Latest news with #MichaelCheika
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Breakaway R360 league puts Michael Cheika and Ronan O'Gara on shortlist of desired coaches as organisers eye 'generational change'
Michael Cheika and Ronan O'Gara have emerged as coaching targets for R360 – rugby's proposed rebel league hoping to shake-up the sport. R360 want to produce 'generational change' by creating a league made up of eight new franchise teams who will play all around the world and will start next year. Daily Mail Sport reported last week that after agreeing contract proposals with close to 200 players, R360 have turned their attention to looking at coaches for the league. Australian Cheika, who is currently out of work after leaving Leicester Tigers at the end of last season, and La Rochelle boss Ronan O'Gara are two men on a long list being considered. Both men would be attractive hires given they are high-profile figures with a reputation for playing an attacking brand of rugby – something R360 sees as important to attract fans to what is a new rugby concept. Given that Cheika is currently not contracted to a club, as things stand, he is available to work with an R360 team from the slated September 2026 start date. Irish great O'Gara's deal in France's TOP14 with La Rochelle runs until 2027, so he could not join R360 for the first season unless the rest of his contract was paid off in full. However, the former No 10 – who worked as part of Sky Sports' commentary team on the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia – remains a coach of very real interest. Former England prop Joe Marler, who retired midway through last season, is also considering a rugby return to join R360.
Irish Times
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Lions roll on to Sydney where a Waratahs upset seems unlikely
New South Wales Waratahs v British and Irish Lions, Allianz Stadium, Sydney; Saturday, 11am Irish time – Live on Sky Sports The phoney war continues apace. The Lions Tour rumbles on in the established manner; the squad barely setting foot in another new city and another plush new hotel before turning its attention to another match. In time-honoured fashion, too, the Lions pitch up in Sydney to face the New South Wales Waratahs a fortnight out from the first Test against the Wallabies , which in previous Aussie odysseys has been the tourists' toughest examination in many ways. Back in 2001, the tone was set by Waratahs lock Tom Bowen catching Danny Grewcock in the face with a leading forearm literally from the kick-off, leading to his sinbinning after three seconds. Most famously, of course, Ronan O'Gara was pinned to the ground and punched 11 times in the face by Duncan McRae, who became the first player ever to be sent off against the Lions, before a further two players from each side were yellow-carded for a brawl to make it a 13 v 12 game for 10 minutes. Twelve years ago, when Michael Cheika was in charge of the Waratahs, Johnny Sexton and the Lions were rightly agitated by some fairly clear-cut attempts to rough up the Irish outhalf by a Waratahs team then coached by Michael Cheika. READ MORE The quality of the Lions' 41-24 and 47-17 wins were slightly overlooked en route to winning the first Test on both tours, with Cheika's side going on to win their sole Super Rugby title in 2014. Alas, those halcyon days have faded somewhat, and the Waratahs finished eighth of 11 in this year's Super Rugby Pacific campaign, thus missing out on the playoffs, three points above Western Force (who the Lions beat 54-7 a week ago), and a dozen points adrift of the Queensland Reds (who the Lions beat 52-12 last Wednesday). England's Ben Earl takes part in a game of hurling during the warm down after the Lions' captain's run at North Sydney Oval on Friday. Photograph:Following on from the pre-tour loss to Argentina in Dublin, both of those restorative wins adhered to a similar script; fired-up hosts hitting the Lions with all they have for what is a once-in-a-career encounter before ultimately the tourists' greater depth, reinforced by their bench, enabled them to ease clear. Given the Waratahs' unexceptional Super Rugby Pacific season, something similar is expected to unfold in this 21st meeting between New South Wales' finest and the Lions, who have won the last four clashes dating back to a 6-6 draw in 1966. Allowing for the quality of the opposition, much of the focus therefore will home in on individual performances and various combinations, although, as is usually the case, the quality of the collective will help to portray them in a better light. Opportunity finally knocks for Hugo Keenan, who had been due to start against the Reds before falling ill on the morning of the game, and Blair Kinghorn, who featured Toulouse in their epic Top 14 final win last Saturday. They are the last of the original 38-man squad to play on this tour, with Ben White set to become the 40th player to feature for this year's Lions vintage off the bench, pending the arrival of Owen Farrell as the 41st. After Marcus Smith lined out at fullback against Argentina, and the unfortunate departure of Elliot Daly who started the last two games, the 15 jersey looks up for grabs between Keenan and Kinghorn. Their belated Lions debuts will thus be huge occasions for them but also pressurised auditions. Of course that applies across the board to some extent, not least to Tadhg Beirne, who will captain the Lions against the Waratahs, as well as James Ryan, Finlay Bealham, Josh van der Flier and Mack Hansen. The Waratahs won six of their 14 games in Super Rugby Pacific, although five of those were achieved at home. Their only defeats came against eventual champions the Crusaders and the Reds. Australia's Taniela Tupou in action against Georgia at the 2023 World Cup. Photograph: Dave Winter/Inpho Joe Schmidt has released the Wallabies' gargantuan prop Taniela Tupou and winger Andrew Kellaway, both of whom played in Ireland's hard-earned 22-19 win over Australia last November. But five Waratahs players will instead play in Australia's sole warm-up match against Fiji on Sunday (4.30am Irish) – prop Angus Bell, flanker Langi Gleeson, hooker Dave Porecki, winger Max Jorgensen and star centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in his home Test debut. Wallabies scrumhalf Jake Gordon is also nursing a minor injury. Tupou and Kellaway are among seven Australian internationals included in the Waratahs' matchday 23, the others being Lalakai Foketi, Darby Lancaster, Rob Leota, Matt Philip and Tane Edmed. Veteran backrower Hugh Sinclair will captain the side from number eight in the last game of his pro career. Beirne follows his fellow Lansdowne player Dan Sheehan in leading the Lions. What's more, the Waratahs will also be captained by a former Lansdowne man, Sinclair having played for the club in the 2013/14 season to work out whether he would try play professionally when he returned to Australia. For sure then, this once-in-a-career opportunity could again see the Lions have to weather an early storm. 'A bit more continuity, a bit more putting things together,' said Andy Farrell in highlighting what he wanted from his team. 'There's a bit of a stop-start nature with our outcomes which is process-driven, 100 per cent. Just lacking a bit of staying in the moment as much as we possibly can. 'But having said that, I think it's getting better. There's always things to fix in every single game, but we've been pleased with some of our progression – our breakdown work was great the other night, our transition work, whether it be defence to attack, attack to defence, was pretty good as well. 'We want to keep improving our defence because that's the main thing you'd want to stand for. I know defence has been pretty good, but there's still room for improvement.' WARATAHS: Lawson Creighton; Andrew Kellaway, Lalakai Foketi, Joey Walton, Darby Lancaster; Jack Bowen, Teddy Wilson; Tom Lambert, Ethan Dobbins, Taniela Tupou; Fergus Lee-Warner, Miles Amatosero; Rob Leota, Charlie Gamble, Hugh Sinclair (capt). Replacements: Mahe Vailanu, Jack Barrett, Daniel Botha, Matt Philip, Jamie Adamson, Jack Grant, Tane Edmed, Henry O'Donnell. LIONS: Hugo Keenan (Ireland); Mack Hansen (Ireland), Huw Jones (Scotland), Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland), Blair Kinghorn (Scotland); Fin Smith (England), Alex Mitchell (England); Pierre Schoeman (Scotland), Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), Finlay Bealham (Ireland); Tadhg Beirne (Ireland, capt), James Ryan (Ireland); Henry Pollock (England), Josh van der Flier (Ireland), Ben Earl (England). Replacements: Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Ellis Genge (England), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Joe McCarthy (Ireland), Scott Cummings (Scotland), Jac Morgan (Wales), Ben White (Scotland), Marcus Smith (England). Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand). Forecast: Lions to eventually ease well clear again.
The Age
01-07-2025
- Sport
- The Age
The data that shows why run-and-gun Lions are now a different beast
It is almost double the per-game try average of the Premiership season 12 years ago, which ended just before the last Lions tour to Australia in 2013. The number of tries scored in Super Rugby has also doubled since 2013, but a wide per-game try gap that opened up between the hemispheres pre-COVID has since been narrowed. Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said last month he'd been stunned to see the level of attacking skill in the Premiership while coaching Leicester. 'The days of kick it and chase it and hope for good outcomes at the set-piece, from a northern hemisphere perspective, are very much in the past,' Fisher said. 'If you look at the quality of the [Lions] players, particularly the halfbacks and the 9 and 10, the width, the speed of pass, the vision, the appreciation of space, it's an exciting prospect for our [Queensland] boys.' The Lions were expansive in their loss to Argentina in Dublin, but didn't go away from it in Perth, as many thought they might. The Lions scored eight tries against the Force and did so mostly with superb transition attack, wide-running forwards and a whopping 23 offloads. Again, counter to stereotypes, the most lethal of the Lions in Perth was Scottish No.10 Finn Russell, who is widely regarded as one of the world's most dangerous attacking players. Russell has been paired with skilful Irish halfback Jamison Gibson-Park in the team to meet Queensland, and they're likely to be the Test halves. The attacking-minded duo of Mack Hansen and James Lowe will operate out wide. The Reds' last clash with the Lions in 2013 is remembered for Luke Morahan's incredible solo try but this tour the Queenslanders source of strength will be their forward pack, which contains a bevy of big men who have points to prove to Joe Schmidt, like Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Josh Canham, Seru Uru and Joe Brial, and Ryan Smith and Angus Blyth on the bench. With Matt Faessler, Aidan Ross and Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen also in the engine room, but some inexperienced halves, the Reds would much prefer close-quarter combat than touch footy. That could see the Reds being the ones to take pace out of the game, use contestable kicks, and play to the set-piece, particularly given the Force also troubled them at scrum time in Perth. If they're still in the game at the hour-mark, the pressure will then flip all onto the Lions. 'We are a team that showed over the course of the last 18 months in particular that our set-piece is strong, particularly with our scrum, our ball,' Fisher said.
Sydney Morning Herald
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
The data that shows why run-and-gun Lions are now a different beast
It is almost double the per-game try average of the Premiership season 12 years ago, which ended just before the last Lions tour to Australia in 2013. The number of tries scored in Super Rugby has also doubled since 2013, but a wide per-game try gap that opened up between the hemispheres pre-COVID has since been narrowed. Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said last month he'd been stunned to see the level of attacking skill in the Premiership while coaching Leicester. 'The days of kick it and chase it and hope for good outcomes at the set-piece, from a northern hemisphere perspective, are very much in the past,' Fisher said. 'If you look at the quality of the [Lions] players, particularly the halfbacks and the 9 and 10, the width, the speed of pass, the vision, the appreciation of space, it's an exciting prospect for our [Queensland] boys.' The Lions were expansive in their loss to Argentina in Dublin, but didn't go away from it in Perth, as many thought they might. The Lions scored eight tries against the Force and did so mostly with superb transition attack, wide-running forwards and a whopping 23 offloads. Again, counter to stereotypes, the most lethal of the Lions in Perth was Scottish No.10 Finn Russell, who is widely regarded as one of the world's most dangerous attacking players. Russell has been paired with skilful Irish halfback Jamison Gibson-Park in the team to meet Queensland, and they're likely to be the Test halves. The attacking-minded duo of Mack Hansen and James Lowe will operate out wide. The Reds' last clash with the Lions in 2013 is remembered for Luke Morahan's incredible solo try but this tour the Queenslanders source of strength will be their forward pack, which contains a bevy of big men who have points to prove to Joe Schmidt, like Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Josh Canham, Seru Uru and Joe Brial, and Ryan Smith and Angus Blyth on the bench. With Matt Faessler, Aidan Ross and Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen also in the engine room, but some inexperienced halves, the Reds would much prefer close-quarter combat than touch footy. That could see the Reds being the ones to take pace out of the game, use contestable kicks, and play to the set-piece, particularly given the Force also troubled them at scrum time in Perth. If they're still in the game at the hour-mark, the pressure will then flip all onto the Lions. 'We are a team that showed over the course of the last 18 months in particular that our set-piece is strong, particularly with our scrum, our ball,' Fisher said.
Irish Times
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Matt Williams: Lions can't afford to be infected by Irish rugby's sense of entitlement against resurgent Australia
Last weekend proved that 80 minutes of rugby can be a very long time in the professional game. After Leinster's stunning performance at Croke Park , they have gladly passed the chokers' T-shirt to the Bulls, who have now lost three United Rugby Championship finals in four years. At Twickenham, the Premiership final was as enjoyable as getting a tooth pulled, with the highlight being a legendary Michael Cheika sideline blow-up. In Super Rugby, the Brumbies were pumped out of the playoffs by the Chiefs, making it four seasons in a row that the Australian side have departed the Super Rugby competition at the semi-final stage. Leinster would have been glad to get the monkey off their back when it comes to finals. Inside the fortress of the GAA , normal service was finally restored. At long, long last, Leo Cullen's team won the trophy that had evaded them over so many close defeats. READ MORE All of which proves two things. Every team on the planet is only as good as their last game. And winners are grinners while losers can please themselves. In the binary, black-and-white world of knockout rugby, you are either a winner or a loser. Cheika worked wonders in getting Leicester to the English final in his first season. Over the past four years, the Brumbies have consistently performed at an outstanding level despite operating in a dysfunctional Australian rugby environment. In reaching three URC deciders in four years, the Bulls' performance must be described as exceptional. However, the reality is that on their biggest day of the rugby season, the Bulls, the Brumbies and Leicester have all come up short. That does not make them failures . More than any other club on the planet, Leinster understand that sentiment. Have Leinster answered their critics with this URC title win? Listen | 38:05 Across the last five years, Leinster's consistency across both the URC and the Champions Cup has been historic. Despite this, heart-breaking defeats in semi-finals and finals saw many calling for Cullen to be sacked. Sadly, many in the Leinster and wider Irish rugby community possess a deep sense of entitlement. They believed their team deserved to win because they had dominated the competition. This type of thinking denies the basic truth that victory in every match must be earned because, as we have already established, you are only as good as your last match. Leinster head coach Leo Cullen with Jordie Barrett after last Saturday's URC final victory against Bulls. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho The wisdom of the leadership that sits above the coach within Leinster could see that with their incredible consistency, season after season, they did not have a coaching problem. They understood that the club had a problem with players coping under the highest pressure imaginable. As the Lions are jetting off to Australia, Andy Farrell will face a similar problem to Cullen. Everyone in the northern hemisphere believes the Lions are entitled to dominate the series against the Wallabies. Wrongly, they remain fixated with the mess that was the Wallabies' 2023 World Cup campaign. This is understandable, as it remains a compelling case in how not to approach a World Cup. It contained a long, horrendous list of errors in selection and coaching appointments and culminated with the great Wallaby openside flanker, leader and talisman, Michael Hooper, not being selected in the World Cup squad. It remains the greatest selection blunder by the Wallabies in the professional era. [ Australia squad thin on playmakers may come back to bite Joe Schmidt Opens in new window ] It was the final act of two decades of mismanagement by Rugby Australia. The list of stupid decisions the Australian rugby community had to deal with across a 20-year period is hard to comprehend. But those in the north need to understand that there have been sweeping changes since. With former players Daniel Herbert as chairman and Phil Waugh as CEO, Australia have competent leaders with a high rugby intellect. For the first time in two decades, Australian rugby has changed for the better. While there remains a long and rocky path ahead, the game in Oz is moving forward. Resilience is a word that gets tossed about far too easily, but across the last 18 months, I have been astounded at the resilience within Australian professional rugby ranks. Joseph Sua'ali'i will be key to Australia's hopes against the Lions. Photograph:for Rugby Australia While it will take a decade for the full effect of the long-term planning to take effect, the elite end of the game is recovering far quicker than I considered possible. It is recovering to the extent that the Wallabies are capable of calling on a very strong 23 players. With Joe Schmidt in charge for the rest of the year and his successor, Les Kiss, already appointed – backed up with the technical excellence of Laurie Fisher – the Wallaby staff possess vast experience of rugby at a very high level. With the expected return of a number of Australian players from France and Japan, who were unavailable in recent seasons, and the stardust that Joseph Sua'ali'i will provide, the Wallabies will have vastly different personnel than the World Cup of two years ago. More importantly, the Lions will face a contest far more ferocious than many in the northern hemisphere are predicting. Any sense of entitlement from the Lions will be punished in a very public manner.
