Cheika left to ponder future with Lions

WHAT now for Leinster coach Michael Cheika?

With a new offer on the table, Leinster apparently want to retain his services but does he want to stay?

Minutes after Saturday’s loss, even the affable Aussie wasn’t certain.

Said Cheika: “I don’t know. The club wants me to stay on but from my point of view, I’m focused on this year. I’m not one of these career coaches, I’m not worried about where my next job is coming from, what the next thing is. I’m worried about making sure my players, who work very hard for me, get what they deserve. I’m worried about the team, that’s the important thing, making them play better.”

How does he do that, however? In a twist dripping with irony, Leinster now have a pack to compete with any but it’s their world-rated back-division that is now letting them down. Couldn’t it be said that Leinster are actually going backwards?

“The team is not going backwards,” he said defiantly. “You’ve got to look at developments in all areas; people could say we went backwards last year as well because we had a really good year the first year. It’s hard to react now and carry on with all that stuff. We’re very happy in our own camp, we’ve made a lot of headway and have good playing personnel. We didn’t perform well tonight, we’ve got to accept that. We’ve got to accept the criticism we’ll take, from ourselves more than from anyone else.”

There were excuses there if he wants them, ready-made — the loss of scrum-half Chris Whittaker to injury several games ago, the loss early in the first half on Saturday of powerful winger Shane Horgan with a rib injury, but Cheika didn’t bite.

“Chris is a big loss, obviously, you’ve seen the way we’ve tried to readjust our team (Leinster brought back the retired Guy Easterby for Saturday evening — played well). Losing Shane didn’t help but Luke (Fitzgerald, Horgan’s replacement) is a quality player. He needed to come and do a job and I have full confidence in him. This is a squad game, you can’t just base it around one player. You’ve got to be able to perform without that player, the same way you’ve got to perform without any other player.”

The problem for Leinster now is how to pick themselves up after this, how to motivate themselves for Magners League action with their big dream shattered for another season. That’s the challenge facing Michael Cheika particularly. Next up, a Magners League game against Ulster on December 26, a game for which no additional motivation should be required. But what of the remainder of the season, without interest in the Heineken Cup?

“If you are motivated only by a cup you are not a real footballer. We want to perform in all our games — league and cup. Obviously there is going to be a mental lull after today but you give them a couple of days to get on with the job. It’s a man’s sport, you can’t cry about it, you’ve got to get back in. We are top of the league, we’ve still got business to do, for our home supporters in particular. There is no way I will be coaching a team only motivated to play a certain amount of games.”