Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has warned his team must improve rather than rely on New Zealand to slip back after key retirements if they are to replace them at the summit of world rugby.
Cheika and many of his squad were greeted with cheers as they arrived back in Sydney on Wednesday after their bold Rugby World Cup campaign culminated in a 34-17 loss to New Zealand in the final at Twickenham on Saturday.
The All Blacks became the first team to win the World Cup three times and the first to retain the title, but they are losing several of their greatest players to retirement.
Cheika said he wasn't aware of any of players planning to retire from international duty for his world No.2 ranked team, though 32-year-old skipper Stephen Moore said he wasn't sure if he would go on for four more years to the 2019 World Cup.
But Cheika squashed the suggestion the All Blacks would come back to the field with stars Dan Carter, Tony Woodcock, Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith all quitting international rugby and skipper Richie McCaw expected to follow.
"Our goal is to improve, not to be waiting for other teams to go worse because of this or that reason," Cheika said.
"I don't think they (New Zealand) will (get worse), they've got so much depth over there.
"I think they will only improve as well."
Australia has endured a 13-year Bledisloe Cup drought against New Zealand, but Cheika refused to put that at the top of his priority list for 2016.
"The first thing is the (three-Test) England series (in June)," Cheika said.
"They are going to come here with plenty to play for after what happened in their pool matches over there.
"The Cook Cup is something that we want to try and get our hands on because I don't think we've had it for a while.
"Then we'll turn our attention to the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup after that."
After splitting his time this year between the NSW Waratahs and Wallabies, Cheika isn't about to put his feet up before starting his first year as fulltime national coach.
"We'll try to get together over the next 10 days with all the state coaches," he said.
"Because the next step for Australian rugby is for our Super Rugby teams to get their campaigns under way and get them moving and that's really important, because when the Super Rugby teams are doing well that's really good for us."
He was non-committal about whether he would seek a contract extension to the 2019 World Cup, although it is hard to imagine otherwise after he was named World Rugby's Coach of the Year this week after just 12 months in the job.
"I'm in to 2017 and for me it's irrelevant whether I'm on to 2019 or 2017, or 2016, I want to do the best so the team is in the right position to keep getting better in the future," Cheika said.
Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver said the ARU would commence discussions with Cheika over a contract extension in due course.
"We've got a relationship with Michael confirmed right through to the end of 2017, so it's not something we need to deal with with a great deal of urgency," Pulver said.
He said Cheika had done a remarkable job.
"Voted World Rugby coach of the year, you couldn't expect any more than that and that's in his first year," Pulver said.
"So imagine how good this guy could get within a couple of years? It's a wonderful thought."
Cheika downplayed his coach of the year award.
"That was really nice to receive but it's very difficult you know, because our goal was to bring home another trophy, not that one," Cheika said.
But Moore said the award was a deserved reward for all the time and work Cheika had put in.
"He's been fantastic. Every player has got an enormous amount out of playing under him," Moore said.
Flanker Michael Hooper said of Cheika's World Cup effort, "he impressed the hell out of me throughout this whole competition."
Share
