{"id":869047,"date":"2026-08-26T12:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/869047\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T12:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:46:09","slug":"les-kiss-on-how-michael-cheikas-waratahs-return-could-aid-the-wallabies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/869047\/","title":{"rendered":"Les Kiss on how Michael Cheika’s Waratahs return could aid the Wallabies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies boss Les Kiss believes Michael Cheika will make a \u201cpositive impact\u201d at the Waratahs<\/a> after he was appointed as the Sydney-based outfit\u2019s head coach last week.<\/p>\n

Cheika returns to the Waratahs after recently serving as a rugby league assistant coach with NRL outfit Sydney Roosters.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, the 59-year-old\u2019s last rugby union job was with Leicester Tigers, whom he guided to the 2024\/25 PREM Rugby final, where they suffered a narrow defeat to Bath.<\/p>\n

He takes over the Waratahs<\/a>\u2018 coaching reins from Dan McKellar, who resigned from his position at the end of this year\u2019s Super Rugby Pacific season following two unsuccessful Super Rugby Pacific campaigns.<\/p>\n

No stranger to the Waratahs job<\/p>\n

Cheika<\/a>\u2018s appointment has been welcomed by Waratahs fans, as this will be his second stint in charge of the team after he previously led the side to the 2014 Super Rugby title while coaching them from 2013 to 2015.<\/p>\n

Kiss<\/a>, who recently started his tenure as Australia\u2019s new head coach with back-to-back victories over Japan, was asked about Cheika\u2019s appointment and said he feels he could be a perfect asset for the Wallabies in a World Cup year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been good mates and he\u2019s a bloody good coach. I have no doubt that he\u2019s going to have a positive impact, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll put a team around him that he\u2019ll help grow as well, and they\u2019ll be good for that decision.<\/p>\n

Comment: Who\u2019s laughing now as All Blacks\u2019 brilliant win over Springboks a victory for everyone involved in Super Rugby<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ll tap into some of his experiences\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working with him. He knows what that jersey means to this country. He\u2019s had that experience; he\u2019s headed up that role just like I am now, so I\u2019ll tap into some of his experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, despite being a stalwart for the Reds, who are the Waratahs\u2019 arch-rivals, Wallabies utility forward Salakaia-Loto believes the Sydneysiders\u2019 future is bright under their new head coach.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerfect person for that job. I think whoever got that over the line has done a good job,\u201d said the 29-year-old, who made his Wallabies debut under Cheika in 2017, when asked about the appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s anyone that\u2019s going to get those boys out of the place that they are and into a better spot, it\u2019s \u2018Cheik.\u2019 He gave me my first opportunity back in 2017 and he backed me way back then, which seems like a long time now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be a lot of Moore Park Hill and Coogee stairs [running], but he\u2019s a great connection guy, someone who allows boys to be themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was involved with him, he\u2019s always had a chip on his shoulder, so I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be wanting to get the Tahs back to where he believes that they should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019ll be awesome to catch up with him and see him when we\u2019re playing against the Tahs next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Michael Cheika\u2019s Australian Rugby return confirmed: \u2018Always occupied a special place for me\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies boss Les Kiss believes Michael Cheika will make a \u201cpositive impact\u201d at the Waratahs after he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,1182,92253,55831,44,760,85,33009],"class_list":["post-869047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-les-kiss","tag-michael-cheika","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-waratahs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}