London: The 2015 Rugby World Cup has already been consigned to history for Australia. Now the focus turns to the next tournament in Japan in four years’ time.
The Wallabies won plenty of admirers for the way they turned themselves from a shamble a year ago to reach the final only to run into a red-hot New Zealand team in a class of their own.
Having become the first team to win back-to-back World Cups, and blessed with a seemingly endless production line of talented players, the All Blacks continue to set the standard.
The challenge now confronting Australia is how to beat their great Tran-Tasman rivals and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said he was confident his team can do it, given a bit more time.
“You just stay at it and keep trying to improve and keep testing yourself,” he said.
“We’re lucky we get to play them regularly in the rugby championship so we can keep trying to improve.
“You’ve got to mark yourself against the best, they’ve been number one for a while, but I think we’ve made good ground over the last 12 months.” For the Wallabies, the disappointment of losing the final will take some time to get over but in the moments immediately after the final whistle Cheika told his players how proud he was there.
He also reminded them how far they come in such a short time and reinforced his mantra that the only way to beat New Zealand and return to the very top was through commitment and hard work.
“This is just the start, we’re just starting,” he said. “We want to do really good things for Australian rugby going forward.
“I’ve been really pleased with the way we handled things. We’ve been really honest about the way we’ve done things both on and off the field.
“It came pretty quick for us a group but we tried to make the best of it.”
Gracious in defeat, the Australians congratulated New Zealand on winning and did not offer any excuses even though several crucial refereeing decisions went against them, saying the All Blacks deserved their 34-17 win.
The current All Blacks team has a strong case for being the best team that has ever played rugby, losing just three of the 54 matches they have played since the 2011 final.
“I’m not a big rugby historian but I’ve played against these guys a lot and every time you play them it’s tough,” Wallabies captain Stephen Moore said.
“They’re a great credit to their team and they’ve obviously done a lot in their time in the jersey and they thoroughly deserve what they get.” Wallabies blindside flanker Scott Fardy, a late bloomer who only made his test debut at 29 but was one of Australia’s best players during the tournament, was also looking ahead to brighter days.
“I don’t think people expected us to go as far in this tournament and if one or two decisions had been different we would have achieved something really special,” he said.
“The future is bright. we have some really quality players and quality men coming through.”
