The Waratahs lacked the necessary "anger" to match and defeat a feisty Western Force side as the opening round of Super Rugby shocks concluded at Allianz Stadium on Sunday, Michael Cheika says

The Waratahs were short-priced favourites to open their defence of the Super Rugby title with a victory over Force, who had never before won in the opening round, but the error-prone hosts showed few of the qualities that saw them claim their maiden championship in 2014; they lacked "zip" across the park, specifically urgency at the breakdown, and the Force, minus talismanic captain Matt Hodgson, were deserved four-tries-to-two bonus-point winners.

"I don't think we were angry enough, to be honest," Cheika said in atypical downbeat fashion when describing the Waratahs' efforts. "You've got to get angry in this game, it's a contact sport. We weren't angry enough today and it was pretty clear."

Cheika denied the performance was reason for season-long concern, even as he and captain Dave Dennis accepted the Waratahs weren't were they thought they were after the pre-season - and certainly weren't where they needed to be.

Western Force out-muscled the Waratahs in Sydney © Getty Images

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"The one thing I'll always do with this team is back them to bounce back," Cheika said, acknowledging that he had only a short time to turn things around for Fridays match against a Melbourne Rebels side cock-a-hoop after kicking-off the season with their stunning victory over the Crusaders in Christchurch.

"We are definitely a team that knows how to get back up," Cheika said. "We've been knocked down several times. We've been in many holes over the last couple of years and I know that we've got players that are passionate enough to say right `I know what I need to fix now and I know what I need to amend from that game to the next game'."

Cheika dismissed a question asking if his dual Waratahs-Wallabies role had been a distraction, but he said he had "got the lead-up wrong, obviously, because we didn't have any zip at the ruck". "I think I have got to take some responsibility that I didn't get the balance right, to have us ready for game one," Cheika said. "I've got to take 100% responsibility for them not being in the right space.

Michael Cheika: Wallabies irrelevant to loss. reality is this loss about Waratahs training. pic.twitter.com/MGzJXaxJ9C

— Andy Withers (@witho68) February 15, 2015

Dave Dennis say Waratahs maybe some thinking on the pitch that things will just happen.

— Andy Withers (@witho68) February 15, 2015

Cheika was measured throughout the media conference, but he bristled when asked if his Wallabies duties had been a factor. "No it's irrelevant, this is about what's happening at training, what our plan is," Cheika said. "I'm sure you will trot that one out, that line about 'should he be doing this or should he be doing that?' But the reality is that there is plenty of time to focus on what you need to win rugby matches."

Cheika said it was too early to make predictions about the outcome of the Australian conference based on one round, pointing to last season as to how quickly fortunes can change.

"There's a lot of games to go," Cheika said." "Halfway through last season after eight games, you wouldn't have picked up that we would have finished first. There's things to unfold still ahead. There's certainly not going to be any panic or anything like that. What there's going to be is improvement and a focus on improving really, really well between now and Friday."

Cheika was happy with the scrum, saying the Waratahs had worked very hard on the set-piece in the off-season, and he singled out Will Skelton for praise.

"He ran hard, ran straight, got over the gain line well, laid the ball back," Cheika said of Skelton.

"Anything good we did was usually off the back of what he did in the inside section. "[He played], 80 minutes as well."

The Waratahs fell short in all aspects of the game against the Force © Getty Images

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