Hearts, minds, and results on Michael Cheika’s radar

Michael Cheika saunters into the high school hall at Kelvin State College in the Brisbane suburbs looking wonderfully relaxed in a Wallabies polo shirt and jeans.

He greets the travelling Irish media warmly as he reconnects with familiar faces from his Leinster days at the turn of the decade, shoots the breeze with their Aussie counterparts, and then strolls down the aisle through the crowds of waiting teenagers to take his place on the stage with a collection of his players.

These sorts of gigs are part and parcel of a prominent coach’s job — Ireland boss Joe Schmidt makes appearances at several such Irish establishments throughout the year — but this is a potentially tough crowd, a school hall full of students whose first sporting love is rugby league in a city that adores its NRL heroes the Broncos.