Dublin: Michael Cheika deliberately steered clear of talking about the elephant in the room all tour but has admitted he is bitterly disappointed the Wallabies fell short of becoming the first Australian outfit to win a grand slam in 32 years.
After trailing 17-0 late in the first half, the Wallabies mounted a fighting comeback, thanks to tries from Dane Haylett-Petty, Tevita Kuridrani and Sefa Naivalu, but were unable to overcome Ireland, who ran out 27-24 winners at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
More Rugby Union Videos
Wallabies blow golden opportunity in Dublin
The Wallabies' Grand Slam hopes are over after a 27-24 defeat at the hands of Ireland in Dublin.
Wins in Cardiff and Edinburgh had the Wallabies on track to match the feats of the Alan Jones-coached side in 1984 - the last team to beat all four home unions.
Instead, the Wallabies' inability to apply any pressure in the opening 25 minutes hardly laid a solid platform for them to rack up win number four on their spring tour.
They led 24-20 in the 66th minute before Keith Earls' try sealed an entertaining three-point win for Ireland as they continued their hot form.
On a night when Cheika complained about the standard of refereeing, he was left to reflect on what could have been as Australia's grand slam dream ended a week before a salivating match-up against England.
"Very disappointing, the manner of it too; the controversy around a lot of those things," Cheika said. "It's not dented my enthusiasm for the tour at all. We've had a great tour so far, we've improved a lot.
"There's a lot of new players in our squad and this is what we came here to do. We brought these guys over to get into the heat of these cauldrons and make better decisions and learn how to play. We'll keep doing that over this year and next year and get our mix right.
![Dejected: Will Genia takes in the Wallabies' missed opportunity.](/web/20161127114000im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/y/d/3/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsyejm.png/1480227821835.jpg)
"We'll be hurting obviously tonight and then tomorrow we'll dust ourselves off and get ready for next week."
The Wallabies' final match of 2016 will be against England on Saturday at Twickenham, a team that has won their last 13 matches and 12 of those under Cheika's arch rival and former Randwick teammate, Eddie Jones.
![Michael Cheika: 'We'll be hurting obviously tonight and then tomorrow we'll dust ourselves off and get ready for next week.'](/web/20161127114000im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/y/d/e/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsyejm.png/1480227821835.jpg)
Cheika said there would be no lack of motivation to get back on the horse and try to end the year on a positive note after a return of eight losses and six wins from 14 Tests.
"In this sport you take your disappointments forward with you and you say, 'OK, that hurt, I don't want to hurt again'," Cheika said. "[We want to] go out there and try to make a difference, make a better impact and contribution in the next game. You can't cry about it once it's over. It's gone now, just getting on to the next thing."
Back-rower Dean Mumm agreed with Cheika but said the sour taste of a 3-0 series loss in June to the old enemy was not the prime motivator.
"It's a pretty jagged pill," said Mumm of falling short of a grand slam. "We weren't shying away from the fact that we came here to have a go at a grand slam and you obviously need to get all of them to have the chance to do that so the team's hurting as am I that we can't get an opportunity to do that.
"You can't help but be a little bit disappointed in the way June panned out. Three-nil series losses hurt and it actually wasn't that long ago but we won't be focusing on that as a motivating factor. We'll be focusing on what we can do on the training pitch come next week and what we can do to put ourselves in the best position to win the match. If you look backwards, then you end up tripping over, I suppose."
Mumm took responsibility for his lifting tackle on Irish tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong, which saw him sin-binned in the 23rd minute.
He will face a nervous wait to see if he is cited for the matter, particularly after being suspended for a week after elbowing All Blacks second-rower Brodie Retallick in the final Bledisloe Cup match in Auckland in late October.
"Unfortunately I was in the wrong," Mumm said. "There certainly was no malice involved in it and it was dealt with on the field. It's hard to argue with that and it looks like that's the end of it."
0 comments
New User? Sign up