https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/rugb...cid=spartanntp
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A load of codswallop
Not at all in the same league though TG.
Cheika covering up for his players?
https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...df9a1a05877dedQuote:
HOMERUGBYWALLABIES
‘I didn’t lie’: Cheika denies cover up in Wallabies hotel drama
WALLABIES
November 24, 2018 4:33pm
by AFP AND AAP
Source: FOX SPORTS
Adam Ashley-Cooper and Kurtley Beale have been stood down from the Wallabies.
Adam Ashley-Cooper and Kurtley Beale have been stood down from the Wallabies.Source: Supplied
Michael Cheika has denied he tried to cover up the real reason for Kurtley Beale’s surprise axing from the Wallabies team, after it emerged he was dropped for allowing women into his hotel room.
The Australia coach on Thursday told reporters the gifted playmaker had been left out of the matchday squad to play England at Twickenham this weekend for form reasons.
It was subsequently reported that Beale and fellow veteran Adam Ashley-Cooper were in fact punished for allowing women — known to the pair — into their Cardiff hotel following Australia’s 9-6 defeat by Wales on November 10.
When he decided to drop the players, Cheika said he opted against making the real reason public as it would have been counter-productive to the team.
“It’s more effective where there’s that silent type of approach,” he was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.
“Often when you’re doing these things and you broadcast and you send out a news release, you’re trying to appease others,” he added, denying he had lied earlier in the week when he was asked about Beale’s surprise axing.
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Stars axed for rule breakStars axed for rule break0:37
“I said he has been in and out of form this whole year, which he has been, he was on the bench last week (against Italy),” Cheika said.
“I know that’s your mentality to think everything is a cover up, but it’s not, I want to be really clear.”
Cheika said he answers to Rugby Australia, who are “fully supportive” of the decision.
“I don’t think I need to come out and tell anyone just for the sake of it.
“(But) once it comes out and there’s whispers, then I have to set the record straight, which is what I’m doing.”
Australian media reported that three women, one of them Ashley-Cooper’s sister-in-law, were out of the hotel by 10.30pm.
But the Wallabies’ team rules state guests are not allowed in players’ rooms.
Cheika only became of the incident when the team’s leadership group, led by skipper Michael Hooper, told him during the week.
Despite being axed, Ashley-Cooper and Beale, who have 200 caps between them, took part in the Wallabies’ training session at Twickenham on Friday with Cheika saying they were apologetic and realised their error.
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Meanwhile, Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle has backed the decision to stand down Beale and Ashley-Cooper.
The two players were having drinks in the hotel bar with Ashley-Cooper’s sister in law and two of her friends.
The five then went to the players’ room to order some food before the women departed by midnight.
Neither player has been fined and remained with the squad in London.
Castle said while she felt some sympathy for them, the correct steps were taken.
“The team has got standards, they put those standards in place for a reason,” Castle told reporters in London.
“The two boys have breached those standards and the playing group and Michael came to me and said ‘this is what we’re recommending on the situation,’ and I support them in that stance 100 per cent.
“This is a situation where two boys brought some friends and family back into their hotel without thinking of the implications of that, because they were friends and family.
“But once it was pointed out to them that the rule was there for a reason, they recognised that they had erred, and they accepted the team and Michael’s position.”
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Michael Cheika attends a press conference at The Lensbury Conference Centre.
Michael Cheika attends a press conference at The Lensbury Conference Centre.Source: Getty Images
The incident is another footnote to a horrendous year for Australian rugby.
Castle will conduct a review of the season which will be completed before Christmas.
She said while Cheika has her support the reasons for a campaign which has returned just four wins from 12 matches must be identified.
“We believe that we’ve got a head coach who’s experienced, that’s led a party through a World Cup before,” she said.
“There’s no doubt, we have got a review to do and we need to look under every cover and make sure we’ve identified the things that aren’t working.
“But we’re there shoulder to shoulder and ultimately we’re there because we believe that we can be successful at the World Cup.”
Raelene Castle at the 2018 media launch of the National Rugby Championship.
Raelene Castle at the 2018 media launch of the National Rugby Championship.Source: News Corp Australia
Castle, who recently marked her first year in the job, said criticism is understandable given Australia open their World Cup campaign in less than 10 months.
However, she refused to rule out the prospect of changes to Cheika’s backroom team.
“What a review process is, is making sure we’re very honest and every element of the campaign will be reviewed,” Castle said.
“Certainly, there’s a greater level of curiosity with this one because we’re going into a World Cup... because you only get nine months of change or nine months to make any changes.
“In reality you’ve only got six weeks to make any changes before you go into that nine month build up if that’s what we identify in the review process.”
"...the two boys have...the boys bought blah blah blah..."
FFS these guys are NOT boys, they are grown men with 200 international games between them. AAC is 34 years old, Beale 30 in January!!