Rugby: Former Wallabies mentor Michael Cheika joins Pumas coaching staff for the Rugby Championship

Argentina has hired former Wallabies coach and World Cup finalist Michael Cheika as an assistant before the Rugby Championship.

Cheika will work with Mario Ledesma helping with logistics and tactical advice. Ledesma once served under Cheika as an assistant in Australia.

It will be his first role in rugby since the 2019 Rugby World Cup, having served as a consultant at the NRL Sydney Roosters club earlier this year.

Ledesma said AAP He proposed the plan to Cheika earlier in the year and it was received with immediate interest.

“We agreed from the first moment … he always liked Argentine rugby a lot,” he says.

“It is an excellent opportunity to continue learning everything because he is a person who thinks a lot about things outside the box, who has an innovative and super creative vision, different from many coaches I have come across.”

Create an intriguing subplot for the upcoming Rugby Championship, as Cheika will no doubt be motivated to get a win over her old team and successor Dave Rennie.

His last game in charge of green and gold came in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, where Australia was eliminated at the hands of England.

Rennie’s first outing as coach of the Australian team comes in the form of two Bledisloe Cup events in New Zealand ahead of the renewed tournament, which kicks off on 7 November in Brisbane.

Australia and Argentina will meet in the third and fourth rounds.

Sanzaar is confident that the tournament will go ahead as scheduled, despite New Zealand Rugby’s dismay over the schedule that will result in players having to self-isolate themselves over Christmas, under current quarantine rules.