Michael Cheika is an Australian rugby coach and former player. He won the Heineken Cup with Leinster in 2009 and the Super Rugby competition with the New South Wales Waratahs in 2014. Cheika was the coach of the Australian national team from 2014 to 2019. In 2015, he received the World Rugby Coach of the Year award.
About Michael Cheika in brief
Michael Cheika is an Australian rugby coach and former player. He won the Heineken Cup with Leinster in 2009 and the Super Rugby competition with the New South Wales Waratahs in 2014. Cheika was the coach of the Australian national team from 2014 to 2019. In 2015, he received the World Rugby Coach of the Year award. He is the only coach to have won the major rugby club competition in each hemisphere. During his career, he was also head coach at Padova, Randwick and Stade Français. He was a No. 8 who played for Australia at under 21 level. He played more than 300 games for Randwick, winning the Shute Shield seven times during a period when the Galloping Greens dominated Sydney rugby. As a player, Cheika made a mid-career move to Europe in 1989 where he had two seasons in the South of France with Castres Olympique in Division 1, and a season for Paris team Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux in Division 2. He then joined Italian side Rugby Livorno alongside Randwick teammate David Knox from 1992 to 1994. Returning to Australia, he captained Randwick from 1997 and 1999, and represented New Australian Wales on their spring tour of the UK in 1997. He left his post at the end of that season to become head coach for French Top 14 side Stade Francais in 2010. However he was sacked during the 2010–11 Top 14 Rugby season, culminating in him being sacked from the Paris-based club after only 10 wins in the European Challenge Cup.
He has also been the Director of Rugby of French club Off-field Rugby between 2010 and 2012. He also has a role as a director of rugby at French club Stade de la Miserables in the summer of 2013. He currently lives in Sydney with his wife and two children. He lives in a suburb of Sydney called Waverly, where he works as a coach for the Sydney-based rugby club Randwick. In 2005 he replaced Declan Kidney as head coach of Leinsters. He brought assistant David Knox, his former teammate, with him to Ireland. In his first season in charge, Cheikas’ first trophy was the Celtic League trophy with a bonus point 41–8 victory against the Newport Gwent Dragons. The team secured a 19–16 victory over the Tigers, to clinch their first ever European title. In the 2009–10 Celtic League, he led Leinster to top of the table in the revamped 2009-10 European League, with 13 victories from 18 starts. He led the team to the 2009 Heinekens Cup Final, guiding them to victory over London Wasps, Edinburgh and Castres. In 2011, he guided LeinSTER to the European Champions Cup final, beating Toulouse 26–16 at the RDS at Auvergne 29–28 at theend of the season. In 2012, he took over from Kurt McQuilkin as the head coach and forwards coach at the Irish club.
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