Michael Cheika overcame a deflating rookie campaign before guiding Leinster to Heineken Cup glory and believes the experience has him in good stead to prepare the New South Wales Waratahs for a tilt at a maiden Super Rugby title.
In his first year in charge, the fiery Australian took the Irish side to the semi-finals of Europe’s premier club competition in 2005-06, but their tournament ended at Lansdowne Road with a stinging 30-6 loss to eventual champions Munster.
Three years later under Cheika, Leinster avenged the defeat in the 2008-09 semi-finals at Croke Park before claiming their first European trophy with a tight win over Leicester at Murrayfield.
“When I started with Leinster and we got to the Heineken semi-final in the first year, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing,” Cheika told Reuters in a phone interview.
“I’d experienced it as a player but I didn’t really know what to do. I definitely think I got that part, that little last week of the season wrong.
“I was just maybe too hyped up and maybe too focussed on the wrong things, but I was only young.
“It was my first year as a professional coach. I didn’t even really know what the Heineken Cup was, really, let alone being in a semi-final against Munster at Lansdowne Rd. It was just a totally different thing.”
Cheika will take the Waratahs into their first playoffs campaign in three years, having lifted the Wallabies-laden team out of a funk and into a force in less than two seasons in the southern hemisphere tournament.
Once harangued by their demanding fans, the Sydney team are now the toast of Australia for topping the regular season table for the first time and will play last year’s finalists, the ACT Brumbies, at home on Saturday for a place in the title-decider.
The rare occasion of two local sides facing off in the Super Rugby semi-finals is a mouth-watering prospect for Australian rugby fans, and a big contingent of Brumbies supporters are tipped to make the three-hour drive up the Hume Highway from Canberra to roar on their team at Sydney Football Stadium.
MEDIA HYPE
The Waratahs are favoured to advance to a third final after finishing the regular season in ominous form and will be eager to get back on the pitch after a two-week rest period filled with media hype.
“At the end of the day, (the hype) has no net effect as to what happens inside the white lines over 80 minutes,” Cheika added.
“None. So, you just deal with the things as you would any game normally. You understand when kickoff comes, you’ve got to turn up the volume a bit on the match, not on all the stuff that goes around the match.
“I access the stuff I’ve learnt (from Leinster). I definitely didn’t know that all the time... You’re allowed to make a mistake here and there. I think that experience there should help us down the track.”
Variously described as a strict disciplinarian, a visionary and, by his former Leinster players, a “madman”, Cheika’s straight shooting and occasional emotional outbursts have generated almost as many headlines as his winning team.
The former Randwick and Stade Francais backrower was sent a damage bill by the Brumbies for breaking a glass door in the coaches’ box at Canberra Stadium after a season-opening loss.
He was handed a suspended six-month ban by Super Rugby’s tournament organisers in April after a heated confrontation with a cameraman during a spiteful loss to the Sharks in Durban.
Fans at Sydney Football Stadium might be advised to steer clear of the Waratahs coaches’ box if defeat befalls the hosts on Saturday, but Cheika said if his team were to go down, they would be going down swinging.
They would not go conservative and change their high-tempo, attacking style for anyone, Cheika said, not least the Brumbies, who boast a potent backline of their own and showcased their scoring power in recent weeks.
“From our point of view we’re just going to play our style,” Cheika said.
“I don’t think it needs to be more attritional. I think it will get more physical, that’s for sure. I know it’s not smart of me to go and talk about strategy but we won’t be changing.
“I think it’s important to our supporters that we keep playing the same way.”
