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Australian coach Michael Cheika has stated he will walk away from Australia’s top coaching job if the team doesn’t bring home the Rugby World Cup in 2019.
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“The way I see it is like this: we came second in the last one and you have got to improve,” Cheika told News Corp Australia on Wednesday.
“So there is only winning the World Cup, otherwise it is probably somebody else’s opportunity to do it.”
The 2015 runners-up will face Wales, Georgia, Fiji and Uruguay in a Pool D pundits have called a dream draw.
“What I would like to do in the interim is leave enough legacy in there so that that person has the best possible chance to do it as well,”
Cheika’s contract runs until the end of 2019 and the possibility remains he will retire on top should they win the Cup anyway.
“People love to hedge their bets because they want their next contract,” he said, adding that his motivation was to leave the Wallabies on a high.
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“So, in a World Cup, that’s a good chance to leave and to leave behind the legacy that you’ve built in the interim. That’s the target. You have to do better. And doing better is coming first,”
Cheika is also getting on well with new Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle, who has ‘energised’ him.
“It’s very comfortable. She feels comfortable enough to include me in a lot of stuff, and I feel very comfortable in asking her what we need to do, in a different direction. And including her in a lot of our stuff, too,” Cheika told News Corp.
“I don’t know how long it has been now, but I have been energised by her arrival.”
