Wallaby Coach Michael Cheika Defends Selection Decisions
Australia head coach Michael Cheika discusses leaving Kurtley Beale off the Wallaby 23 to face England, on a game day when the team wears a special indigenous jersey.
The jersey will be worn against England as a special nod to the indigenous people of Australia. Cheika says that's important, but doesn't mean he'll select an indigenous Australian because of it.
But Cheika also acknowledged that Beale and Adam Ashley-Cooper were dropped for bringing women back to their rooms.
"It is a relatively minor inter-team rule we have," said Cheika, who was flanked by Wallaby captain Michael Hooper at the press conference.
"The leadership group came to me earlier in the week and asked me to deal with it in a way I thought was appropriate and I thought this was the appropriate way."
Hooper said being involved in ruling out his experienced team-mates from the Cook Cup clash had been the toughest decision of his captaincy career.
"It's extremely hard. There's no way around it. We're all mates wanting to see each other do the best but the team comes first, and being genuine," he insisted.
The flanker added: "That's the direction we've got to go, these small steps to putting the team first are going to have a great outcome in the end."
Both Ashley-Cooper and Beale, who have exactly 200 caps between them, took part in the Wallabies' training session at Twickenham on Friday, with Cheika stressing that at no stage had their selection for the England match been "guaranteed".
“They were very apologetic. They realized their error and they have been trying to help the other players get ready for tomorrow’s game," said Cheika.
"I know you'll be writing about this now, but I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure you are writing about an Australian victory on Saturday."
The Wallabies were already reeling from the loss of star back-row David Pocock, ruled out of the England game with a neck injury earlier on Friday, when news of Beale and Ashley-Cooper's exclusion became public.