Leicester show fighting ‘mentality’ – but questions over Cheika’s future persist ...Middle East

TWICKENHAM — Michael Cheika is talking a turnaround at Leicester Tigers, but the question is for how long the highly-regarded head coach will be around to pursue it.

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.

The Australian was referring to the very short-term context of the miserable home thrashing by Bristol Bears the previous week, as he praised Leicester’s “mentality” to stay in the fight.

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“That mentality is the first part about starting to build again,” Cheika said.

“It’s all part of the journey towards the end of the season.”

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?

The maxim for now could be to make the most of Cheika’s influence while it lasts.

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.

There has never been anything cloak-and-dagger about Cheika’s position.

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.

But the deal was announced as a duration of just one year with an option to extend, and Tigers fans are well aware Cheika’s family are in Australia and he has warned them it will take a change in circumstances for him to stay beyond this season.

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.

The contrast would be Boyd’s four years in the East Midlands compared with what might be just 12 months for Cheika.

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.

It may yet pan out very differently but it sounds potentially perturbing to those supporters who travelled in enough numbers to Twickenham to make themselves heard when tries by Ollie Hassell-Collins, Solomone Kata and Freddie Steward kept it nip and tuck throughout.

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.

He bemoaned many a missed chance to score from close range, saying: “I feel like we just got through that game on fight” – which is either great news or a worrying concession, depending on how you view Leicester’s current standing.

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As an illustration, look no further than Leicester needing three cracks at nabbing the try topped off by Pollard’s predictably excellent conversion.

A free-kick for an early engagement by Cole, who sarcastically applauded the referee Matthew Carley as he walked away, and a maul held at bay looked to have spared Quins.

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).

Cheika was not happy with Carley’s rulings on a penalty against Pollard for an early tackle on Oscar Beard, and a restart by Marcus Smith that did not travel 10 metres.

But there were no major excuses made, either.

The double World Cup winner Pollard, by the way, is widely expected to knock his Leicester stint on the head next summer, whatever happens with Cheika.

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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