Cheika vows to treat Lebanon’s meeting with France at World Cup as a final
Michael Cheika, the 59-year-old Australian coaching Lebanon at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for a second time, said he will treat his side’s meeting with France on Sunday (06:50 GMT) as if it were another final despite Lebanon already being eliminated from the knockout stages.
Cheika, whose Lebanon side reached the quarter-finals four years ago under his guidance, has a broad coaching résumé that includes World Cup, Heineken Cup and Super Rugby finals and a Heineken Cup win with Leinster in 2009; his current Lebanon team did not have a fixture between this World Cup and the last. The Cedars lost their opening two games to Papua New Guinea and Tonga in this abridged tournament, ending any hope of reaching the knockout rounds.
On the upcoming game, Cheika said: "We've got the one game here against France on Sunday and it's really our Grand Final," adding: "I know it'll be for France as well, knowing some players inside of their team. "I suppose it's not the climax of the tournament, but definitely for us this is a finals fixture and we're approaching it that way."
Cheika described the match as personally significant because of his Lebanese heritage and the rarity of Lebanon appearing on the global stage, saying: "The people in Lebanon are watching. I know my own relatives, they're watching and how often do they get to support their national teams on the world stage? How often do you get to support the flag? "Compare it to Aussies, we're getting to support a national team every five minutes, right? "For the Lebanese, it's not that simple and I just think the ability to let people see that their team is playing on the world stage is a buzz."
He outlined the personal link to the country through his family, recalling his parents' migration and the role rugby league played in community integration: "It's a game that somehow has built a connection with the country from a distance," he said, and recounted how his father was "dropped him in Redfern which is where the local Lebanese church is. Across the road from there is the Redfern Oval where South Sydney played. To integrate into the local community, to become Aussies, he thought let's go to the footy. Never seen it before, but started going over."
Cheika acknowledged the practical challenges of switching between rugby union and rugby league, likening it to language differences and stressing shared player values: "You find out there's different grammar, different sentence construction. There's different emphasis on words or different accents, but at the end of the day, the values of what the player needs to have, those things are the same. "Courage, aggression, commitment, the trust in your team-mates, all those types of things are the same." His most recent 15-a-side role was with Leicester Tigers for the 2024-25 season and he is due to return to the Waratahs for next year's Super Rugby campaign, having previously won a title there in 2014.
On his future involvement in rugby league, Cheika did not rule out more coaching across both codes, saying: "It's been unreal, I've got to admit. Last year, I think, was my 27th year coaching and it was something so fresh. "I feel like I'll cross back and forth a few more times yet, hopefully, before no one wants to know about me any longer." Lebanon will meet France on Sunday (06:50 GMT) in what Cheika insists will be approached as a finals-level fixture.