In the wake of another broadside about the Wallabies' perceived scrum frailties, Michael Cheika went to his tight five with a message: silence your critics.
And loosehead prop Scott Sio heard it loud and clear.
No sooner had the Wallabies landed in London than a newspaper column, written by former British and Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan, appeared to cast aspersions on the Australian pack.
The scrum was a weakness and the central reason why the Wallabies would fall short of their grand slam goal, McGeechan insisted.
Sio came of age during the World Cup last year, standing tall during the demolition of England's famed scrum during the group stages.
To him, the criticism will help the Australians bind tighter still.
"It's the sort of thing where you may (take criticism personally) and players will tend to," Sio said.
"But when you come together in the group you remind yourself of the collective belief you have within each other and at the end of the day to change perception comes down to playing group.
"As long as we have that belief and trust in our systems and our personnel, that's all that really matters.
"...When you put on the Wallaby jersey you represent everyone that's played for the Wallabies that's come before you. The good years and the bad years, that's what you're representing.
"Everyone is going to have their opinion how they think the Wallaby jersey is portrayed and it is up to us at the end of the day to change that (by) consistently believing in each other."
After being informed of McGeechan's comments that Australia had regressed in 2016, Cheika was understanding and dismissive in equal parts.
When asked how long it would be before that perception of Australian scrums would change, Cheika laughed.
"Never, when you're from Australia. Because that's their perception of us," he said.
"I played over here and coached over here for many years and that was the consistent theme as well.
"(Australians) had some good play but we were relatively easy to dust up up front.
"I think that over the last couple of years we've shown some good performances in our forward pack.
"We'll just have to go out there and try and deliver on Saturday."
Share
