Michael Cheika has revealed how a moment of “aggression” played a significant role in him being given a job as Leinster head coach back in 2005.
With the province looking to replace Declan Kidney, Cheika, a little known young Australian coach at that time, was somewhat of a surprise pick. He spent five years at Leinster, going on to lead them to their first Heineken Cup crown in 2009. Cheika is widely credited for bringing Leinster into a new era and instilling a winning culture which was built upon in the years after his departure.
Speaking to The Counter Ruck podcast, Cheika recalls impressing the Leinster and IRFU top brass with one particular outburst during his third interview for the job.
The Michael Cheika interview
“All the IRFU big bosses were there, I presented, did all that,” explains Cheika. “At the back of the meeting they said, ‘We like what you’ve presented, but we don’t know if you’ve got the gravitas or the name to be able to handle all our lads, the big names in the team.’
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“I thought, ‘I’m not getting this job.’ I was pretty raw, I loosened my tie, stood up and said, ‘Look, if you want someone who’s gonna sign autographs at the game or whatever, get someone else. This is what I can do, I’m off.’ They called me later on and gave me the job.
“I think in a way, that approach of not caring, or a little bit of aggression, must have rung home to them that this was the type of character they might need, because it was a huge gamble to take me, no doubt about that. I did not have the pedigree to be in that role and I’ve always appreciated the club for taking that risk on me.”
Cheika is now the head coach of Leicester Tigers, who host Ulster in the Champions Cup on Saturday night. He joined at the start of the current season on a one-year deal, and now Leicester are fourth in the Premiership. Last season, they finished third bottom just two years after winning the title under Steve Borthwick.
Cheika identifies similar trends in how he was asked to improve Leinster’s fortunes with his current situation in Leicester. He points to his upbringing as a reason for why he is drawn to such difficult projects. “I’ve been involved a lot in turnarounds, teams that have been struggling,” he says. “I feel like it fits my identity a little bit around who I am.
“Without too much carry-on, I wouldn’t have been brought up as a rugby kid. We came to Australia as immigrants. Rugby league was the working-class game back then. I started playing rugby because I thought I could get a free trip overseas.
“I’ve always been an outsider, even when I coached Australia I felt an outsider. I like that, I like that challenge, that hardship and I don’t mind owning the problems from before. If you’re going to come to a club for a turnaround, you can’t say ‘Well, before they did this’ or ‘They were doing that’. You always say ‘We’, and ‘We’re part of that’.
“That’s part of our history. I’m part of the club, some of the history hasn’t been the greatest but you’ve got to own everything because your boys who are playing here have been a part of it.”
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