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Cheika trail at Montpellier going cold as surprise new favourite emerges to succeed Vern Cotter

Michael Cheika and Vern Cotter

After the curtain fell on Australia’s recent World Cup campaign in Japan, Michael Cheika was as good as his word in stepping away from his job in charge of the Wallabies after failing to build on 2015’s final appearance. 

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His departure on the back of a quarter-final defeat to England opened the door for Dave Rennie’s appointment as his successor and it was widely speculated at the time that Cheika would soon resurface in France as Montpellier’s new director of rugby. 

However, that trail has now apparently gone cold if reports coming out of France are to be believed. 

Instead of the Australian being lined up to succeed Kiwi Vern Cotter, who is stepping away from the director of rugby role in 2020, a surprise French local has now emerged as the front-runner for the post.     

Philippe Saint-Andre hasn’t worked in a dressing room since France’s 2015 World Cup came to a juddering halt with a humiliating defeat by the All Blacks in the quarter-finals in Cardiff. But he is now said to be leading the charge to become Mohed Altrad’s new man.

(Continue reading below…) 

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The Montpellier owner had approached Cheika at the end of October but it appears that these negotiations were nowhere near fruitful. 

In the meantime, France Television, in a story picked up by Midi Olympique, have now placed Saint-Andre at the head of the queue. 

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“Free of any contract since the end of the 2015 World Cup, Saint-Andre is indeed part of a short-list of personalities established by Mohed Altrad in order to offer the MHR a new director of rugby,” it reported. 

“And it is even rumoured that the strong man of the club absolutely wants to convince PSA.”

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AM 4 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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