Double jobbing Cheika asked if he gets confused between codes

Michael Cheika has promised a seamless transition as he juggles league and union duties over a busy weekend for Argentina’s head coach.

Cheika oversees Lebanon’s quest to upstage the might of Australia in the quarter-finals of the Rugby League World Cup in Huddersfield on Friday night before reuniting with the Pumas the following day ahead of their clash with England on Sunday.

The second generation Australian-Lebanese has spent the week split between the two camps in London and Leeds.

“It’s been great and all in all it’s gone a bit simpler than I thought it would – the travelling between the two, the messaging between the two,” he said.

“We did plenty of preparation beforehand with Argentina. It hasn’t been as stressful as it could have been, it’s been pretty seamless.”

When asked if there is any danger of mixing the two codes, Cheika replied: “Five tackles are good for ball security!

“But no confusion whatsoever. It’s pretty easy to decipher between the two, the colours are pretty different – I’m sure I can work it out!

“It’s been a good experience for me personally. One of the huge things for me has been making sure I do the two things to the best of my ability and make sure both teams have the best possible opportunity.

“It’s a one-off at this moment in time and I feel like we’ve handled it pretty well.”

Argentina are seeking a fifth win in 25 matches against England and Cheika’s experience – he guided the Wallabies to the 2015 World Cup final – will be an invaluable commodity at Twickenham.

“We are going to be World Cup competitors in less than a year’s time but that is for further down the road,” Cheika said.

“In the curve we are trying to build for ourselves since July, it’s about changing the way we prepare for our rugby, changing a little bit the way we play our game.

“Trying to create some firsts – winning at Twickenham would be a first for many of our players.

“We know they are lofty ambitions, but we need to be focusing more on our own personal scoreboard as a team.

“I’ve been to Twickenham many times and you can get lost out there if you are not really focused on what’s important and get carried away with the emotion of playing in front of a big crowd.

“We’ve picked out four or five things that are very important for us and if we can excel at those, then as always happens in rugby let the cards falls where they do when it comes to the scoreboard.”

Argentina team: JC Mallia; M Carreras, M Moroni, J de la Fuente, E Boffelli; S Carreras, G Bertranou; T Gallo, J Montoya, F Gomez Kodela, M Alemanno, T Lavanini, JM Gonzalez, M Kremer, P Matera.

Replacements: I Ruiz, N Tetaz Chaparro, E Bello, L Paulos, F Isa, E Morales, Talbornoz, Morlando.