He might have intended to pass the baton on following the World Cup, but former Wallabies coach turned Los Pumas mentor Michael Cheika could be on the cusp of signing on with the South Americans.
A report coming out of Ole Rugby overnight said it was a “matter of numbers” now regarding Cheika’s contract extension with the UAR.
“We proposed to Cheika that he train until the end of the World Cup and organize the staff,” UAR president Gabriel Travaglini told Ole.
“He complied with that and intends to stay, so now we are analyzing it. We are making the best effort to have the best structure to face the next World Cup.”
The looming contract extension comes after Cheika took Los Pumas to this year’s World Cup semi-finals – a significant improvement from 2019, where Mario Ledesma’s side missed the knockout stages.
Cheika, who previously anointed assistant and national hero Felipe Contepomi as his preferred successor, told The Roar he would travel to Argentina to speak with his employers as to whether it was time to step away.
“I’ll go down there in a couple of weeks, and we’ll have a full debrief of what we did and then start making plans for the next World Cup. And then also decide what I’m going to do moving forward,” Cheika told The Roar in Paris.
“The original arrangement was that a young fella who I coached at length – Felipe Contepomi – he’s the guy who is going to take over at some stage.
“We’ll make a decision together on whether they think it’s good for me to stay on in that environment or does he want to go on his own.”
Michael Cheika looks set to continue in the role as Argentina’s head coach. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
As well as their strong World Cup result, Cheika led Argentina to famous away wins over the All Blacks and England in 2022.
Should Cheika continue in the role, it would all but end any speculation of him joining the NRL.
It would also make the picture clearer for the vacant Wallabies head coaching role, with Rugby Australia needing to fill the role after Eddie Jones sensationally walked out on the job less than a year into his five-year deal.
RA is closing in on naming their director of high-performance, with Billy Millard one of the favourites for the role.
Whoever is appointed will be tasked with leading the drive to appoint the Wallabies’ head coaching role.
Australians Dan McKellar and Stephen Larkham are two leading candidates to take over from Jones, while former Ireland coach and All Blacks assistant Joe Schmidt is another.
Nobrain
Roar Guru
The players are happy with Cheika and I am please too. It is difficult to coach a team where all the players are based in different leagues and countries with different coaches who have different needs and ideas. The bring them together and in a couple days train them they way you want them to play. Also you must consider the players health , the amount of minutes they had played for the respective teams and the will of the clubs to lend them .
Footy Franks
Roar Rookie
Cheika is one of Oz best coaches as his records show. Macqueen then Cheika. But yeah The boat has sailed I don’t think it would be wise to be wallaby coach again.
Passit2me
Roar Rookie
AB/Argentina game?? I don’t think so….
jimmy jones
Roar Rookie
slaughtered? it was a 3 or 4 point ballgame with 10 mins left..
Blink
Roar Rookie
Cheika won with Argentina by taking them backward. They played a simple 10 man game and edid great in the lost ball. England also made the semi-finals by playing kick and chase rugger. These methods work well but are dull and boring to watch. I want entertaining rugby played instinctively which Australia have excelled at previously. Gatland is the worst coach going around, and Cheika is not to far behind. They may win but I won't be watching.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
It would disappoint me immensely too
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I am indeed
Dusty10
Roar Rookie
???? So true. Well said CS
Rat
Roar Rookie
Wallabies got to '15 RWC final on back of Link's efforts....before he was knifed by Hooper,Kurtley et al. The Clown then destroyed the Wallabies.Look out Argentina, altho they do have the cattle (pardon the pun) ,Ledesma's foundations cannot resist the Clown for much longer. If RA were seriously considering bringing him back, ....the Board and the CEO should be culled.
cs
Roar Guru
OK, that's done it. If Biscuits and whistle want Cheika then I'm out (although he's still on my notional invitation list for my dinner party of original and interesting people still alive).
Hoy
Roar Guru
On spec, you are right… all of those achievements are pretty spot on… however when he won the Heineken Cup, it wasn’t SA teams… BUT… if you dig down… After McKenzie left, Cheika was a hiding to nothing, and stumbled into the cheapest WC final we might ever see… Turn to 2016, and there was a really good chance to build on 2015’s end result… and Cheika blew it huge time. Home series loss against England, 3 blot! Against a team that just got blown out of their own WC in the group stage. Nothing improved from there… Cheika created an environment where excuses for losing were always someone else’s fault, often the referee’s. He publicly stated he didn’t train kicking, didn’t study his opposition… His selection policies were bizarre at times, and that was the best you could say about them. His game plan was easily read, and easily countered by just about everyone we played against for the 4 year period between 2015 and 2019.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
:shocked:
Hoy
Roar Guru
His results started going south in 2016 actually. A fantastic opportunity to really come on after the 2015 final, and... Cheika's Wallabys got worse and worse really. I can't support hiring this bloke again. It would be pure madness after what we have had done over the last 12 months... to rehire this bloke. I mean, we might just be mad enough... but I'd have to really, REALLY start to question whether supporting Australian rugby was worth it if we went back there.
Todd
Roar Rookie
He is a cool dude and pulls off some great results without necessarily being consistent. Certainly a better record than most but the theatrics ground me done on the last merry go round with the wallabies
Todd
Roar Rookie
The all blacks will find Schmidt a massive massive loss. He is being replaced by Leon MacDonald ... Nuff said
Todd
Roar Rookie
Are you thinking we dodged a bullet there?
Gary Russell-Sharam
Roar Rookie
Check should stay with the Argies they did well under him and Contepomi is the heir apparent and that as it should be. Another 12 months would see them consolidate their improvement and then Check can retire gracefully to let Contepomi take the helm. The Argies are on the improve and they will only get better with time
Biscuit man
Roar Rookie
He is the best coach we have produced by a mile. RA should be chasing him down like a wolf. But maybe winning isn't the priority.
Passit2me
Roar Rookie
I find it strange you selectively disregarded the point I made in my post about club teams, and seemed to focus on “He’s not our man”. You are focussing on 2015 Wallabies, when we still had a good number of experienced, quality players, before they were jettisoned. Then portioning blame for 2019, to the executive who took action due to our 50pc failure rate. The only team the Argies beat who they had not beaten before Cheika, was NZ, which happened during their own annus horribilis, who then showed them up with a slaughtering at the WC. The only team of any note they had to beat to make the semi, was Wales, who were ranked 10th going into the tournament and had beaten before Cheika came along. On top of this, his habit of blaming the ref for losses at post match press conferences, while telling his players he wants a no excuses policy, is embarrassing and makes me sick.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Hard to see what he’s created at Quins being a recommendation for the senior spot in Australian rugby high performance