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PARIS – Before, Michael Cheika would stand up and go toe-for-toe with his contemporaries, as if his to show off the bravado and masculinity that comes with the territory of being a rugby figure.
He enjoyed the banter and the machismo of not giving an inch. The game away from the game.
Initially, it worked. A Super Rugby triumph was followed up by a World Cup final a year later.
Then his old sparring partner at the Galloping Greens, Eddie Jones, arrived Down Under for a three-match Test series as coach of England.
Jones, a 15-year international coach at that point, schooled him in a classic case of rope-a-dope. Cheika threw punches but none landed.
Not in 2016 and not again as Wallabies coach. Well, not enough to land a telling blow anyway.
Angered and frustrated, Cheika, looking to blame everyone but himself, moved on.
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
It was the best thing for his career (not that he had any other choice).
Yet, things have changed in recent years.
The explosive Cheika that rinsed everyone standing between him and grabbed jerseys and ripped his players to shreds in Salta has mellowed. Maybe it’s the Malbec.
So if you think the old Cheika is going to return ahead of Argentina’s World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks on Friday night (Saturday, 6am) think again.
“To be honest, I think I’ve moved on a little bit from that. I used to love a lot of that stuff beforehand,” Cheika told The Roar.
“It’s all phases about where you are as a coach and as a person, but I haven’t really got into a lot of that stuff and play that mental game.
“I’ve been trying to focus on our lads and enjoying the time with them. They’re great guys.”
Indeed, the softer and respectful side of Cheika has been on show since farewelling Australian rugby in October 2019.
“I think you’ve got to evolve,” he said.
“There’s a time and place for that rhetoric when you want to get into it, and often you’re defending your players, so you’re doing it for that reason.
“You’re trying to set out different things, but most of the time when you’re doing interviews, this one’s not really relevant to that because it’s not my guys, but most people you talk to is your players. No matter how many times you tell not to read the press, they’re reading the press.
“You’re trying to talk to them and your fans. But I haven’t felt the need.
“I’ve had a go here and there before, obviously, and I loved all that stuff, but you’ve got to evolve and change as a person and as an operator.”
Pumas Coach Michael Cheika (C) shakes hands with Wallabies Coach Eddie Jones prior to The Rugby Championship match between the Australia Wallabies and Argentina at CommBank Stadium on July 15, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Growth and development is a side few thought Cheika capable of when he left.
Although he was always fascinating to interview (a multilingual person, who made his millions in fashion), the pugnacious and at times narrowminded coach looked and sounded like a man stuck in his ways and unwilling to budge.
He would cut off those who he didn’t agree with and become cantankerous when challenged on previous statements, ideas or selections.
Yet ever since taking over from Mario Ledesma as Los Pumas coach, Cheika has softened. It’s not by accident either, having watched the South Americans first as a rival coach, then as Ledesma’s assistant and over the past 18 months as head coach.
“Definitely coming here, I’ve taken a different sort of role as well, a different persona, because they don’t need that other persona that I have. They need this one. They don’t need the other one, they’ve got plenty of the other one,” he quips.
“I try to adapt according to what the team needs, not what I am.
“The last thing they need is another guy revving them through the roof. They need someone calming them down.”
Michael Cheika, (L) celebrates with Argentine captain Julian Montoya after their victory over England at Twickenham Stadium on November 06, 2022 in London. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
The calmer, mellowed Cheika was on display last Saturday as Argentina clawed their way back against Warren Gatland’s Welsh side.
From 10-0 down, Cheika’s Pumas did it in threes by knocking over four straight penalties – a pragmatic approach to the game that the ex-Wallabies coach hadn’t shown since guiding Australia to the 2015 World Cup.
“I have experience in these type of games, 10-0 is a lot but momentum is what’s important,” Cheika said.
“When you get positive momentum you can put quick points on the board and we were always in the game.”
While they came to fruition in Marseille against Wales, Cheika believes the fact they had to win every Test after their underwhelming 27-10 defeat to a 14-man English side had prepared them for knockout rugby.
“Since the first game we’ve been playing knockout footy,” he said.
“A lot of our lads are first timers at the World Cup, so learning how to play with that pressure, if you don’t win here you’re going home.
“We’ve been talking about it openly. I think a lot of our guys are feeling a lot of heat about so many Argentinian fans come, their families come, they pay their cash, they’ve come for this game and the quarters and we wanted to give them the reward for coming to follow us because the crowds have been unbelievable. Even I felt a little bit of that, I reckon. I was desperate to make sure they got here.”
Michael Cheika celebrates throughout the 2023 World Cup in France. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Those game smarts will need to be on show later this week against an All Blacks side that will have their tails up at the Stade de France as they sniff a fourth Webb Ellis Cup.
But without the fear of playing to get out of the pool or a quarter, Cheika believes his side can seize the moment.
Nor will they fear the All Blacks like they once did, having beaten Foster’s men in 2020 before knocking them off in New Zealand last year too.
So what’s the dream?
“It’s pretty obvious,” said Cheika, not needing to state the obvious.
“No, I’d just like to see that team with that little bit of extra pressure of making the making it [the semi-final] off their back now and prepare really well and go on and attack it, really attack the game. Be really clear of what we want to do and give our fans a reward of another week of believing and enjoying it.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.