It was a frustrating weekend for the Australian Rugby coach, Michael Cheika after his team fell to a defeat by Scotland in Sydney.
His situation was worsened when a furious fan of the team sent in a long post on the popular social media site, Facebook lashing out at the team for their lousy attitude towards the game.
The social media post by Jack Quigley, an amateur rugby coach and player which made international headlines attracted no less than 50,000 likes.
Fuelled by “15 years of hurt” and 16 beers, the post caught the attention of the Wallabies coach and he decided to give the rugby fan a call.
The post Quigley wrote read thus,
“I’m a pleb. I’m a nobody,” he wrote. “My opinion on rugby counts for the square root of f-all in the grand scheme of things.
“But I’ve got one thing. Passion…. Passion for the game of rugby, and for the Wallabies.And you can’t deny me that. Despite your best efforts.”
Quigleywho offered to address the team with a pep talk in no more than 15 minutes noted that the players lacked passion for the game.
On Monday however, Cheika called the sorrow-laden fan and in a long conversation with him, he urged the fan to continue keeping the faith.
The Wallabies coach however disagreed with some points raised by the fan such as that the players lacked passion for the game and that about Bernard Foley’s goal kicking. He agreed though that fans were in support of the post as it resonated with them.
Cheika who noted that they always wished to make the fans proud in their outings asked Quigley to talk to the fans as that was one important thing to do.