Michael Cheika is a pretty impressive figure all round. Here’s a man who has spent the past couple of months coaching in two different codes, taking charge of Lebanon at the Rugby World Cup and then reverting to his role with Argentina, guiding them to a famous victory over England at Twickenham.
His switching ability was further demonstrated as he moved with ease between Spanish and England during his press conference to announce an unchanged Pumas team to take on Wales in Cardiff this Saturday. The much-travelled Sydneysider speaks French, Italian and Arabic as well, making him one of the most linguistically skilled characters in the game.
He’s also pretty dextrous on his feet, as he showed when asked about Argentina being dubbed favourites for this weekend’s encounter at the Principality Stadium, notably by Shane Williams and Jonathan ‘Jiffy’ Davies.
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“When you come away from home in rugby, you are always the underdog,” he declared.
“When you walk out onto the Principality Stadium and there are however many thousands of Welsh people there, supporting their team, you are the underdog.
“Honestly, I don’t see anyone coming to Cardiff as favourites. It’s such a difficult place to come. You guys know it, you’ve sat in the stand and been there in the atmosphere. You’ve got to be so good on game day to be in the contest.”
He continued: “Every player wants to play in Cardiff. It’s a very historical venue.
“We know we will be in the minority, but that challenge of playing in the big theatres when you are the opposition is a really enjoyable one. You have got to get the thrill of being the enemy on the day and embrace it.”
While Argentina beat England 30-29 at Twickenham last weekend, Wales conceded eight tries as they were thumped 55-23 by New Zealand. But Cheika insists he is not reading too much into that.
“I know another team that shipped eight tries against the All Blacks not too long ago, us! I know how powerful they can be. It can happen in games, sometimes it just gets away from you,” said the Aussie.
“I have been here too many times to know what this Welsh team brings and how they are at the stadium. They have a very good counter-attacking game and good ball runners in the wide channels, backs and back row, so we are going to have our hands full defending.”
As for his own build up to this UK tour, which also takes in a game against Scotland next week, it’s been one with a difference for Cheika.
Following the Rugby Championship, he switched codes to coach Lebanon, the country of his parents’ birth, at the Rugby League World Cup, which was staged in England. Under his tutelage, they beat Ireland and Jamaica handsomely in Leigh at the group stage, before bowing out to Australia at Huddersfield’s Kirklees Stadium in the quarter-finals at the beginning of this month.
“It was one of the best experiences I have had in sport,” he said.“ From the heritage point of view, to be coaching a team like that in another sport was great. It was very different because of the variance of player level. We had amateurs, who would go to work every day and then train at night, playing alongside professionals.
“I had a great coaching team with me and we just had a really good time. It gave me a heap of energy for coaching and I really enjoyed it.”
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Since Cheika took the helm of the Pumas in March of this year, he has orchestrated victories over New Zealand and England away from home, while also beating Australia and Scotland. Now the challenge is to add the scalp of Wales.
“We need to be really good on the details of our game and really good mentally to be in the contest and if we are in the contest we will give ourselves a chance of winning towards the end, so we will see what happens,” he said.
“The number one issue is to make sure we are consistently improving a little bit in every area. We just need to keep working on the principles of our game, our mentality and our consistency.
“I love being here with this team. You can see that from my demeanour. We have a lot of emotion and the boys are very passionate about the way they play. We would never want to compromise that. It’s about using it in the right way.
“We are just looking to be who we are. We have a clear identity of what we want the team to become and we are growing towards that.”
As for his impressive grasp of Spanish, he says: “I think it’s really important for me as coach of the national team of Argentina, symbolically, to try and do my best to speak in their language.
“I speak French and Italian, so that was a start to help me. I know it must frustrate the guys at times because sometimes I can see them saying ‘Just speak English, will you’.
“When I have to, I do speak English because giving information is very important in coaching. I’m lucky that Felipe Contepomi and Juan-Martin Fernandez Lobbe (assistants) are very good at English and they can translate.
“But I think it’s great for me to learn another language. I am enjoying speaking it.”
Cheika has made plenty of trips to Wales during a coaching career that has taken in spells with Leinster, Stade Francais and the Wallabies. So, given his language skills, has he picked up any Welsh along the way?
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“Nah, the way you guys combine all your letters together, it’s not that easy to understand. It was the same with Gaelic when I was in Ireland. So I think I will stick to the ones I have.”
The unchanged Pumas team features a number of players from clubs in the UK, including Dragons scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou and Edinburgh winger Emiliano Boffelli, who scored 25 points in the win over England.
They are a side to be reckoned with and one with a quality coach at the helm.
Argentina: 15. Juan Cruz Mallia, 14. Mateo Carreras, 13. Matias Moroni, 12. Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11. Emiliano Boffelli, 10. Santiago Carreras, 9. Gonzalo Bertranou, 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Julian Montoya (capt), 3. Francisco Gomez Kodela, 4. Matias Alemanno, 5. Tomas Lavanini, 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7. Marcos Kremer, 8. Pablo Matera.
Replacements : 16. Ignacio Ruiz, 17. Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18. Eduardo Bello, 19. Lucas Paulos, 20. Facundo Isa, 21. Elisio Morales, 22. Tomas Albornoz, 23. Matias Orlando.
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