Wynne Gray: Wallabies can't wait to work for Cheika

Michael Cheika. Photo / Getty Images

What a tumultuous few weeks in Australian rugby. It's been some time since the NZRU had to deal with any ructions to rival that fallout across the Trench.

There was robust chat about Graham Henry's credentials after the rest and rotation calamities at the 2007 World Cup and the acrimony between John Mitchell and the board following his dogmatic 2003 campaign.

Those with longer memories will recall the protracted scrap for players after the '95 World Cup and the niggle that encased the late instruction from the NZRU for John Hart to partner Alex Wyllie at the 1991 tournament.

They don't match the recent abrasive Wallaby chapters as the fallout from Ewen McKenzie's brief tenure flowed into a hearing for Kurtley Beale and strident calls for the resignation of chief executive Bill Pulver and his board. That rugby lava is far from finished.

The Wallabies jetted off on their European tour last night with 48-hour-old coach Michael Cheika and predictions he will galvanise the group into a dangerous combination next season.

When they last played against the All Blacks a fortnight ago in Brisbane, they showed plenty of that sting. McKenzie stood on the sideline probably mulling over why he hadn't tried more of that style. Publicly he was the coach, even though he had resigned nine hours before kickoff.

The players were oblivious to that development but they'd had enough and whatever ideas and plans McKenzie had put in place, they were not about to adhere to them. Not after all the festering nonsense on their offshore visits to South Africa and Argentina.

They welded the best parts of the Waratahs' plans together and, driven by skipper Michael Hooper with Nick Phipps and Brendan Foley as his henchmen, they produced the all-out assault which bent the All Blacks. Quite what an impassive McKenzie made of the change will have to wait if he ever pens a book.

What can't wait apparently, is the players' wish to work with Cheika.

Enough of the squad have changed their game at the Tahs to collect a Super 15 title and will be crucial evangelists for Cheika on his first Wallabies tour as he tries to retool the side's mentality. Cheika is a multi-millionaire who does not need to work but has a passion for rugby and success.

He is fiery and demanding and those who have been through his fitness drills at the Tahs have seen the results. He will put the Wallabies through similar tasks. He will look to get disaffected players like Beale, James O'Connor and Kane Douglas back into the national squad.

Those who watched Cheika coach Randwick, then in Italy and Ireland before returning to the Tahs, suggest his best missions are concise rather than long term. With the next World Cup a year away, that would be a welcome result for the Wallabies.