The Wallabies are on their way to having a chance at the World Cup after their wins played against the All Blacks and the Springboks, putting them in a much better position than they were about a year ago when they lost coach Ewen McKenzie. The mess that resulted from a simple texting fiasco should have taken the team years to recover from, but many are placing the team’s success as a direct result of successor Michael Cheika. Taking over the team, Cheika has directed the team back on a path towards the World Cup.
Australia has a wide range of good players in their arsenal. Israel Folau is considered to be the best full-back in the world, while David Pocock is a flanker known for being able to turn entire games around like he showed back in 2011 during the World Cupt quarter-finals against the Springboks. Throwing in the giant Will Skelton, captain Stephen Moore, Henry Speight, Matt Giteau, Quade Cooper, Michaeler Hooper, Tevita Kuridrani and Will Genia you suddenly get a deadly team. Nobody doubts Chieka’s ability to coach this talented group of players, as he is the only coach to ever win the major club championships in both hemispheres, but many wonder if it will come down to a matter of time that he has been able to manage with the players. Being his first year as the team’s coach pinned against teams that have had the same coaches for years, time is not on their side.
Before the Wallabies can get a taste of the World Cup they must first survive Pool A, otherwise known as “the pool of death.” The Wallabies will need to get past both England and Wales to survive the pool, both with teams that have years of planning and millions of pounds invested into the tournament.
England has been using a strategic plan to win the World Cup for the past three years as they have prepared. Meanwhile, Wales coach Warren Gatland has been running his players through rigorous training from breathing training up in the Swiss Alps to strenuous activity in Qatar’s blazing heat. Months of research went into creating this training regime.
Pool A will require the Wallabies to first play England, and then seven days later they would compete against Wales. In order to win the World Cup, the Wallabies would need to place in the top position of the pool which would take them into the quarter-finals. Making it into the quarter-finals, predictions are made that the Wallabies would play against Samoa or Scotland. Winning that match and going into the semi-finals would pin the Wallabies up against France, Ireland, Argentina, or Tonga. A win here would most likely lead to a rematch against the All Blacks in the finals. If the Wallabies happened to finish second in Pool A, they would most likely face South Africa in the quarter-finals for a semi-final match against the All Blacks.
The Wallabies have a long road ahead of them, but things are looking promising for their chances at winning the World Cup. Coach Chieka has shown that he is quite capable of training a championship team; it’s just a race against time.