Michael Cheika reveals why he took over Leicester Tigers’ coaching reins
Leicester Tigers boss Michael Cheika has revealed how highly he rates the club and the reason which led to him taking over the coaching reins at the Premiership outfit.
The Welford Road-based side appointed Cheika as their head coach in June after parting ways with fellow Australian Dan McKellar – who was relieved of his coaching duties after just one season in charge.
Leicester have won 11 Premiership titles – with last triumph registered in 2022 under the guidance of Steve Borthwick, who is the current England head coach – and have also won the European Champions Cup twice.
Cheika has a rich pedigree as a coach at club level as he has won the Champions Cup and Super Rugby titles while coaching Leinster and the Waratahs respectively.
Helped the Wallabies reach 2015 Rugby World Cup final
He was also in charge of the Wallabies from 2014 to 2019 and guided them to the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, which they lost to the All Blacks.
In 2021, he took a position as assistant coach of Argentina before becoming their head coach in 2022 and helped them reach the semi-finals at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
During his time with Los Pumas, Cheika also took charge of Lebanon’s rugby league national team and under his coaching they reached the quarter-finals of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in England.
In May, he was also one of five names on top NRL outfit the South Sydney Rabbitohs’ shortlist to become their coach according to a Sydney Morning Herald report.
Michael Cheika reveals why he believes Rassie Erasmus is the best coach in the world
However, Cheika opted to take charge of Leicester Tigers and said there were previous opportunities to join the the East Midlands club but the timing was not right.
“I would say I’ve had several conversations with Leicester over the years at different times, and I’d always been doing something else,” he told the For the Love of Rugby podcast.
The 57-year-old added that the Tigers are side which he has been fascinated with since being involved in battles against them during his time as Leinster head coach from 2005 to 2010.
“Leicester’s a club that had always intrigued me and interested me because of, I suppose, meeting them several times with Leinster,” he said.
“And I think when I first got there, Leinster, they had a bit of post-traumatic stress, you know, from an encounter they had, in the early 2000s at Lansdowne Road where they got pumped by Leicester in a European game.
“So we drew them early on in some round matches, and I saw the vibe, and then when we brought Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings back to Leinster (from Leicester), I saw a bit about, obviously, what the club does here because I saw it inside those two players.
“And I saw the difference that those two players then made to Leinster, huge difference, and obviously Leo’s still making that difference now (as Leinster head coach).
‘Always been intrigued by that club with big history’
“And a lot of that’s come from, I suppose, what they learned when they played here, so I’ve always been intrigued by that club with big history and that sort of, I suppose, reputation that they had.”
Cheika said over the years he always helped struggling clubs to turn their fortunes around and when the opportunity came to join the Tigers – who finished eighth in the Premiership last season – he felt it right time for him to do that.
“I just think that the timing was never right in that scenario, so when it came up the timing this time, I thought, okay, this timing works, I feel like I can give myself proper for this, you know, considering what’s happened to them and what the scenario was, this is the situation, let’s have a go at it.”