Taking ownership is where it’s at, says Tahs’ Cheika
SYDNEY: The Waratahs’ twoseason transformation from Super Rugby lightweights to Australia’s major force has been driven by a playing group embracing “ownership” of the club and its culture, coach Michael Cheika has said.
The Waratahs will host the Crusaders, of Canterbury, New Zealand, in the Super Rugby title decider on Saturday, aiming to win their maiden trophy in their first final on home soil.
The most consistent and entertaining team in the competition this season, the Waratahs have come a long way since 2012, when they managed just four wins and were jeered off the ground by their supporters.
Cheika, who took over in the wake of that dismal season, doubled the Waratahs’ wins in his first year in charge and has been credited with turning a demoralised squad into an industrious and joyfilled team.
The 47-year-old, who guided Irish team Leinster to their first Heineken Cup trophy in 2008/09, was reluctant to take credit for the team’s transformation but said his players had absorbed one lesson from his staff – the need to take responsibility for the club’s fortunes and failures.
“I don’t know if I turned the morale around,” Cheika said. “I think what we just did, we got in there and said, ‘Let’s take a bit of ownership as to what’s happening. Everything goes a bit better if someone owns it… Let’s take some sacrifices and take ownership.’
“Because it’s not like a privately owned team. There’s no owner standing there saying ‘come on, you’ve got to do this and that’, or whatever.
“We as players and coaches have got to take ownership and take it personally and live it. I think that’s what we’ve tried to do.
“If you do that, you get more involved and it becomes more a part of you, so you feel everything a little bit more and you get more attached and therefore you give more effort, and it’s a bit of a circle in that way.”
Although they reached the 2005 and 2008 finals, both times beaten away by the Crusaders, the Waratahs did appear to suffer a “tragedy of the commons” in the final years of coach Michael Foley, with a talent-laden squad seemingly unable to translate abundant resources into on-field success.
Slammed by local media for playing an unappetising brand of rugby, Sydney fans stopped turning up for games amid reports of dire financial trouble at the club.
Saturday’s clash may surpass an Australian record for a Super Rugby match. The fans returned in droves this year as the Waratahs, powered by a sometimes breathtaking running game, stormed to the top of the standings.
Like fullback Israel Folau and his Wallaby teammate Kurtley Beale, who are hot properties in world rugby and being wooed by Australia’s National Rugby League competition, Cheika’s future at the Waratahs is also a matter of speculation.
Reports have linked the former Randwick No 8 with a role at French giants Toulon, although he has laughed them off.
Winning the title for longsuffering New South Wales fans might be the perfect sendoff, but Cheika said his vision for the Waratahs extended far beyond Saturday’s final siren.
“What’s important is that we’re leaving something for the next season’s team, something around our behaviour, our culture… our play, our identity… Last year’s team worked hard on leaving something good for this year’s team to build on.
“It’s about not just working for the short term.
“A lot of guys come into the game wanting a professional contact (anywhere) but we want guys coming through wanting to play for the Waratahs.“
Cheika has named an unchanged starting side for the final.