Michael Cheika

Cheika had never coached before but in 1999 David Campese brought his attention to a coaching job in Italy. He applied for it and was successful. Cheika and Knox coached Petrarca Padova through a Heineken Cup campaign which did not yield any wins.[7]

Cheika returned to Sydney in 2001 when his father fell ill. With European coaching experience under his belt he secured the Randwick coaching ticket and guided his old club to a Shute Shield victory in 2004.[4]

In 2005, Cheika replaced Declan Kidney as head coach at Leinster. Mick Dawson, Leinster's chief executive, described it as a calculated punt.[7] Kidney had left in contentious circumstances having agreed to a move to rivals Munster before the season's end and Leinster were said to be in disarray.[8] Cheika brought assistant David Knox, his former teammate, with him to Ireland.

Cheika's first season culminated in a Heineken Cup semi–final against Munster, which Munster won 30–6, on their way to lifting the trophy.

Cheika's second season in charge was a difficult one, as Leinster were knocked out of the Heineken Cup at the quarterfinal stage by London Wasps. In 07/08 Leinster won the Celtic League trophy with a bonus point 41–8 victory against the Newport Gwent Dragons. It was Cheika's first trophy as Leinster coach and Leinster's first since the 2001 Celtic League.[9]

Leinster recruited Alan Gaffney to the management team as backs coach in the 2009 season, to join Kurt McQuilkin as defence coach and forwards coach Jono Gibbes.[10] Leinster were unable to retain their Celtic League title, and finished third behind Munster and Edinburgh. However, Cheika led Leinster to European success, guiding the team to the 2009 Heineken Cup Final. They became champions after topping their pool by beating London Wasps, Edinburgh and Castres Olympique. Leinster was seeded sixth and faced Harlequins in the quarterfinal, winning 6–5. In an all Irish derby at Croke Park against defending champions Munster, Cheika guided the team to a historic 25–6 victory to set up a final against Leicester Tigers. At Murrayfield Stadium the team secured a 19–16 victory over the Tigers, to clinch Leinster's first ever European title.[11]

In his final season in charge, Cheika led Leinster to top of the table in the revamped 2009–10 Celtic League, with 13 victories from 18 starts. In the semifinal, Leinster beat Munster 16–6, before losing to the Ospreys 17–12 at home at the RDS. The team was also unable to retain their European title. Leinster beat Clermont Auvergne 29–28, however lost to eventual champions Toulouse 26–16.

Cheika left his post with Leinster Rugby at the end of that season to become head coach for French Top 14 side Stade Français.

Cheika was Director of Rugby of the Paris-based club between 2010 and 2012. It was reported that his time at Stade Français was less successful than at previous clubs. Off-field conflict and mediocre on-field results made his life difficult, culminating in him being sacked.[12]

During the 2010–11 Top 14 season, Stade Français finished 11th in the standings with only 10 wins from 26. However, in the 2010–11 European Challenge Cup, Stade Français clinched top seed after the Pool stage, winning all 6 of their matches. Their pool, however, did include Leeds Carnegie, Bucureşti Oaks and Crociati Parma, with the latter two being semi-professional sides. Stade won the quarterfinal beating Montpellier 32–28. Cheika's team beat Clermont, who had dropped down from the Heineken Cup, by 29–25 in the semifinal, but narrowly lost to Harlequins 19–18 in the final at Cardiff.

In the 2011–12 Top 14 season, Stade Français improved on their previous standing, finishing seventh with 11 wins. The team again clinched the top seeding in the European Challenge Cup and beat Exeter Chiefs 22–17 in the quarterfinal. However, they lost in the semifinal by 32–29 to Toulon.

Cheika was appointed as head coach of the New South Wales Waratahs in 2012 for the 2013 Super Rugby season.[3] In his first season, he guided the team to mid-table of 9th, with an even split of 8 wins and 8 losses. Some of their victories were notable, including the 25–20 win over the eventual (and defending) champions, the Chiefs, in round 10. The Waratahs turned over the Brumbies 28–22, before narrowly losing to the Crusaders 23–22 in Christchurch. Cheika also led the team against the British and Irish Lions, losing the match 47–17. He was responsible for signing Israel Folau from AFL side Greater Western Sydney Giants, who made a massive impact to the Wallabies in his debut season.

Cheika secured further key signings for the 2014 season including Kurtley Beale, Nick Phipps, Jacques Potgieter and another Rugby League convert Taqele Naiyaravoro. He created attacking backline combinations with Phipps and Bernard Foley as the halves, Beale and Adam Ashley-Cooper in midfield and with Folau at fullback. The Waratahs dominant forward pack, led by Dave Dennis, created a platform for the skillful backs.

In just his second season in charge, Cheika coached the Waratahs to their first ever Super Rugby title, with the team finishing seven points ahead of their nearest rivals, the Crusaders.[13] The Waratahs defeated the Brumbies 26–8 in the semifinal which earned them a first home final against their Christchurch-based rivals, the Crusaders, whom the Waratahs had not defeated in over a decade. In the 2014 Super Rugby final the Waratahs beat the Crusaders by a single point, 33-32, in a nail-biter witnessed by a record Super Rugby crowd of over 61,007 people at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.[5]

During the 2015 Super Rugby season, the Waratahs campaign to retain their title started with a 25–13 loss to the Western Force in Sydney, which was later followed by a second loss to the Force in Round 13, losing 18–11 in Perth. Cheika led the Waratahs to a 29–24 win over the eventual New Zealand conference winners the Hurricanes in Wellington, and a 32–22 win over the Crusaders in Sydney. Across the 16 matches of the 2015 regular season the Waratahs conceded 11 yellow cards. Two players, Will Skelton and Tolu Latu, were suspended from playing during the latter stages of the tournament leading to Cheika's tactics being questioned. The Waratahs had lost to the Highlanders 26–19 in Dunedin in Round 5 and were defeated by them again in the semifinal in Sydney by 35–17. It was a surprise for some how well the Waratahs did, considering the team had to play for 10 consecutive weeks between their second bye and the knock out stage, which included their two away matches against South Africa opposition.

Cheika was appointed as the head coach of the Australia national team on 22 October 2014, with a three-year contract that would see him take the Wallabies through the 2015 Rugby World Cup.[14]

He took over after Ewen McKenzie's shock resignation the previous week and had very little time with the team before Australia started their 2014 end of year tour. His first match as coach was a non-capped game against the Barbarians, with the Wallabies winning 40–36.[15] Cheika's first test match as coach was a 33–28 victory for Australia over Wales which was a record 10th consecutive win against them.

However, Cheika lost his first match against France a week later, with Australia being defeated 29–26. This for France was seen as revenge following Australia's dominant 3–0 series win over Les Bleus in June 2014 under former coach Ewen McKenzie. Cheika's team lost their next match against Ireland 26–23. Ireland had led 17–0 after just fifteen but three quick tries in the next fifteen minutes put Australia back in the game.

Australia then faced Rugby World Cup rivals England who had only win from their last six starts. England's forwards overpowered Australia in the match, however, to win 26–17. The result meant that Australia had lost three out of four test matches on their tour, their worst record since 2005. Cheika made it clear that the scrum needed to be fixed before the World Cup, and later sacked the forwards coach Andrew Blades.

Scrum coach Mario Ledesma was recruited to the Waratahs and began working on scrummaging with the Wallabies players that were in New South Wales.[16] Brumbies head coach Stephen Larkham was brought in as backline and attack coach for the World Cup. Nathan Grey was appointed as defence coach.[17]

In the lead up to the 2015 World Cup, Cheika is credited for inventing Giteau's law which enabled overseas based players to play for Australia.[18]

During the 2015 Rugby Championship, Cheika made multiple changes to his side for each match despite the Wallabies' winning form. They opened their campaign with a 24–20 win over South Africa, winning in overtime with a late try from Tevita Kuridrani. They beat Argentina 34–9 a week later to set-up a decider with New Zealand in the final round. It was during that All Blacks match that Cheika started two specialized opensides for the first time since 2010, and they were both influential in the Wallabies 27–19 win. The win sealed the Rugby Championship for the Wallabies, their first ever Rugby Championship title, although including the former Trinations format it was the Wallabies fourth title since the competition began 1996. The Wallabies also achieved a 100% win rate for the first ever time in either format. However, the Wallabies failed to win the Bledisloe Cup, losing to New Zealand 41–13 in Auckland a week later.

Despite having only been in charge of the Wallabies for a year, Cheika led Australia to the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final. They topped Pool A with victories over Fiji 28–13, Uruguay 65–3, England 33–13 and Wales 15–6. They narrowly beat Scotland in the quarter-final winning 35–34 after a controversial last minute penalty. They beat Argentina 29–15 in the semi-final to reach the final against the All Blacks. The Wallabies went down 16–3 at half time, but fought back in the second half to trail by only 21-17 with 10 minutes remaining. However a drop goal, penalty and a last minute try saw New Zealand claim an historic 34–17 victory. On 1 November, Cheika was named 2015 World Rugby Coach of the Year, becoming the first Australian coach to claim the title since Rod Macqueen in 2001, and the first non-New Zealander coach to win it since Ireland's Declan Kidney in 2009.

In 2016, England toured Australia for a three-test series, the first of its kind. The series saw Australia lose all three tests to be "whitewashed" for the first time in a home series since South Africa won 3–0 in 1971. The first test, lost 39–28, saw England win back-to-back tests on Australian soil for the first time since 2003, while winning at Brisbane for the first ever time. The 39 points scored against Australia were the most points Australia had ever conceded by an English team. The second test saw England win 23–7, a record winning margin on Australian soil and a record third consecutive away win, to see England claim their first ever series win over Australia. The final test saw an accumulative score of 84 points, with England the victors 44–40.

He led Australia to second in the 2016 Rugby Championship despite losing the first two matches on an aggregate score of 71–17 against New Zealand. Cheika lead the Wallabies to their first win of the season against South Africa in round 3, winning 23–17, before defeating Argentina the following week 36–20. Australia narrowly missed out on their first ever victory at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, losing to South Africa in Pretoria 18–10. In the final week of the Championship, Argentina hosted Australia in London, where the teams became the first to play a Rugby Championship or Tri-Nations match outside any of the SANZAAR nations. Australia were the victors, 33–21. In the final Bledisloe Cup on 22 October, Australia were defeated 37–10, conceding 18 points in the closing 20 minutes. Australia's 2016 Spring tour saw mixed results, convincingly defeating Wales 32–8 in the opening week, before narrowly defeating Scotland with a 74th minute try by Tevita Kuridrani to win 23–22. Their third game saw Cheika completely change the team for the French clash, but still managed to claim the victory 25–23. The fourth and fifths matches on the tour saw the Wallabies lose their eight and ninth tests of the year, losing to Ireland 27–24 and England 37–21, with Ireland loss killing the Australian's chances of claiming a successful Grand Slam tour.

Australia's 2017 season started with a 37–14 victory over Fiji where Cheika gave four players their international debut. The following week, Australia lost to Scotland for the first ever time in Sydney, losing 24–19. It was the first time ever Australia had lost to Scotland twice in row at home, with the last loss, 9–6 in 2012, the last time Scotland had beaten Australia. Australia's final June test was a 40–27 victory over Italy, though for most of the game the teams weren't separated by many points with the score being 28–27 until the 75th minute. During the 2017 Rugby Championship, Cheika was heavily criticized for his constant changing off match day teams. It wasn't until the last round of the Championship that Cheika retained the previous starting XV in two consecutive matches, for the first time in his Career as Wallabies head coach. The Championship started with a 54–34 hammering to New Zealand, conceding 8 tries in 47 minutes. At the 50 minute mark, the score was 54–6, however Australia clawed back the margin scoring four tries in the last quarter of the game. The return fixture the following, Australia came within minutes of claiming an away victory to New Zealand, leading the All Blacks 29–28 at the 77th minute mark. However a Beauden Barrett try on the 78th minute, saw New Zealand claim a 35–29 victory, despite at one point being behind 17–0 down early on in the game. The third round saw Australia and South Africa draw for the first time since 2001, after the game ended 23–23. The result was repeated in the reverse fixture three weeks later, when it ended 27–27. Australia ended on a high, putting a solid performance against Argentina away, running out victors 37–20.

Ahead of the Wallabies Spring tour, Cheika led Australia to a 23–18 victory over the All Blacks in the third Bledisloe Cup. It was the first time since 2015 that the Wallabies had defeated the world champions. This win was backed up by a narrow 31–28 non-test victory over the Barbarians and a week later a 63–30 win over Japan in Yokohama, in what was both experimental sides for Australia. Australia's first major test on their Spring tour came on 11 November, where they faced and defeated Wales, 29–21. Despite the score being 13–6 heading into the final 10 minutes in the England test, Australia went on to lose their first tour match 30–6, conceding 3 tries. Australia's final test was a record defeat at the hands of Scotland, losing 53–24 in Edinburgh for the first time since 2009.

The Wallabies endured a shocking run in 2018; in June, Cheika led the team to a series defeat against Ireland, losing 2–1 having won the first test 18–9. However, a first loss to Ireland at home since 1979 in the second test (26–21) followed by a close encounter in the third test (16–20), meant Ireland claimed a first ever series win over Australia. Despite losing the series, the Wallabies out scored their opposition in terms of tries, scoring 6 tries to 3. It was also a first for Cheika in the second test, naming an unchanged matchday 23 for two consecutive tests, retaining the same team from the first test.[19]

During the 2018 Rugby Championship, Cheika faced severe criticism over the team's form and a string of poor results. His job was openly questioned in the Australian media after the team won only two games during the Championship. Despite leading New Zealand 6–5 in the opening match, the Wallabies went onto lose the match 38–13, and despite being marginally behind the All Blacks in the second test, 7–14 at half time, they also went on to lose that match 40–12. Cheika's side did manage an impressive 23–18 victory over South Africa to retain the Mandela Challenge Plate. However, the following week, Australia lost to Argentina 23–19, which was the first time since 1983 that Argentina had beaten Australia on home soil. This meant the Wallabies dropped to a record low seventh place on the World Rugby Rankings and, after Round 5, their woes continued as they lost to South Africa 23–12. In the final round, Argentina led Australia 31–7 at half time in Salta. However a record come-back in the second half meant Cheika and his team won 45–34, to secure third place in the Championship. In the third Bledisloe Cup match, held in Japan, the Wallabies put on a better performance but failed to capitalise on their chances, seeing the All Blacks win 37–20.

Cheika's team endured a similarly dismal run in the 2018 autumn internationals, losing 9-6 to Wales (their first win over Australia since 2008) before salvaging a consolation 26-7 victory against Italy. The Wallabies ended 2018 with a sixth consecutive defeat to England, going down 37-18. The team's win-loss record, having won only four out of thirteen test matches, was their worst since 1958. A review of the team's performance was conducted by the administration of Rugby Australia, with the board electing to back Cheika through to the 2019 World Cup. The decision was widely derided in the Australian sporting press, with speculation rife that the administration were unable to afford to terminate Cheika's contract.[20]

2019 saw much change in the Australian set-up, beginning with the sacking of Stephen Larkham as attack coach and the introduction of a selection panel made up of Cheika, newly selected Director of Rugby Scott Johnson and Michael O'Connor who acts as an independent away from the national team coaching team. The new process started with a 35–17 loss to South Africa in the opening round of the 2019 Rugby Championship. The following week, Australia gained just their first win of the Championship, defeating Argentina 16–10. However it was the final match against New Zealand that proved a success, after winning 47–26, a joint record defeat for the All Blacks; through this result meant a win in the second Bledisloe Cup match meant Australia would reclaim the title for the first time since 2002. However, the Wallabies lost 36–0 to see the trophy remain in New Zealand.

At the 2019 Rugby World Cup Australia won three of their four pool matches but a close loss to Wales led to a quarter-final fixture with England. A defeat by 40–16 in that match ended the Australian campaign and the following day Cheika announced that he would resign as head coach by the end of the year.[21] His contract had been due to expire following the World Cup.[22]

Following his departure from Australian Rugby, Cheika took up a role within the NRL with Sydney Roosters Rugby League Team as assistant coach.[23] In September 2020, the Argentine Rugby Union announced that Cheika had joined the team prior to the 2020 Tri Nations Series, taking up an advisory role and re-joining former Wallabies coaching staff, Mario Ledesma.[24]

Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking Australia was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches