I love the guy – Pocock backs under-pressure Cheika

David Pocock has offered his support for Michael Cheika but knows that is unlikely to have any influence over the Australia head coach’s future.

Rugby Australia chairman Cameron Clyne on Monday stated that a decision on whether Cheika will stay on in the role should be made this month following a review of the season.

The 51-year-old has come under increasing scrutiny in what has been a poor year for the Wallabies, but flanker Pocock is behind Cheika.

“He’s someone I’ve learned a huge amount off, got a lot of respect for and ultimately there’s probably not a huge amount of value getting players talking about it because it’s a decision for people higher up in the chain,” he said.

“It’s really out of our hands. As I said at the John Eales Medal night, I love the guy, he’s someone I’ve learned a huge amount from.

“Like everyone else, we’ll wait and see what happens this week and move on.”

Pocock felt the decision for players and staff to remain in London for a frank review of their own after a difficult November tour was beneficial.

“It was well worth doing,” said the former Australia captain.

“It’s one of those things. At the end of a big year, it’s not exactly what you want to do, [to] only get back to Australia on Thursday after a big year but everyone recognised the importance of it and I think that’s where you get a lot of learnings – looking at things we did do well, things we clearly didn’t and what we want to change going forward.

“There were plenty of really good discussions around and I think it was a good time for guys to connect a bit and talk about the year that was.”

KEO.co.za News wire is powered by opta