Cheika bullish for Lions visit

Head coach Michael Cheika welcomed back two key players as the Waratahs bid to beat the British & Irish Lions on Saturday, promising that “anything in red that moves, we’ll have a crack at”.

The former Leinster 2009 Heineken Cup-winning coach is missing 10 players for the clash at Allianz Stadium, formerly known as the Sydney Football Stadium, but received a boost when the Australian Rugby Union released Bernard Foley and Matt Lucas to face the Lions. Both fly-half Foley and scrum-half Lucas were in camp with the Australian Men’s Sevens team ahead of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow later this month and Cheika was delighted to have his half-backs in place for this keenly-awaited clash.

“Obviously I’d like to have our international players back but in fairness the CEO of the ARU has stepped in and let us have Foley and Lucas back from the Sevens camp, so they’ll be joining the team on Friday and available for selection,” Cheika said.

“That’s fair play to him, Bill Pulver, because he made the call and got us those players back, Foley in particular, who’s central as our playmaker. That’s good that we have that bit of extra zip and he’s bit of X factor as well. It’s unfortunate for Ben [Volavola, the back-up fly-half] because he’s a good young player and he’d love the opportunity but he’ll get some time to show his wares.”

Cheika promised his players would leave nothing behind in their attempt to sow a seed of doubt in the Lions’ minds a week out from the opening Test against Australia on June 22.

“We’re going to have a strategy to go out there and play the game a certain way. Queensland went out there with their strategy and I don’t think we can play like that, so we’re going to have a different strategy to play our game.

“We certainly won’t be going out there to look for a glorious defeat. We’ll be doing our best and like I said to the lads, if there’s a 1% chance of us winning the game, we’ve got to take that 1% and do what we can with it.”

Cheika is relishing the opportunity to unsettle his former Leinster charges, although with Warren Gatland naming his Lions team overnight, the Waratahs head coach was not expecting too many of them to double up from last Tuesday, when Brian O’Driscoll, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip faced the Combined Country in Newcastle.That would leave Rob Kearney and Jonny Sexton and Cheika said: “I’m a bit disappointed they all played on Tuesday because I would have liked to get a shot on a few of them.

“Not me personally but I have a few players in the team who could. Those lads would know that’s the way and that’s what I would have liked them to do when I was coaching them.

“That would have been a great opportunity for us to clash. It would have felt a bit weird for me but there’s still a chance some of them might play.

“We’re playing against a team with massive artillery so if we start looking down the barrel of one or two players it’s only going to lead to disappointment. So I’d say, just anything in red that moves, we’ll have a crack at.”

That Cheika handed provincial debuts to all but O’Driscoll among Leinster’s Lions contingent, as well as the recently injured Cian Healy is a point of pride for the Waratahs head coach and their development into Lions& serves as a model for what he is trying to achieve at the helm of this sleeping giant of a Super XV franchise.

“I was involved, not responsible, in the development of these players and having faith in the system. And that experience in Leinster is really helping me in what we’re doing here in New South Wales.

“I learned a lot from that experience in how to bring a team round and implement a winning attitude and maybe bring back some old-school values in rugby that in the sanitary professionalism world have sometimes got lost.

“I think at Leinster they’ve got a perfect balance of that. You’ve only got to look at the way O’Driscoll’s been playing on this tour to see what type of team they are because they’re the leaders. He’s still at his best and he’s what, 50 now? Is he 51 or 52? He’s still as strong as an ox, he’s been brilliant.”

Cheika also backed fly-half Sexton to produce his best rugby on this 2013 Lions tour, adding: “He’s going very well, just the confidence in the player and the way he’s setting up the play and carrying the ball in both hands and keeping the opposition on the back foot. I just think he’s really matured into an excellent footballer. He deserves it because he’s a competitive bugger and he wants to fight his way to the top, even when he’s at the top. I think you’ll see the best come out of him on this tour.”