Change of heart earns Kane Douglas star billing

Very few people say no to Michael Cheika, but Kane Douglas did.

Almost as soon as the ink was dry on a three-year contract with Leinster in the summer of 2014, the lock got a call from a familiar number.

Cheika, formerly his head coach at the Waratahs, had just been appointed Wallabies boss. Would Douglas give up on his Irish challenge for a shot at the World Cup? No, said the 26-year-old. He kept on saying it, every time Cheika called him — and there were so many calls that the head coach thought he was going to get a police banning order.