So when his side played well but still came second, he cut a frustrated figure after the game on Saturday night.
‘‘I’m always proud of the team, even last week, when you see what they are doing off the field. And I know guys are throwing eggs and bombs our way but that is the way she rolls.
‘‘But the gallant loser thing is not on. We should have won that game. We know it. There were things in that game that could have changed the course of it. But in the last three minutes, we should have shut that ball up and kept it at all cost.’’
Cheika bemoaned some of the decisions his side received but he said he could not comment on many of them.
He said Brodie Retallick got away with one when he put blindside flanker Ned Hanigan on his head.
But ultimately it was his side which should have killed the game off at the end.
‘‘Any of that stuff does not in any way excuse not finishing that game off with three minutes to go and kick-off to us.
‘‘The people who have been giving it to us will just say the other mob is having a bad day ... it is about our performance; the quality of our performance.
‘‘In the three years we have been together, the longer we have been together we have got better. But we can’t wait that long. These are games one and two [of the Rugby Championship].’’
Australia should have been able to play in the first game the way it did in the second, he said.
‘‘It is just really disappointing we have lost the series already.’’
The Wallabies needed to control the kick-offs better.
They did not, and could not get much momentum going.
The Wallabies head to Perth next to play South Africa on September 9.
‘‘We want to go over to Perth and play a big match . . . we want to win so badly for Australian rugby and people over there ... we know what has happened over there [the pending demise of Super Rugby side the Western Force]. It will be the elephant in the room but we want to play the best rugby we can over there.’’
