Rugby World Cup 2019: Cheika would rather win playing Aussie way or no way despite exit

Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika insisted he would rather win playing the Australia way or no way after the country’s Rugby World Cup elimination.

Australia crashed out of the World Cup quarter-finals following a 40-16 drubbing at the hands of rivals England in Oita on Saturday.

Despite a bright start, the Wallabies were no match for Eddie Jones’ England as Cheika’s tactics were brought into question in the aftermath.

Australia adopted a ball-in-hand approach during the tournament in Japan and Cheika was in a defiant mood amid doubts over his future.

“Listen, that’s the way we play footy, I’m not going to go to a kick-and-defend game. Call me naive but that’s not what I’m going to do,” Cheika said.

“I’d rather win it our way or no way. That’s the way Aussies want us to play.”

#GoldBlooded Family #TeamRugby #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/QwzQXQqXhz

— Wallabies (@wallabies) October 20, 2019

Cheika, who led Australia to the 2015 World Cup final, added: “We scored some good tries, we were fit and as tends to happen to us sometimes, over the last few years and sometimes we encounter intercepts.

“Dropped ball, if I look back [at] the Fiji game, dropped ball … length of the field. The Wales game, intercepts. Intercepts again [here]. 

“That’s definitely an issue we have to work on, how to close that part of the game down. Because if you put all those intercepts together and it went close to costing us one game, if not two. 

“I am really happy with the way the team played. Obviously we could have played better, no doubt. But just mastering those types of moments is the next step for the team, going forward for the next few years.”

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