Why rugby’s coaching addict Michael Cheika is back in the World Cup wringer with Argentina
Michael Cheika believes he has a team that can beat anyone at the Rugby World Cup. The Australian opens up about leading Argentina, relationships with fellow coaches and Wallabies lessons.
Rugby
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Michael Cheika knows what it is like to be a head coach at the Rugby World Cup. In 2015, he rapidly turned Australia around and into the final. Four years later, his Australia side were knocked out by England in the quarters. On Saturday night in Marseille, he will be back for more with Argentina, once more against England.
You may ask why, other than for money, he would keep subjecting himself, at the age of 56, to the intensity and tribulations of a World Cup. The answer lies somewhere between love and addiction.
Like many of the head coaches at this tournament, Cheika is to some degree a control freak; an obsessive whose focus is rugby. And this is evident when asked about facing England, whom the Pumas beat at Twickenham during the final days of Eddie Jones’s tenure in November.
Michael Cheika never beat Eddie Jones while coaching the Wallabies, but Argentina have finally given him the win over his old mucker 👬#VamosArgentinapic.twitter.com/OBgJUwpQTJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 6, 2022
Cheika has coached many teams. Since leaving his Sydney club Randwick – where he played with Jones – he has led Leinster, Stade Francais, the Waratahs, Australia and the Lebanon rugby league team at the same time as the Pumas, while running a multimillion-dollar fashion business. Underpinned by love, addiction (and an extraordinary work ethic), his life has always been varied.
“I’ve always sort of been like that, a lot of things going on at once, trying to keep that diversity and interesting things happening,” Cheika says.
“Do you love it? You don’t often associate the word ‘love’ with the gruff, as sometimes we’re cut up out on the field, or up in the box or whatever, but, dude, with this team I’m here with now, I love being around them.
“There’s always something going on that connects you together with the players, or people on the support team. It’s a simple way of being together and it’s really quite enjoyable. If you can feel like you’re helping players in your team get better, or grow, then you’re on the right track and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to do in a day.”
Like Steve Borthwick with England, Jones with Australia, Warren Gatland with Wales and Simon Raiwalui with Fiji, Cheika is trying to embrace a short run-up to this tournament.
Although he has taken charge of only 14 Puma Tests, he has had the most time of all those coaches on the right-hand side of the lopsided and unpredictable World Cup pool draw. And unlike the others, he has done it this way before. In November 2014, he took charge of Australia nine Tests out from the 2015 World Cup and rocketed them into the final at Twickenham.
“Look mate, I know for me when it happened in Australia you just try to connect with the fellas as quickly as possible and you go from there,” he says. “That’s part of the coaching process. The year of the 2015 World Cup, I coached the NSW Waratahs as well, so I was coaching against guys and then with them. Those relationships are important. I don’t know a lot about England’s set-up and how it works, but I’m sure they’ll be ready.
“So often you see teams building momentum throughout a tournament. If you looked at England last time, they truly built momentum throughout the tournament, which catapulted them into the final. I had that experience with Australia in 2015. You can latch on to momentum and keep it going.”
Cheika cannot wait to ride the World Cup rollercoaster again; for him it is to be enjoyed, not endured. “I don’t think it’s a nightmare, or stressful either,” he says. “It’s the pinnacle of the game, so if you don’t want to be there you don’t want to be anywhere. I’m not a big sleeper anyway, so it’s not like I’m up worried. You’re only worried if you haven’t done the prep. You do your best and let the cards fall where they do.”
It is not for everyone, certainly not Borthwick, but Cheika will join the verbal jousting around the games too. It is all part of the fun.
“It’s got to be your personality,” he says. “It’s got to be genuine. That’s my personality, I like to be in that. Other coaches might be different, more reserved. You’ve got to be true to your personality, and can’t try and be something you’re not. That’s very important. Not only do you feel it, but your players feel it.
“You can be unpredictable, yes, that’s always cool to do something different to surprise people, but you go with your personality and don’t be afraid to be who you are.”
Despite being rivals, there will be admiration between the coaches in France, though no time to indulge that over a drink. “It could be going on behind my back,” Cheika says. “Maybe I’m not invited on their WhatsApp group! I’ll be hanging with our crew. You want to experience it together, the ups, the downs, the battle, the camaraderie.”
And though he can empathise with the pressure Borthwick may be feeling for England, it is his job to intensify it. “You do understand the scenarios people are going through,” he says, “but almost at the same time, you want to create some of them as you might have to play against them. There’s not too much place for sentiment and all that. If you’re going to use any adjective to describe the emotion or feeling of it, it would be respect for all the coaches. I know many of them personally.
“Some of them are friends of mine. I think about guys I’ve personally had connections with – Eddie, Simon Raiwalui and Daryl Gibson with Fiji, Toutai Kefu with Tonga – there are a lot of guys I am closely connected with that are coaching other teams.
“You do have that personal touch. There are players you’ve coached at other countries, so you’ve got that strong connection with those guys – until you have to beat them.”
Cheika believes he has a team who can beat anyone. He joined Argentina last year, his first Test against Scotland was that July, and he will leave after the World Cup. He has won six Tests, including marquee victories against England at Twickenham, New Zealand in Christchurch, and twice against Australia, home and away, but lost eight.
In that short time, he has quickly become enchanted by his new nation and its rugby players – although not when they are trying to beat him at Truco, a trick-taking card game enjoyed across South America. “I don’t have a clue how to play. They keep trying to fleece me of my cash,” Cheika says with a laugh. “They’ll have a mate herbal tea on the beach, or in the park, and on Wednesday nights they get together and cook a barbecue – asado. There are a fair few kilos of meat being cooked there! It’s great to be around it, it’s a really good vibe.”
Cheika may lead a group of easygoing men, then, but he has been struck most by how fervent their sense of national pride is. The best Argentine teams in any sport are fuelled by this; his challenge is to help them channel it.
“The players are very emotionally connected to playing for their country,” he explains. “They’ve got something special about that. It’s hard to explain. You see it every day. It’s not just when they sing the anthem. I want them to control that emotion, take it and use it in the game, not just have it. It comes back to the type of people they are. They are very, very comfortable being together, sharing time with each other, enjoying simple things when we’re on tour.”
Desire can be one of the most powerful emotions in rugby. It is that intangible quality England seem to have mislaid between World Cups, but something that will not be difficult to muster for their opening-day opponents.
Much in the sport hinders Argentina’s progress. The Pumas had to battle to join the elite. That was largely driven by their performance the previous time they came to France for a World Cup, in 2007 when they beat the hosts twice and came third. That led to their inclusion in the Rugby Championship with New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in 2012. They are still fighting.
The creation, then collapse, of their Jaguares franchise team, who made the Super Rugby final in 2019, has flung their players across the world again. Their 33-man squad play for 24 different clubs, making them the most widespread group at the tournament. That means many Argentina stars play rugby 12 months of the year, in northern hemisphere club competitions and then southern hemisphere international ones. No referees at this World Cup are Spanish speakers and the Pumas are still not funded at anywhere near the level that the top sides are.
“That’s one of the things about Argentina, they’re always trying to overcome obstacles,” Cheika says. “You wouldn’t know when you’re down there, because people are so nice to you, and positive. They like to have a political debate like anybody else, but they’re so welcoming. The team can show what we’re capable of, and what we, an Argentinian team, can achieve.”
The lopsided draw hands Argentina a precious chance to do just that. With England in disarray, the Pumas are favoured to beat them and top pool D. A quarter-final would then await against Gatland’s Wales, Jones’s Australia or Raiwalui’s Fiji. Tantalising, right? “It depends if you just want to get out of your pool or go all the way, and how you see it,” Cheika replies pointedly. “You’ve got to beat everyone to get to the end, so what order you do it in doesn’t matter.”
One thing is for sure: Cheika, rugby’s coaching addict, is going to love this.
More Coverage
Originally published as Why rugby’s coaching addict Michael Cheika is back in the World Cup wringer with Argentina
Why Wallabies can expose vulnerable All Blacks
Despite the Wallabies being in a shocking run of form, they could expose an underperforming All Blacks side in the Bledisloe Cup opener and push the NZ side to a place they have hardly ever been.
Injured Wallabies skipper targeting November return
Having tried to rush back from a shoulder injury without success, one-time Wallabies captain Liam Wright is now taking a steady approach to his recovery.