Rugby World Cup: Michael Cheika proud of Australia’s stout defence

As he trudged off Twickenham, the home of English rugby, it occurred to Wales captain Sam Warburton that something good could come out of yet another loss to Australia.

It won’t get any easier for Wales from now on, however, as they move into the knockout stages and a quarter final against South Africa.

The veteran hooker was typically blunt after Australia prevailed 15-6 in their Pool A decider at the Rugby World Cup on Saturday, as if there was nothing extraordinary about his undermanned side withstanding wave upon wave of Welsh attacks, backed by a partisan crowd of 80,863 at Twickenham.

“We beat South Africa 11 months ago and the game before that out there we performed extremely well and could easily have come away with a win there”, Warburton said.

“There’s a few sore bodies, it was a brutal game but everyone has got a smile on the face and happy with the win”, said the 31-year-old Ashley-Cooper who produced one of the tackles of the tournament to stop Wales’ Dan Biggar crossing over in the 68th minute.

“We can take massive confidence from that”. South Africa are however determined to prove wrong the doubters who wrote them off after they lost to Japan in their opening match. One things this group of players doesn’t mind is a challenge and it’s a great challenge next week and that’s what great teams are made of, being able to bounce back.

“That’s why we’re disappointed”.

Ireland, on the other hand, have won two of their past three Wallabies’ fixtures.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries and the amount of players we have lost is far from ideal, given we are a pretty small nation anyway”. “It’s just another game next week. He has been outstanding in the last couple of years”, Jenkins said on Sunday morning.

But as possession evened up, Australia began to emerge the stronger and took a 9-6 halftime lead thanks to another ideal display with the boot from Foley, who kicked three penalties. “We know we have a chance of beating them, but it looks as if Liam has injured his foot again”.

“Any country would back themselves to go over, it’s disappointing we didn’t manage to get more from the scrum and driving lineout considering they were a man down in the pack but at the same time you have to give Aus credit”.

“Yes, I do. I felt like we need a try to beat Australia as we were six points behind, so there would have been two penalties that would bring us to a draw”.

“We got away with it this time, but won’t too many times so there is plenty to work on this week”.

“If they say that behind every good man is a good woman, behind every attack is a great defence”, said Cheika.

Wales crossed the line three times during that period through George North, Liam Williams and Toby Faletau, but each time those players were held up by the sheer grit and determination from those 13 Wallaby players.

But the scene on the other side of the lobby told the story of more woes for the Welsh squad ahead of their Rugby World Cup 2015 quarter-final against South Africa.

“I thought it was courageous defence from Australia”.