Facing into his penultimate game as the Argentina head coach, Michael Cheika has lauded the contribution of his attack coach Felipe Contepomi for helping Los Pumas reach Friday night’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks.
The two men struck a bond when Cheika was head coach and Contepomi his first choice outhalf for four seasons at Leinster, culminating in Contepomi helping the province to their first Heineken Cup final in 2009, before Johnny Sexton assumed the mantle in the semi-final win over Munster.
Contepomi moved on that summer, but returned to Leinster as backs coach for four seasons from 2018 to 2022, before becoming Cheika’s assistant last year. Contepomi will succeed Cheika as Argentina’s head coach after this World Cup and the latter believes his assistant’s spell at Leinster was hugely significant in his development as a coach.
“Mate, Felipe has been unreal. He has a lot of good, new ideas. One of his strengths is he’s extremely open to learning new things. We’ve had some where I’d bring something to the table, he’d be very opinionated on what he wants but he’s open to hearing things as well to add to his repertoire.
The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times
Unbreakable, a cautionary tale about the heavy toll top-level rugby can take
Jacques Nienaber: ‘It was never the case that Rassie and I didn’t enjoy Munster or Ireland’
Joe Schmidt factor makes Australia game special for Ireland and Andy Farrell
“His time at Leinster has taken him to another level,” added Cheika of Contepomi, who had been something of a firebrand on the pitch but was regarded as having a surprisingly calm demeanour as a coach. Indeed, he appears to be a good deal calmer than Cheika in the coaches’ box, where his antics are often as entertaining as the rugby on the pitch.
“The great players don’t always make the great coaches but he was a great player and he’s going to be a great coach. That’s coming along, he’s got the knack. He studies the opposition well, he has a rapport with players, and he’s going to be doing a great job for Argentina I’m sure. A lot of the ideas he had as a player, plus what he learnt at Leinster as a coach, it’s really forming him nicely right now.”
Cheika himself has built quite a CV, and after coaching Leinster to their breakthrough Heineken Cup triumph in his fourth season at the helm – and a season after many were calling for his removal – before leading the Waratahs to their first Super Rugby title and Australia to the 2015 World Cup final.
“Yes, they’ve helped me as well as the times that I’ve messed it up too,” admitted Cheika, who was the victim of a very French club coup at Stade Francais in his next role after moving on from Leinster.
“When I haven’t gone good, that’s helped me as well because that’s probably where you get more. But they’re all different experiences. This is very different because I’m dealing with a different culture and people. It’s one that I really love being around and I’m very connected to.
“So those experiences have definitely helped me in preparing one for the other. So too the Leinster one, to the Waratahs one, to the Wallabies one. In that collective order, that helps me have a set of experiences that help me in this situation. It’s a big situation but it’s a beautiful one. It’s a great opportunity for us, and we’re doing everything we can with that to try and take it.”
It was, needless to say, the All Blacks who beat Australia in the 2015 final at Twickenham and Cheika’s Argentina side are even bigger underdogs at the Stade de France on Friday night.
“New Zealand has always been an example in rugby, a benchmark,” admitted Cheika. “They make you think of high-level skills in a really open game, but there are always threats in the lineout, mauls and rucks. In a World Cup semi-final they are dangerous everywhere. We have been training as best we can, we will be ready. We’ll see what happens.”
The rain arrived in bucketloads on Wednesday and the forecast is none too pleasant for Friday night in the French capital. “That changes the game plan but the basics remain the same,” said Cheika. “Yes, the rain changes the details but the basics stay the same.”
The Argentinian players and supporters will again bring undiluted passion to the Stade de France, as they did when reaching the semi-finals in Paris in 2007, and as they have at all their games to date, but especially their hard-earned win from 10-0 down against Wales in the Stade Velodrome last Saturday.
They have, however fleetingly, grabbed the attention of some of the football-obsessed Argentinian media and public as they seek to inspire their nation as Lionel Messi and co did in Qatar last tear.
“It’s not easy. We want to inspire not just by our results but by our ambition, by our ability to get back up and overcome obstacles. To inspire is not about results, it’s not just one player who played well; no, it’s about our behaviour in general, our ability to be ready to come back from difficult times and seizing our opportunities,” said Cheika. “There are not a lot of opportunities in life – us playing in a semi-final is even rarer and we want to have no regrets.”
Argentina are 40-1 outsiders of the four teams still standing, but Cheika said: “We have a goal that we set out and it’s not a straight line. We need to create momentum, to create an impact. We need to learn from the game and bring those lessons to the next game and, since 2022, that all counts.”
ARGENTINA: Juan Cruz Mallia; Emiliano Boffelli, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Chocobares, Mateo Carreras; Santiago Carreras, Gonzalo Bertranou; Thomas Gallo, Julian Montoya (capt), Francisco Gomez Kodela; Guido Petti, Tomas Lavanini; Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Facundo Isa.
Replacements: Agustin Creevy, Joel Sclavi, Eduardo Bello, Matias Alemanno, Rodrigo Bruni, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Nicolas Sanchez, Matias Moroni.
NEW ZEALAND: Beauden Barrett; Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Mark Telea; Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith; Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor, Tyrel Lomax; Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett, Shannon Frizell, Sam Cane (capt), Ardie Savea.
Replacements: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tamaiti Williams, Fletcher Newell, Brodie Retallick, Dalton Papalii, Finlay Christie, Damian McKenzie, Anton Lienert-Brown.
