LONDON: Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has praised his team and goal-kicker Bernard Foley for refusing to wilt under pressure as they came from behind to snatch a World Cup escape against Scotland.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Wallabies booked their spot in the semi-finals after Foley booted a 79th minute penalty to lift Australia to a 35-34 win at Twickenham.
They now play Argentina in what has transformed to a version of the Rugby Championships with the winner to advance to the final.
But for five tense minutes, the Wallabies were on the verge of disaster after prop James Slipper threw an intercept pass and Scotland outside centre Mark Bennett scored what appeared to be a match-winning try.
Foley had struggled all night with the boot, missing his first three attempts, and had a kick charged down in regular play which led to a try by Tommy Seymour.
Referee Craig Joubert's controversial decision to penalise Scotland for accidental offside gave Foley a shot at redemption and he nailed his opportunity.
Asked if Cheika considered changing goal-kickers after Foley's early struggles, Cheika said: "These things happen in a game and you've got to hold your nerve, you can't panic every time something doesn't go right.
"You've got to have a criteria as to what you decide. I spoke with the kicking coach, Chris Malone, and he had a very clear methodology around the decision making going forward and that criteria was met and Bernard stayed as the kicker.
"…Our kicks weren't going through, but we didn't let that stress us. [If we did] we would have changed Bernard at half-time as kicker, and we know he's a great goal-kicker.
"In our team we want to own everything, even the bad stuff. We don't want to throw the bad stuff away, we want to own it all."
The Wallabies were well below their best despite scoring five tries to three.
Drew Mitchell scored a double to continue his remarkable return to the gold jersey, and he now sits just one try behind Jonah Lomu and Bryan Habana as the most prolific try-scorer in World Cup history.
The Wallabies led for most of the second half, but found themselves trailing by two points when Slipper threw his intercept pass in the 74th minute.
It was a symbol of Australia's rollercoaster game of mistakes, penalties and poor decisions.
"I actually think we played better in the second half than the first half … You get to the quarter-final stage and it's an awkward game sometimes," Cheika said.
"You're in the middle of the mental preparation, you go up and down in tournaments. You can't stay eight weeks going hammer and tongs at full-tilt mentally.
"We made some bold decisions … When we do bad things or when we're not at the level we need to be, we need to own that, take responsibility.
"…I think when the goal went over for Scotland, the conversion [to put them ahead at the end], many other teams would have thought, 'OK, we've had a good run. Let's go home'. I just like the way we tried everything we could to get back into the game."
The four teams left are from the southern hemisphere, with New Zealand and South Africa fighting it out for a place in the final.
Argentina demolished Ireland 43-20 in their quarter final and the Pumas will be primed to cause an upset against Australia.
"It was a rollercoaster of emotions [against Scotland] … I don't know how to feel, just relief," said Wallabies halfback Will Genia.
"We speak a lot about belief and you've still got to back yourself. To somehow scrounge a penalty to get the win … it was pretty special.
"We walk out of here knowing we're here for another week … you've just got to get the win to give yourself another chance to be here.
"[Argentina] obviously played really well. We've played them a number of times, we'll do our homework.
"[The southern hemisphere teams] are probably just playing well at the moment, you can't put it down to anything else."
The Wallabies will send prop Scott Sio for a scan on his injured elbow. Sio was forced to leave the field in the second half after a scrum collapsed on his arm.
He left the ground in a sling and his absence would be a massive blow to a Wallabies scrum that struggled against Scotland.
WALLABIES 35 (Drew Mitchell 2, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Michael Hooper, Tevita Kuridrani; Bernard Foley 2 conversions, 2 penalties) bt SCOTLAND 34 (Peter Horne, Tommy Seymour, Mark Bennett tries; Greig Laidlaw 2 conversions, 5 penalties)
