Juggling Lebanon and Argentina – Michael Cheika’s unique preparation for England Test
Michael Cheika took on the Argentina job following the departure of Mario Ledesma
©PA
If you were to compare Michael Cheika and Eddie Jones’ preparation ahead of this weekend’s Autumn Nations Series clash between England and Argentina, you’d have to say they were quite different.
Eddie Jones has been able to focus fully on England’s aim of beating Los Pumas at Twickenham Stadium, while Michael Cheika has also been preparing Lebanon for a Rugby league World Cup encounter with the country of his birth, Australia.
It has been a tumultuous time for the 55-year-old, whose players chased and caught a thief in Manchester after catching the perpetrator trying to break into their hotel. Cheika joked in the day that followed that his team are now “part-time security”, the Australian even having had his own laptop stolen in a separate break-in.
Due to his commitments, Cheika has no doubt relied heavily on his assistant coaches as Argentina have prepared to play England. Already this week he has travelled from London to Leeds on Monday, gone back to London on Tuesday to help prepare Argentina, before going back to the north in order to prepare for the Friday night game at John Smiths Stadium in Huddersfield.
Losing the quarter-final 48-4, in the leadup to the game Cheika pleased with how the preparations for each of his teams had gone.
“It has all been great,” he said. “All in all, it has gone a bit simpler than I thought it would. The travelling between the two, the messaging between the two. We did plenty of preparation beforehand with Argentina. It hasn’t been as stressful as it could have been, been pretty seamless.”
Born to Lebanese immigrants in Sydney, Cheika’s appointment as the Cedars’ head coach came before the Rugby league World Cup’s postponement last year. Expressing a lot of pride at being able to represent his heritage at the highest stage and be successful in the process.
It has not been his first experience of coaching the 13-man code after having assisted the Sydney Roosters as an advisor in 2020 and after revealing his interest at becoming an NRL coach in the future, league greats Greg Alexander and Corey Parker both supported the 55-year-old.
It’s lazy to suggest that both of Cheika and Jones are known to one another just because they are Australian. In reality, they are both products of Randwick DRUFC in Sydney and called each other teammates for a number of years before going their separate ways.
In the media, the two have often battled one another, but underlying all of that is a clear mutual respect for one another that runs deeper than just rugby. Such is their bond, Cheika even hosted Jones in the Lebanon camp several weeks ago.
“I invited him up to the Cedars’ training,” Cheika said. “He wasn’t able to come to training, but he came and sat with our coaches, we all had a sit-down breakfast one morning and shared a few ideas.
“He loves league. I suppose like I do. He’s been following that tournament pretty closely, I’ve been receiving plenty of good advice. But this week will be a little bit different.
“I always look forward to putting myself up against one of the great coaches, and also a good mate. It’s always a good tussle, but it will be a little bit different this time doing it with Argentina as opposed to Australia. Definitely a different feeling for me about that.
“And he’ll be the same. As soon as the game comes around, all bets are off if you know what I mean. You try to do your best.
“It just feels different. I’m feeling very, very good with these lads. It’s a huge challenge still.”
Taking on the Pumas job earlier this year after the departure of Mario Ledesma from the head coaching role, it was Cheika’s first international role since his departure from the Wallabies in 2019. His time with Argentina has certainly been fruitful so far.
Picking up a series win over Scotland on home soil in July, he led the team to a win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil. Only having the role until after the 2023 Rugby World Cup has concluded, with Felipe Contepomi taking over once the tournament has finished.
Joining his Argentina squad on Saturday morning ahead of the England challenge, the former Wallabies coach sees the matchup as being an important one for a variety of reasons.
“It obviously has got different implications for different reasons,” he said. “We are going to be World Cup competitors in less than a year’s time, but that is for further down the road.
“For us, in the curve we are trying to build for ourselves since July, it’s about changing the way we prepare for our rugby, changing a little bit the way we play our game.
“Trying to create some firsts – winning at Twickenham would be a first of many for our players. We know they are lofty ambitions, but we need to be focusing more on our own personal scoreboard as a team.
“I’ve been to Twickenham many times and you can get lost out there if you are not really focussed on what’s important for your team and get carried away with the emotion of the game, big crowd, all those types of things that come with playing England at Twickenham.
“We’ve picked out four or five things that are very important for us as a team this week and if we can excel at those.
“Then as always happens in rugby let the cards fall where they do when it comes to the scoreboard. If you do those things well, by consequence you will be in the game.”
Argentina starting XV: Juan Cruz Mallia; Mateo Carreras, Matias Moroni, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Emiliano Boffelli; Santiago Carreras, Gonzalo Bertranou; Thomas Gallo, Julian Montoya (Captain), Francisco Gomez Kodela, Matias Alemanno, Tomas Lavanini, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera
Replacements: Ignacio Ruiz, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Eduardo Bello, Lucas Paulos, Facundo Isa, Eliseo Morales, Tomas Albornoz, Matias Orlando
