The Wallabies have improved impressively under Michael Cheika. Photo / Getty
The Wallabies have improved impressively under Michael Cheika. Photo / Getty
Sir Graham Henry is picking Australia to be finalists at the upcoming World Cup and says they will be battle hardened after emerging from Pool A, easily the hardest group in the tournament.
The Wallabies have been grouped with England, Wales, Fiji and Uruguay in Pool A. If they topthe group, they could meet Samoa or Scotland in their quarter-final and Ireland or France in a semifinal.
Henry has been impressed with Australia's development under coach Michael Cheika, who took over last year. Not only did they claim the Rugby Championship after winning all three games, including a 27-19 defeat of the All Blacks in Sydney, but they are also now ranked second in the world behind the All Blacks.
"I like what he's doing," Henry told Newstalk ZB about Cheika.
"I think we are seeing discipline within the group for the first time for quite some time. We are not getting the stories we were getting one year ago, two years ago about various players in the Australia team not toeing the line and putting the team first. He's got the discipline and culture back in the group.
"Stephen Moore is an old-fashioned captain. He leads from the front and is respected by his troops. He's old school and expects people to do the business.
"The have gone from six in the world to two in the last three or four months. They will be good and will keep on getting better. I think they could well be finalists."
Henry saw two areas that could jeopardise Australia's campaign.
"Their two challenges are going to be goal kicking and who is going to play in the halves. They have had [Quade] Cooper and Bernard Foley but every time Matt Toomua plays at 10, I think he looks the business. He's a very direct player. I'd play [Will] Genia and Toomua at 9 and 10 but nobody else thinks that.
"But I don't know if anyone can kick goals. I don't know how good Toomua is as a goalkicker and I wonder if Matt Giteau will be in the top 15. If he is, he can goal kick a bit but he's no Daniel Carter."
One area Henry has been impressed with is Australia's improving forward pack, coached by Mario Ledesma, the former hooker who played 84 tests for Argentina.
"He's changed that pack," Henry said. "Now they have some stability at scrum time. When they played the All Blacks at Eden Park recently, the thing I was surprised about was the foundation at scrum time that Ledesma has brought to this team.
"That was their Achilles heel. They were laughable at scrum time and it cost them test matches, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. Now they have parity there and are using some ball from scrums."
Henry, who coached the All Blacks to the 2011 World Cup, refused to get drawn into a debate about comments from former England coach Clive Woodward that France would have won had the final been "refereed properly".
"I saw the headline of that [story] and just moved on to the next section," Henry said. "I didn't read it. I take it with a grain of salt. It's history now and we need to move on. Clive was obviously motivated to go down that angle and I don't know why. It will make no difference."
