Announcement imminent of Michael Cheika's rugby union return

Former Wallabies boss Michael Cheika is set for a sensational return to the NSW Waratahs after calling time on his bid to become an NRL head coach.

Cheika has spent this season working as an assistant coach at the Sydney Roosters on a one-year deal, after returning to Australia following a spell in the Gallagher Prem with Leicester Tigers.

It is 11 years since Cheika, 59, left the Waratahs, whom he led to a Super Rugby title in 2014, to become the full-time Wallabies coach after having done both jobs for 12 months. Since then, they have reached only one semi-final.

They finished eighth out of 11 teams last season, losing nine of their 14 games, which ultimately cost Dan McKellar, whom he also replaced at Welford Road, his job in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The Waratahs have been busy putting the band back together this summer, with veterans Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps, his half-back combination in the 2014 title-winning side, rejoining the club from Japan, where they played for Kubota Spears and the Green Rockets.

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They turned to Cheika, whose first spell at the club lasted from 2012 to 2015, after receiving a series of rejections from candidates they had immediately identified.

Former Ireland and Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt was a target, but he has been confirmed as a coach development adviser at Ulster, while Scott Robertson and Scott Wisemantel, Eddie Jones’s long-time sidekick, now at the Parramatta Eels, are also believed to have said no.

The move will also end speculation linking Cheika with every NRL head coach vacancy that came up, but he will take charge of Lebanon at the Rugby League World Cup before linking up with the Waratahs, a move that could be confirmed tomorrow.

Cheika is understood to be set to sign a one-year deal with the option in his favour of a second year, which means, in reality, he could take another job after the 2027 Super Rugby Pacific season.

Former Wallabies stars Stephen Hoiles and Wycliff Palu, who are coaching in the United States and Japan, are widely expected to join him on his coaching staff.