Cheika meets with Waugh as search for next Wallabies coach heats up

Michael Cheika remains in the frame for a return to the Wallabies head coach role after meeting with Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh in North Sydney on Tuesday.

Cheika, who is back in Australia during the Six Nations break in the English Premiership, was spotted having coffee with Waugh as RA ratchets up its search for a candidate to replace Joe Schmidt later in the year.

Schmidt announced earlier in the month he would depart the Wallabies coaching role after the Rugby Championship, prompting the start of a formal process for the recruitment of a successor to take the team on the Spring Tour, and then through to the 2027 World Cup.

Waugh subsequently said an existing shortlist of potential options was “very targeted” and highlighted RA’s desire for “continuity” and to build on nationally aligned platforms they’d been establishing for the last year. That strongly suggested the most likely targets were Queensland’s Les Kiss, The Waratahs’ Dan McKellar and the Brumbies’ Stephen Larkham.

Informed sources who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the process, said RA have since engaged in talks with the trio and/or their clubs. All three are under contract for 2026, but while McKellar and Larkham are already employed by RA-owned clubs, the QRU could seek compensation for losing Kiss.

The news about Schmidt’s departure and a future Wallabies vacancy also prompted “inbound interest from quality candidates around the world”, according to Waugh.

Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.Credit: Getty Images

Former Ireland star and La Rochelle coach Ronan O’Gara was among them, telling this masthead he was “keen” to be considered.

Cheika, who announced recently he was not extending his one-year contract at Leicester Tigers, has stayed tight-lipped about his future but informed sources said the 57-year-old had expressed interest in the Wallabies role and coffee with Waugh was a follow-up discussion.

Cheika was contacted for comment.

Cheika coached the Wallabies in 68 Tests between 2014 and 2019, and finished with a 50 per cent win rate. The former Randwick forward, who is one of a rare group to win both a European Cup and Super Rugby title as coach, took the Wallabies to the final of the 2015 World Cup and was named the World Rugby coach of the year.

He departed after losing in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup but Cheika said a year later he would one day like to return to the Wallabies job.

Michael Cheika and Michael Hooper celebrate victory over the Crusaders in the Super Rugby decider in 2014.Credit: Getty

“I think that in a different set of circumstances things would be different,” Cheika told The Australian in 2020. “We were very close to winning it at one time. You have to believe in yourself.”

Cheika went on to coach Argentina to the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-finals but while his CV is elite – and has him linked to the Wales job as well – the path to replacing Schmidt would still appear uphill.

Eddie Jones’ lamentable second coming as Wallabies coach in 2023 left many officials with a “never-again” attitude, and there are also question marks about Cheika working with Schmidt as an ongoing consultant.

Wallabies coaching candidates Les Kiss, Michael Cheika, Dan McKellar, and Stephen Larkham.Credit: Getty

But former Wallaby Morgan Turinui said recently Cheika had become far more collegiate in recent years.

“The mature, battle-hardened Cheik I think is self-aware enough to know that he doesn’t have all the answers,” Turinui told Wide World of Sports.

“He loves having other people around to complement him now. I think Cheik’s at a place in his life where he would 100 per cent consider it and have the discussion with Joe. If Rugby Australia went to Michael Cheika - you can be the Wallabies coach, but we’d love you to consider working with Joe Schmidt - there’s no way that he dismisses that out of hand.”

Waugh’s meeting with Cheika indicates the door is not entirely closed on a return.

“We have worked extensively to identify a targeted shortlist of candidates whom we believe are best placed to continue the strong progress made under the coaching of Joe Schmidt,” Waugh said in a statement.

“We have also received a high level of inbound interest from quality candidates from around the world, reflecting the positive trajectory of the Wallabies.

“We are incredibly excited for the Test against Fiji, the British and Irish Lions series and The Rugby Championship under Joe before an orderly transition ahead of Tests against Japan and the Autumn Nations series later in the year.”

Rugby Australia are aiming to finalise the recruitment of the next Wallabies coach within the next month.

The expectation is an Australian will get the gig but one Kiwi linked to the role has taken on a short-term role in Australian rugby. Former New Zealand assistant coach Leon McDonald has joined the Western Force as a director of rugby for the rest of the season.

Watch all the action from the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season on Stan Sport, the only place to watch every match ad-free, live and on demand.