Michael Cheika has continued his war of words with Steve Hansen following the All Blacks’ 37-10 win over the Wallabies on Saturday.
Cheika branded the All Blacks and the New Zealand media as disrespectful after a cartoon depicting him as a clown appeared in a prominent Kiwi newspaper before the Test.
‘I could go on with all the politically correct stuff. Why would you let the opposition call your team clowns and mock the jersey? That's how I feel about it. Maybe the others don't. I never had an Australian jersey, so I think it's something that should be treasured.’
The Wallabies coach also refused to congratulate the All Blacks after they chalked up an 18th consecutive Test win to surpass the tier-one record. ‘They don’t care about my comment regarding their achievement. That’s the truth.’
The feisty Cheika also expressed his disappointment at being implicated by the bugging device scandal that hit the teams earlier this year in Sydney.
‘The whole bug thing came from the NZ Herald, which is obviously their go-to paper.
‘We had policemen in our offices asking us questions, asking our management questions. That’s serious stuff to be accusing people of and it’s not true. That’s my point of view. They don’t have to agree with it. I’m not asking them to agree with it,' Cheika said.
Hansen added his voice to the saga, accussing the 'sulking' Cheika of 'hijacking' New Zealand's celebrations with his rants.
The All Blacks boss later added that the relationship between his side and the Wallabies are a bit ‘frosty’ and that they needed to sort it out because the Wallabies are a formidable opponent and an important ally.
‘For a long time the relationship with Australia has probably been a little frosty and maybe we need to sit down and have a beer together and sort it out,' Hansen said.
'I think some of it comes down to the fact that the Bledisloe Cup means so much to both teams, and when one team’s having a dominant period like we are at the moment, the other team really gets frustrated.’
Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
