Three positions in common and he speaks FIVE languages: the STORY of the Australian coach of Los Pumas

Born in Sydney but of Lebanese descent, he is Mario Ledesma’s field assistant and will be head coach of the Argentine National Team at the World Cup in France.

The Pumas will have their premiere on Rugby World Cup 2023 this Saturday at 4:00 pm when facing England for the first date of Group Cwhich also includes Chile, Samoa and Japan. The technical director of Argentina National Teamunlike previous years, is foreign: Australian Michael Cheikawho knows how to be a field assistant during the cycle of Mario Ledesmahave two other similar jobs related to sports and he speaks five languages.

Born in Sydney, Australiabut in origin Lebanese of his family, he had a career as a player with steps Randwick DRUFC, Castres Olympique, Stade Français Paris, Rugby Livorno 1931 and returned to his first club until his retirement in 1999. In the same year he began his time as a coach. I’m going through Petrarca Rugby, Randwick DRUFC, Leinster Rugby, Stade Français Paris and NSW Waratahs until In 2014 he became the coach of Australia.

With Cheika, The Wallabies were Super Rugby champions in 2015 and a few months later they achieved a great performance at the 2015 World Cup in England.where he reached the final, lost to the All Blackss, although that didn’t stop him from being awarded as the best coach in the world. Four years later, in Japan 2019left in the quarterfinals after falling with England and his way of dealing with defeats got him fired. “He can sit on the couch, saying nothing for a day or two. And then it’s gone. I don’t think he’ll ever get over the anger of losing”commented Stephanie, his wife. “Sore loser? Sure. Who likes to lose? Did I cross it once? Yes, sure. There’s no way I can say I didn’t cross the line. Bad intentions? Yes, Maybe. But many, many times I didn’t cross the line line or I remained silent,” he assured after a moment.

His arrival in Argentina: three jobs in parallel

After his departure from the Wallabies, Michael Cheka took over as sports director of NEC Green Rockets, from Japanwhile At the same time, he understood his roots and began working as a coach for Lebanon in the Rugby League.. When Mario Ledesma He became the technical director of Argentina National Teambrought the Australian as a field assistant. However, in 2022 The exlar left his post and they suggested it to Cheikafinally He committed to being the head coach of Los Pumas. Anyway, Michael Cheika with Mario Ledesma. In addition, the coach of the national team He is polyglot: he speaks English, Arabic, French, Italian and is increasingly learning to speak Spanish, although it is still handled by a translator.

“Coaching a team in the country where my mother and father were born is something I never thought I would have the opportunity to do. I want to make sure I do everything I can to make people proud of what’s happening on the field. My father left Lebanon to start a different and better life for himself and for us, and that was a big risk. I learned those lessons from my father: don’t be afraid to take risks. Go on the attack. “Not staying on the defensive,” he said in an interview with Australia Today.

Bastard and little friend of journalism, he always says that “I have no obligation to show who I really am. Maybe I don’t want to show people who I am.” Now he has a chance to make history at Los Pumas. “The low expectations are from others, not from ourselves. When you play for your national team, you have to raise the level, you have to play above your possibilities. Argentina is a great team. It’s an opportunity for us to come together to try to win a World Cup and that’s the piece we’re missing at the moment. So I’m going to look at the opportunity that I have now and I’m going to try to grab it with both hands,” he says. “I have a chance and I will make a difference in Argentina and I will do everything I can with them to achieve the goals we have together. Then we’ll see what happens from there. When I coached the Wallabies and we played against Argentina, there was respect. I know they are good, that they play well. The problem is that they have to believe it, they have to believe that they are good,” he concluded.