Michael Cheika reveals he will quit if Wallabies don’t win 2019 Rugby World Cup
MICHAEL Cheika has given himself an incredible ultimatum: win the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan or step down as Wallabies coach.
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MICHAEL Cheika has revealed he will walk from the Wallabies coaching job if he does not lead his team to victory at the Rugby World Cup next year.
Cheika is off contract at the end of 2019 and, far from keeping cards close to his chest, the 50-year-old has set himself a win-or-walk ultimatum.
Even making the Rugby World Cup final again in Japan would not sway him to give it one more crack in 2023, said Cheika.
“The way I see it is like this: we came second in the last one and you have got to improve,” Cheika told the Daily Telegraph.
“So there is only winning the World Cup, otherwise it is probably somebody else’s opportunity to do it.
“What I would like to do in the interim is leave enough legacy in there so that that person has the best possible chance to do it as well.
“That’s probably not the normal answer. People love to hedge their bets because they want their next contract.
“Everything I have tried to do in here has been with a view to that. To have skin in this, for now and for longer.
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“But I want Australian rugby to be consistently at that level and we have had to make changes to get to that point.
“I want to be up in the stand in the future, watching Australia play and watching them kill it and play well. I think people think that’s garbage sometimes, that I say that. But that’s genuine.
“So, in a World Cup, that’s a good chance to leave and to leave behind the legacy that you’ve built in the interim.
“That’s the target. You have to do better. And doing better is coming first.”
Cheika was appointed Wallabies coach on a three-year deal at the end of 2014, following Ewen McKenzie’s sudden resignation. He extended the contract in 2016 through to the end of 2019 but has never clarified his post-World Cup plans.
Cheika’s comments all-but confirm he will finish up as Wallabies next year — even if they do win the World Cup.
He won’t seek reappointment if they lose and if Australia does triumph, many feel Cheika would look to go out on top anyway. The French-speaker would not struggle to command top dollar in Europe, where he has coached before.
Cheika has been openly grooming assistant coach Stephen Larkham to take over as Wallabies coach and he reiterated his belief the ex-Brumbies coach has all the tools to replace him.
“It is obviously not my decision ... but that’s what I like, I like the idea of having that type of succession,” Cheika said.
“As long as we are doing a good job, as a group.
“Stephen has come on in leaps and bounds, even just in the time he’s only been in this role (full-time) and understanding how to integrate and effect and understand, and listen.
“He still has a way to go, and he knows that. One great thing with him is he is really self-aware, he knows what he needs to do to become better and take the team forward.”
Cheika said he’d already struck up a good relationship with new RA boss Raelene Castle.
“It’s very comfortable. She feels comfortable enough to include me in a lot of stuff, and I feel very comfortable in asking her what we need to do, in a different direction. And including her in a lot of our stuff, too,” Cheika said.
“I don’t know how long it has been now but I have been energised by her arrival.”
Originally published as Michael Cheika reveals he will quit if Wallabies don’t win 2019 Rugby World Cup