Michael Cheika not getting carried away by Australia's All Blacks win
Sunday 9 August 2015 11:45, UK
Michael Cheika was doing his best not to get excited after Australia won the Rugby Championship by beating New Zealand for the first time in four years.
Cheika's men were 27-19 winners in a pulsating contest in Sydney but he was keen to play down their victory with another game against the All Blacks coming up in a week's time.
"I don't want to be a sad sack, but you take a moment to congratulate your players and then you start thinking about the next game and what you have to do to be ready," he said.
"The reality is that we've only won one game against New Zealand in a long time and me more than anyone knows that stands for only a little bit.
"Consistency is key and we have to go out there and prepare each day to be competitive again with the number one team in the world on their own patch. That's our target."
Cheika's focus was matched by captain Stephen Moore, although he was pleased with the way the Wallabies competed in the scrum.
"We trained hard during the week and there was some good stuff out there, but we're going to need another big week," said the hooker.
"It was better than last week, so we just need to keep building on that."
Cheika was pleased with how his experiment of playing openside flankers Michael Hooper and David Pocock in tandem had worked and once again lauded the contribution of the bench, or "finishers" as he calls them.
Matt Toomua again took the ball to the line superbly as a replacement fly-half, while Nic White came on at scrum-half and scored a decisive 10 points in the final 11 minutes.
"We have spoken about our finishers and the job they have to do and Nic White was given more time tonight based on the way he has performed in his training," Cheika added.
"He was asked to take a goal kick from long range and he provided good distribution and good service and he also scored a good try.
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"That's what I want. I want guys to be putting their hands up and saying, 'I want to be part of this. That will help the competition for places in the squad."
