Michael Cheika has dismissed the idea that there is an 'arrogance' among Irish rugby supporters, with the former Leinster boss believing that high expectations should be embraced.
Cheika, who guided Leinster to their first ever Champions Cup title in 2009, before taking his native Australia to a Rugby World Cup final in 2015, was speaking to RTÉ Radio 1’s ‘Inside Line’ ahead of Saturday’s meeting of Ireland and the Wallabies at the Aviva Stadium (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
While Ireland have only lost three of their last 13 games, there has been a sluggishness to some of their performances in the last year, with Andy Farrell's side struggling to capture the same form that saw them win back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2023 and 2024.
Performances have come in for particular scrutiny since the summer’s British and Irish Lions series against Australia, where Ireland had a record 18 players involved on tour, as well as head coach Farrell and the bulk of his coaching ticket.
That record Lions haul was the culmination of 16 years of unprecedented success in Irish rugby, where Ireland won three Grand Slams, among six Six Nations titles.
As Cheika points out, there was a time when that level of consistency was something Irish rugby could only have dreamt of.
"I remember when I came there in '05 with Leinster, we won in Toulouse in the quarter-final," he said.
"And then went down to Munster in the semi, badly. You know, there was a lot of inconsistency.
"But what has changed has been the amount of consistency that I think both Leinster and Ireland have been able to achieve over these past years. And I think that that's really noteworthy.
"And what comes with that is a certain amount of expectation from fans and from players and from coaches and from management."
However, while the veteran coach was keen to point out how far Irish rugby has come, he doesn't believe supporters should be happy to accept lower standards.
"Now that's what you got to you live with all the time, but it should be pushing you to perform even better.," he said.
"And I think you've seen how competitive both Leinster and Ireland have been over the last few years. It's been incredible.
"I wouldn't say an arrogance whatsoever. Like who doesn't want to see their team do well and push their team to be better?
"There's absolutely no way you can say that, because those fans have pushed those players on so many days over the years where maybe they weren't going to win, but because of that fan base, they were able to win.
"I think that expectation is great, the fans should have it. It keeps them interested, and the players and the clubs and the Ireland national team should thrive in that because, you know, it's a great place to be.
"That demand in nature is something that’s not easy to maintain. And they've had it there for a long time. And that's the challenge of staying on top and being competitive at the top, to be able to keep stepping up to those demands."
The Wallabies arrive in Dublin in poor form, losing twice so far on this northern hemisphere tour to England and Italy, and are trying to break a run of four successive defeats at the Aviva Stadium.
Head coach Joe Schmidt (below) has shaken his team up, with six changes, including out-half James O’Connor, centre Len Ikitau and the prodigious Max Jorgensen returning at full-back.
And Cheika, who coached the Wallabies between 2014 and 2019, is expecting a backlash.
"I think they [Australia] would be a little bit disappointed with the first couple of games, without a doubt," he said.
"They had a tough win in Japan and then they got a couple of injuries and then into England and then Italy last weekend.
"So it's an extremely important game for both teams because Ireland will be looking to really push on. They lost to New Zealand in America, when the All Blacks were exceptional there under a lot of pressure.
"So this will be a game that they must earmark, Ireland, to win and win well.
"And for Australia, it's extremely important because they would have been hoping to come back from this tour with at least two wins out of the four games, or if you include the Japan game, probably three wins out of five. So in order to achieve that, they must get past Ireland this weekend.
"It's not beyond them. They've got some really good attacking flair. It'll be all about if Ireland give them the room to play with that attack and give them the room to get that momentum. That's when Australia do play well."
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