Michael Cheika has teed off on referee Romain Poite and "spooked" World Rugby officials following the Wallabies narrow 29-25 loss to Wales.

Poite was under the microscope on Sunday night after a string of questionable decisions handed Wales a decisive 15-point lead on the brink of half-time.

The bulk of the rulings on Sunday night went against Cheika's men, most notably when centre Samu Kerevi was penalised for raising his forearm to the chest of replacement Welsh five-eighth Rhys Patchell.

It proved match-swinging as Patchell landed the subsequent penalty and a rejuvenated Wales scored a contentious try a minute later.

"As a former rugby player, I'm embarrassed about that," Cheika said.

"You've got to look after players but not to an extreme when you're looking after players for doctors and lawyers.

"They (match officials) all seem spooked, like they're all worried about things so much. I'm not sure why they're worried. Players aren't worried.

"They're making decisions on all types of crazy stuff."

Cheika was equally frustrated at the full-time whistle, questioning Poite's nitpicking of Australia's scrum which led to another penalty against his men.

"Any positives we take we'll keep to ourselves I think because we were looking good in the scrum tonight, got penalised," Cheika said.

"I'm not sure, maybe Australia is not allowed to scrum any good.

"I'll just keep it to myself.

"I know you're expecting me to go so I'll keep my powder dry and see where we end up."

Cheika will have other issues to address after re-introduced halves Will Genia and Bernard Foley failed to stamp their authority.

It mirrored last week's struggles for starting pair Nic White and Christian Lealiifano in the win over Fiji.

Matt Toomua's injection off the bench soon after halftime provided a playmaking spark. He might have forced Cheika's hand for next week's match against Uruguay.

-with aap