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The 'no idea' Michael Cheika reaction when asked about his future
Michael Cheika has claimed he has no idea if he will be coaching Argentina in 2024 after their Rugby World Cup campaign ended with a disappointing 23-26 bronze final defeat to England in Paris.
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It was July 2022 when the Australian, who guided the Wallabies to the 2015 final in London, first took charge of a Los Pumas Test match but he gave no definite indication that he will still be in charge when the South Americans reassemble again next year.
“I have no idea,” he said post-game on Friday night at Stade de France when asked if he was continuing on as the Pumas head coach.
“I haven’t even thought about it. I’ll go to Argentina later in the year and we will have a talk about how things went and what the future holds.
“But it’s not really what I’m thinking about. I’m totally disappointed for everyone, for our crowd, for our people as I think we deserved to win tonight and for one reason or another we didn’t.”
Skipper Julian Montoya added: “We don’t know if it is his last game so I am not going to speak about that. He has never said it was his last game so nothing I can say about that.”
Switching to the manner of their three-point defeat, which was a big improvement on the 10-27 loss that Argentina suffered seven weeks ago to 14-man England in Marseille, Cheika reckoned: “It was fine margins. Three points.
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“We had a charge down. We hung in there really well, I thought we fought back well. We didn’t get the rub of the green on many things but we still stayed in the game. It’s just the way it’s meant to be.
“It’s been alright,” he added, reflecting on Argentina’s fourth-place finish. “We have had a good campaign but the players deserved better tonight. I am disappointed with the way the whole game was run. The way the game was refereed and the consistency.
“Our players have worked for two years to try and get something here. I know we are one of the lower nations. We are not England, New Zealand, South Africa or any of those guys but at the end of the day, it’s hard. I feel for the lads as they deserved more than what they got out of today.”
The Montoya verdict on his team’s effort was: “We want to inspire a new generation in our country and we wanted to get the win. We made some mistakes, some things we could not control.
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“We need to be better at controlling things. We scored a try but then we conceded points straight after their kick-off. We fought for every ball so I am proud of the team.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Just came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
4 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
4 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
4 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
4 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to comments