Tuesday 23 August 2016 08:58, UK
Australia coach Michael Cheika admits Saturday's Rugby Championship clash with New Zealand in Wellington is "the biggest challenge" of his career.
The Wallabies were humiliated 42-8 on home soil in Sydney last weekend, and on Saturday they must go to the 'Cake Tin' - the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
Cheika earned acclaim for leading Australia to the World Cup final just 12 months after taking over the job, but a 3-0 defeat at home to England this summer ended the honeymoon period in dramatic fashion.
Their fourth home defeat in a row to the rampant All Blacks means Cheika is in no doubt how big Saturday's challenge will be.
"Probably the biggest - it's a big stage and it's a big challenge for us," Cheika said.
"The criticism from the performance [last weekend] is very warranted, no doubt about that, and when there is a lot of that talk in your head, you start to get weighed down by it.
"The players are feeling pretty terrible about it, so we've got to get them back up into a situation where that's driving them to do something better this weekend."
Cheika dismissed criticism of his selection of veteran backs Will Genia, Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper - brought back from France under the 'Giteau rule' which he introduced ahead of the World Cup to add vital experience to his squad.
"I thought Will Genia was one of the players who did stand up in that game," Cheika added.
"Since I've been here, win or lose, we've always been pretty true to our identity and that's the first time I don't think that we have - and we've got to make that right.
"It hasn't gone this year how we wanted it to, but we're not going to go and cry with our thumb in our mouth back to mummy.
"We're going to get in there and fight and get ourselves sorted out and that may be enough. It may not be. But that's what we're definitely going to do this weekend."
