Cheika using 'instinct' to unite title-hunting Tigers
Golf clubs and smashed mirrors, dog tags and Tigers flags. Michael Cheika has used elaborate, and sometimes wacky, tactics to spur his teams on - but the message has always been simple."I just think people think about things too much," the Leicester Tigers head coach told BBC Sport about the method behind his famous use of imagery to motivate players."And often when you think about things, it stops you from doing it."It was before a Super Rugby final that Cheika presented his New South Wales Waratahs players with personally engraved drivers. His message then was to "have a big swing at it".Then when at the helm of the Australia national team, he issued players with dog tags before the 2015 World Cup to unify them as a battalion. It was in that same tournament that he used a sledgehammer to smash a mirror, external in the changing room before the final to show what he physically demanded of his side.There is a tale behind every bit of symbolism.What the story is at Leicester Tigers as they prepare for Saturday's Premiership semi-final against Sale Sharks, he will not tell."That is something for us," said the relaxed Australian with a broad grin, while leaning on a pitchside railing at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in a pair of retro sliders he picked up in the 1980s."All that stuff is designed to get the team aligned and around certain themes we want to push. And we try do that all year."You just go with instincts on those things. There is no science behind that stuff. You try read the room as best you can. That golf club thing was a last-day decision, it wasn't like it was planned."They might start off like fun or jokes or whatever, but then they can turn into something that is serious or something that is meaningful because they symbolise something. "Those moments we share together as a team, across all teams that I have been involved in, are really important. They are the things that hold you together when you are a man down or you are under the pump."
Against Bristol Bear at Ashton Gate in April, a match of must-win proportions for a Tigers side that were outside the play-off spots at the time, Cheika came along with one of his less obscure messages.He delivered his team talk with a giant Tigers flag on a pole before they faced a Bristol side that had thumped them months earlier – planting their own flag, if you will, at Welford Road.Leicester captain Julian Montoya described Cheika as "one of the best coaches in the world" for the masterful way he man manages his teams.However, details of how the Australian inspires his players is left in the sanctity of the changing room.And what if that message is beamed live on television? "Maybe we want you to see it. The camera is there," the hooker said.Montoya was also skipper of the Argentina side that Cheika guided to the World Cup semi-finals in 2023.He said it has been an "amazing" experience to play for the 58-year-old for club and country – and in two different languages."He tried to speak Spanish a lot with Argentina and he did pretty well, but now he is full English so he can express himself even better," Montoya added."He is very passionate, and that's what I like and what I've seen in him here."For me, he is Michael and was the same with me at Argentina. But with the international team, everyone is from Argentina and here at the club there is different nationalities and different cultures."He has been here only for one year and it is very difficult to try know the culture of the team, the organisation, and everything in that time, but I think he has done a brilliant job that's not done yet."
Cheika made it clear that he moved to Leicester this season with the sole aim of winning the Premiership title.Saturday's meeting with Sale – a side they have shared 142 points with across two league games already this season – will be his home ground farewell.But he will not be the only one looking to leave with a shot of glory in their sights. Decorated club legends Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, as well as former England full-back Mike Brown, are retiring at the end of the season, while captain Montoya and two-time World Cup-winning South Africa fly-half Handre Pollard are leaving in the summer."Finishing has nothing to do with it," Cheika said. "Being part of a team means what happens to the team is for everybody and not for any one individual. I certainly don't feel like that."When you are in a team, playing in a comp like this, and you are the leader as a coach, your ambition and hunger is to get to the top. The only interest for me is for this team to be successful."
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