Cheika hailed Saturday’s 34-all draw with Harlequins at Twickenham as a result snatched from the jaws of defeat, given the circumstances of Leicester’s last-minute try by Dan Cole brilliantly converted by Handre Pollard.
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Read More“That mentality is the first part about starting to build again,” Cheika said.
But what about the journey extending beyond next June, which might be the anxious cry from Tigers fans hoping for Cheika to be the answer to the search for an even keel after the up-and-down lurches of recent seasons?
He arrived at Welford Road in the summer, as the latest surprise development at the 11-time title winners who had gone from a very close brush with relegation in 2020 to surprise champions under Steve Borthwick two years later to a disappointing eighth place last season that helped shove Dan McKellar out of the door.
Leicester chief executive Andrea Pinchen did say she was planning or at least hoping for an end to the churn in the coaching positions before Cheika came in as McKellar’s successor.
If Cheika does depart, some fans might think the best-case scenario would be a distance consultancy of the kind Chris Boyd, the New Zealander, had with Northampton when he left the Saints in 2022.
Freddie Steward and Marcus Smith battle for the ball in the in-goal area (Photo: Getty)So the turnaround could be of limited scope for a coach whose globe-trotting CV includes one of the great revival jobs at Leinster in the mid-2000s.
Cheika wanted his team to have been “a little bit more ruthless”, but at the same time he was glad to take three points from an away match in a Premiership programme already shown to be wildly unpredictable.
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Read MoreAs an illustration, look no further than Leicester needing three cracks at nabbing the try topped off by Pollard’s predictably excellent conversion.
But one last attack ended with Cole forcing the ball to the line, and Pollard’s kick secured an amazing third draw in the three editions of this Big Game fixture when Leicester have been the visitors to Twickenham (the others were 26-26 in 2008 and 30-30 in 2019).
But there were no major excuses made, either.
All Tigers can do for now is attempt to carry their momentum into next week, at the start of the second half of what may or not prove to be Cheika’s solitary campaign at Welford Road.
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