Michael Cheika is officially the new head coach of the NSW Waratahs. The Sydney franchise confirmed his appointment on Wednesday, twelve years after the Super Rugby title he won with them.
The 59-year-old Australian will take up the role in November. He has signed for the 2027 Super Rugby Pacific season, with an option for 2028.
“The club has always held a special place for me,” he said when the announcement was made.
It marks a return to union for a coach who had moved into rugby league: for the past year he had been an assistant at the Sydney Roosters in the NRL, alongside Trent Robinson. His last role in rugby union was at Leicester Tigers, whom he took to the Premiership final in 2024-2025 before returning to Australia.
Cheika coached the Waratahs from 2013 to 2015, winning the franchise’s first and only Super Rugby title in 2014, thanks to a late Bernard Foley penalty against the Crusaders. Foley himself is back at the club this season. Since Cheika left for the Wallabies, the Waratahs have reached only one semi-final and finished eighth out of eleven last season, with nine defeats in fourteen matches.
French fans knew him in a different role: Cheika was head coach of Stade Français from July 2010 to June 2012. His record also includes the Celtic League title with Leinster in 2008 and the Heineken Cup in 2009.
Before taking up the role, Cheika still has to lead Lebanon at the Rugby League World Cup and finish the NRL season with the Roosters.
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