Latest news with #MichaelCheika
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Matt Williams: Lions can't afford to be infected by Irish rugby's sense of entitlement against resurgent Australia
Last weekend proved that 80 minutes of rugby can be a very long time in the professional game. After Leinster's stunning performance at Croke Park , they have gladly passed the chokers' T-shirt to the Bulls, who have now lost three United Rugby Championship finals in four years. At Twickenham, the Premiership final was as enjoyable as getting a tooth pulled, with the highlight being a legendary Michael Cheika sideline blow-up. In Super Rugby, the Brumbies were pumped out of the playoffs by the Chiefs, making it four seasons in a row that the Australian side have departed the Super Rugby competition at the semi-final stage. Leinster would have been glad to get the monkey off their back when it comes to finals. Inside the fortress of the GAA , normal service was finally restored. At long, long last, Leo Cullen's team won the trophy that had evaded them over so many close defeats. READ MORE All of which proves two things. Every team on the planet is only as good as their last game. And winners are grinners while losers can please themselves. In the binary, black-and-white world of knockout rugby, you are either a winner or a loser. Cheika worked wonders in getting Leicester to the English final in his first season. Over the past four years, the Brumbies have consistently performed at an outstanding level despite operating in a dysfunctional Australian rugby environment. In reaching three URC deciders in four years, the Bulls' performance must be described as exceptional. However, the reality is that on their biggest day of the rugby season, the Bulls, the Brumbies and Leicester have all come up short. That does not make them failures . More than any other club on the planet, Leinster understand that sentiment. Have Leinster answered their critics with this URC title win? Listen | 38:05 Across the last five years, Leinster's consistency across both the URC and the Champions Cup has been historic. Despite this, heart-breaking defeats in semi-finals and finals saw many calling for Cullen to be sacked. Sadly, many in the Leinster and wider Irish rugby community possess a deep sense of entitlement. They believed their team deserved to win because they had dominated the competition. This type of thinking denies the basic truth that victory in every match must be earned because, as we have already established, you are only as good as your last match. Leinster head coach Leo Cullen with Jordie Barrett after last Saturday's URC final victory against Bulls. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho The wisdom of the leadership that sits above the coach within Leinster could see that with their incredible consistency, season after season, they did not have a coaching problem. They understood that the club had a problem with players coping under the highest pressure imaginable. As the Lions are jetting off to Australia, Andy Farrell will face a similar problem to Cullen. Everyone in the northern hemisphere believes the Lions are entitled to dominate the series against the Wallabies. Wrongly, they remain fixated with the mess that was the Wallabies' 2023 World Cup campaign. This is understandable, as it remains a compelling case in how not to approach a World Cup. It contained a long, horrendous list of errors in selection and coaching appointments and culminated with the great Wallaby openside flanker, leader and talisman, Michael Hooper, not being selected in the World Cup squad. It remains the greatest selection blunder by the Wallabies in the professional era. [ Australia squad thin on playmakers may come back to bite Joe Schmidt Opens in new window ] It was the final act of two decades of mismanagement by Rugby Australia. The list of stupid decisions the Australian rugby community had to deal with across a 20-year period is hard to comprehend. But those in the north need to understand that there have been sweeping changes since. With former players Daniel Herbert as chairman and Phil Waugh as CEO, Australia have competent leaders with a high rugby intellect. For the first time in two decades, Australian rugby has changed for the better. While there remains a long and rocky path ahead, the game in Oz is moving forward. Resilience is a word that gets tossed about far too easily, but across the last 18 months, I have been astounded at the resilience within Australian professional rugby ranks. Joseph Sua'ali'i will be key to Australia's hopes against the Lions. Photograph:for Rugby Australia While it will take a decade for the full effect of the long-term planning to take effect, the elite end of the game is recovering far quicker than I considered possible. It is recovering to the extent that the Wallabies are capable of calling on a very strong 23 players. With Joe Schmidt in charge for the rest of the year and his successor, Les Kiss, already appointed – backed up with the technical excellence of Laurie Fisher – the Wallaby staff possess vast experience of rugby at a very high level. With the expected return of a number of Australian players from France and Japan, who were unavailable in recent seasons, and the stardust that Joseph Sua'ali'i will provide, the Wallabies will have vastly different personnel than the World Cup of two years ago. More importantly, the Lions will face a contest far more ferocious than many in the northern hemisphere are predicting. Any sense of entitlement from the Lions will be punished in a very public manner.
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Foundations for Tigers success in place
Michael Cheika says he leaves Leicester Tigers knowing it is a club capable adding to its record 11 Premiership titles in the coming 58-year-old Australian's final match at the helm of the East Midlands club was Saturday's narrow 23-21 Grand Final defeat by decorated former Australia and Argentina boss, who was also previously at the helm of Leinster, New South Wales Waratahs and Stade Francais, re-established Tigers as a highfliers in his solitary season at Mattioli Woods Welford Road after they finished eighth in the Premiership 12 months will be replaced by former England and Tigers lock Geoff Parling after the 41-year-old finishes his commitments as Australia assistant coach this summer."I hope they will have some foundations here that they can go on and deliver Championships over the next few years," Cheika told BBC Radio Leicester."The basis of a great playing squad is there." The squad that Parling inherits will be one without a cast of iconic Tigers at Twickenham marked the end of the careers of scum-half Ben Youngs and prop Dan Cole - England's two most capped male players in history, who also shared nine Premiership titles between England full-back Mike Brown, who was left out of the decider, has also retired, while Tigers captain Julian Montoya and two-time World Cup winning South African fly-half Handre Pollard has left the who said after the final defeat that he will "forever be a Leicester fan now", insists the club is "in a good spot" despite the number of departures."You lose some big players but there are some great youngsters coming through at Leicester, and we are always going to be competitive," he in former team-mate Parling, Youngs sees a rookie head coach capable of bringing "fresh enthusiasm" to a club that has already been rejuvenated by Cheika."Michael Cheika has been there , done it and seen it all - he has all the experience in the world," Youngs said."Geoff will be desperate to make an impression because it is his first time as the head guy. And it is a group that has come so close, so they will be thirsty and desperate to come here [Twickenham] to do one better."The three tries Tigers scored in the Grand Final defeat came from players remaining at the club, with two of them coming from homegrown stars in England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet and flanker Emeka Ilione, who earned his first call-up to the senior national side this Tigers and England winger Tom Varndell, who is a match summariser on BBC Radio Leicester, says Parling will need "patience and time to grow" in the role after seeing Leicester come so far in just one season under the hugely experience Cheika."It is going to be tough for Geoff in the first half of the season, he has get to know all the guys, and the players will have to buy into his gameplan, his way of thinking and his coaching," Varndell said. "It's not going to be plain sailing. We must not lose focus that this is a completely new look squad and team, and it is going to take time for Geoff to get the squad to where he wants it."But Varndell says there will be "a lot of positive energy" after Cheika had them challenging for silverware once more."From where they had been 12 months ago to where they are now is incredible," he said."For them to get to the final, I really couldn't have imagined that 12 months ago so the progression has been really positive."The important thing now is how they kick on for next season."
The Age
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Age
Cheika switch to NRL looms
A Michael Cheika coaching switch to the NRL looms and Morgan Turinui believes the rival code would not regret hiring the veteran Australian.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Cheika switch to NRL looms
A Michael Cheika coaching switch to the NRL looms and Morgan Turinui believes the rival code would not regret hiring the veteran Australian.
Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Times
Blame clumsy Dan Cole rather than referee for Leicester Tigers loss
Y et again, more officiating controversy. The Champions Cup final between Bordeaux Bègles and Northampton Saints was scarred by the extended deliberations of the officials, robbing a potentially fantastic match of its fluency. Now the Premiership final and Bath's first league triumph in 29 years is having to share the headlines with the referee. Most people I have spoken to share the opinions of Michael Cheika. The Leicester Tigers head coach branded the hugely debated decision to send Dan Cole to the sin-bin in the 69th minute an 'embarrassment' for the game. Yet consider the incident this way. If a player turns his shoulder and jumps into the torso of an opponent, after the attacker has got rid of the ball, anything but a yellow-card verdict would be a surprise, to say the least.
