Michael Cheika: England have not 'opened up' against Wallabies despite series win

  • Published
Michael CheikaImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Michael Cheika has been the Wallabies' head coach since 2014

Australia v England - Third Test

Date: Saturday, 25 June Time: 11:00 BST Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney

Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on BBC Radio 5 live and the BBC Sport website

Australia head coach Michael Cheika is expecting England to ditch their "dull" tactics and "open up a bit more" in Saturday's third Test in Sydney.

England, coached by Eddie Jones, are chasing a 3-0 series win after claiming a first series success in Australia.

"Teams that I think are dull throw it around a little bit more because they've won the series," Cheika said.

"Eddie and me play different footy. We are not set up to play kick and chase footy. We play running rugby."

England beat the World Cup finalists 23-7 last Saturday in Melbourne to follow a 39-28 victory in Brisbane the week before.

The second win in particular was built on sturdy defence with Grand Slam champions England making three times as many tackles as the Wallabies.

Cheika has accused of England of not being "free", having previously criticised the "niggle" they put on the ball.

"A lot of our supporters want to see us keep playing footy," he said.

"They don't always understand why you lose, but they want to see us keep playing footy.

"I want to do that, too, and I'm prepared to continue to do that for as long as it takes for us to play that way consistently."

Media caption,

David Campese says Eddie Jones still 'dirty' from sacking

Despite being unbeaten in 2016 and moving to second in the world rankings, Jones warned his players against becoming "weak" from external praise.

"If you become weak once, you can become weak twice.," he said

"To be a champion team, you can't be like that. Outside praise is dangerous for a team and they've been getting a lot of it."

Around the BBC

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.