By Charles Richardson
Michael Cheika felt as though he was “not really wanted” in the English Premiership after being found guilty of disrespecting the independent match-day doctor in his team’s opening round win.
The Leicester coach received a two-match ban, with one suspended, and missed his side’s victory at Newcastle last Saturday. Speaking for the first time since the verdict, the former Wallabies coach revealed he had watched the Tigers’ victory with his wife in Paris after an independent panel’s verdict which he said was “not right” and had “hurt his reputation”.
Leicester Tigers fans wear face masks of Michael Cheika at the match in Newcastle that the coach was banned from attending.Credit: Getty Images
“I didn’t want to participate [initially], because I knew what the outcome was going to be,” Cheika said. “I did participate and thereby you have to adhere to the decision that was made. I felt the decision wasn’t right and it hurts my reputation, with things that are said even though there were three people who backed up the scenario I provided.
“I was disappointed and I almost felt like – it might sound like I’m spitting the dummy here – that they don’t really want me to be in the league here. I participated in the process, we didn’t appeal the process because once you have participated the decision is made and that is all there is to it. So be it.
“But I felt like I’d generally done nothing wrong. I’m an honest person. If I do something wrong then, OK, I’ll take the consequences. Like I said, once I participated in the process you have got to accept the decisions, which I have done. I’ve served my suspension there. It’s done and dusted there as far as I’m concerned. I don’t want to have any effects on the team whatsoever.
“I want to stand up for myself but I don’t want to disrespect the process in any way, shape or form. Mainly because I don’t want to risk getting in trouble again. That’s important – not for me, I don’t care – but I don’t want to give the team any grief. That’s the last thing we need. As long as I’m doing the right things according to me and the club, that’s important.”
Michael Cheika at the match against ExeterCredit: Getty Images
Cheika also addressed the independent match-day doctor’s claim, as detailed in the hearing’s written verdict, that the head coach did not care enough for the wellbeing of his players. Neither Ollie Chessum nor Solomone Kata should have been on the field after their second-half head collision; Chessum returned to play a role in Leicester’s match-winning try while Kata was red-carded moments later for a high tackle on Jack Yeandle.
“Tommy Whiteley got a knock at training which we could easily have not reported if we didn’t want to,” Cheika added. “But we took it really seriously and that’s how we look after our players here. There’s been an inference that we didn’t care about Ollie Chessum’s wellbeing. That’s the first thing I care about.
“Two players went back out and these are decisions I am not making, two players went back out on the field, when they weren’t supposed to. One of them got red-carded which cost us five weeks for that player. That is a financial burden to the owners, a performance burden to the club, but I was the person being made accountable at the end of it. Once you participate in the process then you have to abide by the rules of the game, I suppose.”
In the written verdict of Cheika’s hearing, the panel highlighted that the independent match-day doctor assumed that Leicester’s team doctor was “relatively junior and had worked in women’s rugby”, which does not employ the same protocols as the Premiership. The independent match-day doctor added that he should have recognised that the Tigers’ team medic was a “less experienced … junior doctor” but these observations were rejected by Cheika.
“It was implied that our doctor was junior,” Cheika said. “They mentioned that she’d only officiated as the doctor at a couple of women’s games, which is absolutely not correct. She’s been doing senior men’s games since Covid. We just wanted to give her the support that she needed because she does a good job for us.
“It’s important to maintain the credibility of our doctor.”
London Telegraph
