Ex-Wallabies coach Cheika to coach Lebanon Cedars at RLWC

19/11/2020

(See Translation in Arabic section)

Sydney: FORMER Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is to coach the Lebanon Cedars rugby league side.

Cheika, whose parents are from Lebanon, will coach the Cedars in next year's Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) in England after a coaching role in 2020 at the Sydney Roosters.

He is the youngest of three children and grew up in Coogee, NSW.

"It's an unbelievable opportunity for me to do something that represents the land where my parents came from," he said.

Cheika said he had tears of joy watching Lebanon make the quarter-finals in the 2017 RLWC  tournament.

"That tournament was a chance to show a little bit of the Lebanese culture not to just Australians but for everyone who was watching on TV," he said.

"There is something about being Lebanese, you can never put your finger on it. I'm born here but when I went there as an adult the first time we landed in Beirut, I really felt a strong connection to the place."