London: Michael Cheika says Australia's 37-21 loss to England at Twickenham was no more disappointing because it was once again orchestrated by Eddie Jones, but made it clear there was a great degree of mutual respect between the two former Randwick teammates.
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Following the old enemy's 14th consecutive win, and 13th under Jones since he took over after last year's the World Cup, Cheika paid credit where it was due, saying the Wallabies made too many errors at critical moments.
Australia raced to a 10-0 lead and had England well and truly on the back foot before a clinical 20 minutes to start the second half saw England motor ahead courtesy of to tries from Marland Yarde and man-of-the-match Ben Youngs, who was superb at halfback.
A 66th-minute Sekope Kepu try brought the margin back to nine points but it wasn't enough as England recorded their fourth victory against the Wallabies from as many starts this year.
Despite the white noise of Cheika and Jones firing shots in the media before the highly-anticipated clash, the former congratulated England's coach on a stellar year.
"Everyone is playing hard off the field and on the field but at the end of the day one team wins and you respect that and everyone goes on with their business," Cheika said. "When you win you stay humble and when you lose you pay respect and that's the way she rolls.
"You [media] guys make it [rivalry with Jones] a big deal. We were at the referees conference and there was no dramas. It's all been pumped up and has no relevance at the end of the day because it's about the 23 best players and on this instance it was England.
"It's always disappointing to lose, so it's not tougher or harder. In the last game of the year you want to punch that out and go home on a high."
Cheika now has the unwanted distinction of being in charge of the first Wallabies team to lose nine matches in a calendar year.
His job is safe for now but four defeats against England and three to the All Blacks show how far behind Australia are to world rugby's cream of the crop.
Thirteen Wallabies made their Test debut this year and Cheika says he has no regrets about his policy of breeding for the future despite plenty of poor results.
"I still believe it's the right decision and you have to take the pain when it comes," Cheika said. "I still think we've gained a lot on what we've done this year around the new players. There's some new skill development that we've been doing with Mick [Byrne] coming in and the way we've been working as coaches has changed a lot in that regard and we're seeing the benefit of those changes.
"We're scoring tries this year that we wouldn't have last year and if we keep doing that we'll be OK."
Asked which new players had impressed him the most in 2016, Cheika threw out the names of backs Reece Hodge, Dane Haylett-Petty and Samu Kerevi and second-row revelation Adam Coleman.
Cheika is sticking to his view that it is his job to develop players for the 2019 World Cup rather than be solely focused on the bottom line that is the number of games won or lost.
"We are trying to play a certain style and I know we'll be criticised for losing but you have to wear that sometimes," Cheika said. "When you don't take those decisions, it's like I have to keep my job at all costs but I don't think like that. I feel I have a responsibility to develop talent and give them opportunities."
