'A pretty good escape' - Wallabies coach Michael Cheika

Australia coach Michael Cheika admitted to a "pretty good escape" after his side's Rugby World Cup win over Scotland.

A controversial late Bernard Foley penalty saw the Wallabies to a 35-34 victory in the quarter-final at Twickenham on Sunday.

Asked if his team had produced a great escape, Cheika said any late win could be dubbed as one.

"Usually if you kick a goal at the end of the game to win, it's a pretty good escape," he said.

"Saying that, if you score five tries, then you expect to be near the winning side.

"Maybe we shouldn't have opened it up for them but we wanted to play to our identity which is to play running footy.

"When the goal went over for Scotland, many teams would have thought, 'Let's go home, we have had a good run.'

"I just liked the way we got back into the game any way we could."

Greig Laidlaw's conversion of a Mark Bennett try put Scotland ahead by two points with five minutes remaining in London.

But an offside decision by referee Craig Joubert handed the Wallabies a chance that Foley took.

Cheika was unwilling to be drawn on Joubert's performance.

"It is not until you go back and watch all the game you can make your assessments. You have got to live with the ones you get and the ones you don't," he said.

"Because of a couple of things that have happened to me over my career, I have become quite neutral on these things."