’s case, being the coach of the first Wallaby side to get nilled on home soil by the Poms will have hurt him and his team like hell. The pain will have been even more excruciating because it was Jones who twisted the knife after a stealth attack worthy of inclusion in ninja folklore. Cheika may not care for the circus analogies, but it is fair to say that Australia will come at England with the same desire to wreak havoc as a troupe of ‘killer’ clowns on the prowl at Halloween.
The sparring started again this week when Jones suggested that Argentina were the second best side in the Rugby Championship, despite Australia finishing second in the table (behind New Zealand) after beating the last-placed Pumas twice during the tournament. There was conjecture that the Jones counter-punch was prompted by Cheika’s jab at England, when he suggested that Ireland would provide his team with their sternest test this autumn.
It is this backdrop that makes England’s final Test of the 2016 autumn series the most absorbing. What adds to the pre-match intrigue is the way that Australia, having been derailed by England, not only recovered from a lacklustre start to the Rugby Championship to finish second to New Zealand, but have also surged forward this November as they have gone in search of a Grand Slam over the four Home Unions.
The pursuit of a first Australian Slam since 1984 has galvanised Cheika’s side to the extent that, with three consecutive victories over Wales, Scotland and France, they were poised ahead of yesterday’s game against Ireland in Dublin to bring the tour to a resounding climax at Twickenham.
Their 27-24 defeat by the Irish has spiked that dream, but Cheika will rally his men with the battle cry that a win over England in their own backyard will be the crowning moment of a year of rebuilding.
At the cutting-edge of the Australian advance is fly-half Bernard Foley. It was difficult to understand Cheika’s decision at the start of the Rugby Championship to bring the quixotic Quade Cooper in at 10 and move Foley to 12, given the way that he had nailed his fly-half colours to the mast in the 2015 World Cup.
Foley, left, has made his preference for playing in the 10 shirt clear, and on this tour he has reasserted his claim to it with some superb play-making. Against Wales he produced a masterclass, sending Australia’s new midfield bolter, Reece Hodge, racing through against Wales with an inside flick pass for the second try, then finding a rejuvenated Tevita Kuridrani with a floated pass for the third, and finally scoring the fourth himself by hitting the accelerator.
What is special about Foley is that he has the attributes of a complete fly-half. He has the speed of a finisher as well as the skills of a creator, and it is his facility to keep defenders guessing whether he will have a go himself, or make space for someone else, that gives the Wallaby fly-half an attacking thrust that, until now, we have only seen glimpses of from George Ford at Test level.
The drive of England forwards like the Vunipola brothers, Billy and Mako, Maro Itoje, George Kruis and James Haskell during the three summer Tests played a big part in Foley not enjoying the same freedom he has had on this tour – or when he was orchestrating the Wallaby World Cup triumph over Stuart Lancaster’s side at Twickenham just over a year ago.
This recast England pack will need to duplicate the summer shutdown, because if Foley gets enough good ball the Australian the backline will be hard to hold.
The way Foley pulls defenders on to him before making killer passes to put Hodge racing away like a lurcher, Kuridrani bustling his way over, Israel Folau gliding through, or Dane Haylett-Petty on a smash-and-grab raid, is rugby nectar.
Which brings us to the hand-to-hand combat at the breakdown – because the battle in the loose will decide whether it is Ford and Owen Farrell pegging Australia where they don’t want to be, or Foley calling the shots.
A big concern for England, as it has been ever since Jones decided that he didn’t have a ready-made Test openside, is that when they face good teams who do have them – like Australia’s double openside ‘Pooper’ option of Michael Hooper and David Pocock – they are in danger of being exposed in two key areas. First, England risk being outplayed in terms of breakdown turn-overs, and second, they could be off the pace in support play.
Pocock, who operates as an unorthodox No.8, played alongside Hooper for little more than the first hour of the June series before being ruled out by a broken cheekbone sustained in the first Test. Both Aussies are exceptional openside flankers, and they will be looking to set the record straight against an England outfit minus two of their most effective forwards from the tour, Itoje and Haskell.
The England head coach has played down the significance of having a specialist No.7, and if there is one side capable of contradicting the idea that they are surplus to requirements it is Australia. That is why it still surprises me that Matt Kvesic, who impressed in Argentina when first capped three years ago, has not been given the chance to state his case. We do not know yet who will get the white 7 shirt, but whoever it is will have to play out of their skin – as Haskell did Down Under.
Dean Mumm and Scott Fardy are battling for the Wallaby blindside slot, and whichever man Cheika selects offers Australia an important line-out option in the back row. Mumm’s greater experience – including what he gleaned at Exeter – has contributed to a marked line-out improvement since Australia last met England.
Australia’s driving maul has also matched the improvements made by England, and this was reflected by the penalty try they were awarded against France last weekend. England can count on Mako Vunipola and Kruis to go toe-to-so with the Wallaby front five, but the main bulwark against their vaunted backrow is Billy Vunipola, worryingly injured against Argentina.
Australia struggled to handle the England No.8’s pounding physicality in June – so Cheika will single him out for special attention should he play.
Australia are no clowns, and if they are to be stopped in their tracks with Billy missing, the rest of the England pack need to fire some shots of their own.
