“I think it’s very clear we all felt that was the right policy”, Ritchie said. So we apologise to them, and credit to Australia as well. “I didn’t really know about it, I wasn’t even looking at it”.
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As shockwaves from England’s elimination spread, Gatland said it was “ridiculous” that the group phrase draw was made three years ago.
“We knew this pool was going to be extremely hotly contested”, Foley said.
“However, it is among those people who are not normally interested in rugby and among members of the general public where we are likely to see the most acute drop-off in interest and economic activity”. And it’s hard, you feel like you want to do more. “We might change one or two players”.
Foley’s conversion sounded a death knell, echoed by another penalty and Giteau’s 79th-minute try, converted by Foley to the strains of “Waltzing Matilda”.
England in comparison were pedestrian, lateral in attack and lacked the sharpness needed to find a way through the Australian defence.
“What we’re asking of both Bernard and Quade is to take control of the game, especially in the tough moments”, Cheika said. “And the English often have sentimental or family ties elsewhere in the world and perhaps they will support other teams”, the Frenchman added.
And to complete their humiliation, it is also the first time England have failed to make the knockout stages. “Next week, we will get another chance”.
“Yesterday was the day the talking stopped – no more excuses, no days of future past, the safety net was pulled from beneath Stuart Lancaster’s boys”.
Loosehead prop Joe Marler was the main culprit, with French referee Romain Poite singling him out for boring in at an angle.
Stuart Lancaster, the England coach, is now under intense pressure.
The Wallabies will monitor injuries to backs Rob Horne (shoulder) and Israel Folau (ankle) in the coming week.
A week after blowing the match against Wales 28-25 at Twickenham, England had no choice but to beat the Wallabies to stay in the playoffs hunt, but couldn’t survive the toughest pool in tournament history. Semifinal v New Zealand.
Against Australia, England targeted the scrum as a weakness, but it wasn’t, and became a Wallabies weapon.
The demons now live in England minds.
Stuart Lancaster has admitted he will consider resigning after England crashed out of the World Cup with a crushing 33-13 defeat to Australia.
For example, in 2005 Australia was reduced to uncontested scrums. So you’ve got what he’s done for the past three years or what he has done in the World Cup.
But Cheika acknowledged the tournament will not get any easier as Australia next play Wales, whose boss, Warren Gatland, he described as a “master coach”. I said to my wife what happens next changes people lives. Yeah, ok, that went well for us tonight. David Pocock once again showed why he is a supreme player and his effort and influence throughout the game was monumental.
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Michael Cheika has gone big on the traditional coaching mantra of “taking one match at a time” at this tournament and reduced it to a minute-by-minute concern but he will be well aware of the potential implications of defeat at Twickenham.
