Wallabies coach Michael Cheika insists that he doesn’t need to do any analysis of England before their quarter-final clash in Oita on Saturday.
Australia face England in a tough quarter-final after finishing second to Wales in Pool D. England topped Pool C with three wins out of three and come into the match on the back of a 10-day break after their final pool match against France was called off due to the impact of typhoon Hagibis.
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The Wallabies are winless against their opponents since Eddie Jones took over as England coach in 2016, including a three-match series sweep in Jones’ first year in charge.
Despite England’s six-match winning streak, Cheika insists that history will count for nothing when the two sides clash on Saturday.
‘I’m just a believer. Call me a sucker. I believe in my lads,’ Cheika said. ‘I know there’s other people who won’t give us much of a chance but I believe that when you believe in yourself you are much closer to being able to create history.’
‘I think it’s irrelevant, really. There are reasons, I’m not trying to avoid it, but why go back and talk about all those games? I talked about those games in those press conferences after those games. Looking backwards is only going to give you a sore neck.’
When asked for his thoughts on England’s strengths and weaknesses, and where they could potentially pose a threat, Cheika went back to his mantra that the opposition does not matter.
‘Don’t really have one, mate,’ Cheika answered. ‘Lots of respect but I’m not a big analyser of the opposition. I’m always telling my coaches not to watch the opposition so much. They watch too much footage of the opposition. I’m interested in our blokes, our team and our analysis so that it can help us be better.’
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