{"id":149704,"date":"2025-06-01T14:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T14:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/149704\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T14:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T14:54:09","slug":"michael-cheika-makes-george-ford-admission-ahead-of-leicester-v-sale-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/149704\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Cheika makes George Ford admission ahead of Leicester v Sale : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leicester Tigers boss Michael Cheika admits he is still stunned that George Ford was not picked for the British and Irish Lions as he prepares to face him next weekend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ford was snubbed by Lions head coach Andy Farrell in his squad announcement for the upcoming visit to Cheika\u2019s home country, Australia, which begins later this month.<\/p>\n

In superb form<\/p>\n

Despite missing out, the star\u00a0Sale Sharks<\/a> fly-half has continued his very impressive form in the Premiership<\/a> as he guided his team to victory at Exeter Chiefs on Saturday.<\/p>\n

That means they\u2019ve locked up a semi-final place and will head to Welford Road to face Cheika<\/a>\u2018s Leicester Tigers<\/a>, who beat Newcastle Falcons in their final round fixture.<\/p>\n

Cheika is looking forward to the challenge but was quick to praise Ford<\/a> ahead of the big home game, admitting he is still stunned that he was not selected by the Lions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the semi-finals of the Premiership, so it\u2019s going to be a tough battle and that\u2019ll be good,\u201d said Cheika, who is leaving the Tigers at the end of this current campaign.<\/p>\n

Saracens boss makes Owen Farrell admission amid return rumours<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Premiership Rugby 2024-25: Semi-final ties, times and dates revealed<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI would expect this is going to be the hardest game of the season without a doubt. They are a top-quality side, they have excellent coaching, and they\u2019ve got great players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got a fly-half in George Ford who should have been on the Lions tour, no doubt, I still don\u2019t know how they didn\u2019t pick him to be honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is quality throughout the side and we are looking forward to it \u2013 it\u2019s the Premiership play-offs, how could you want anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the Premiership semi-finals, Cheika was asked whether his team had achieved their targets in reaching the knockout stages which he swiftly rebuked.<\/p>\n

Wants to win it<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, we haven\u2019t targeted anything \u2013 except winning the comp. Nobody comes into this without the intention to win it. But I never really had a premeditated idea of where we were going to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really pleased for the fans that they get another opportunity to see the team this year here at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, and I\u2019m really pleased for the players to have another chance to play in front of their people, their families, here at home next weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the home meeting will give the likes of Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Mike Brown one final run-out at Welford Road as they prepare to hang up their boots this year.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Exeter Chiefs: Rob Baxter hands players \u2018expectations\u2019 ultimatum after woeful Premiership campaign<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leicester Tigers boss Michael Cheika admits he is still stunned that George Ford was not picked for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[5313,20681,225,20795,22728,12,6875,4151,2384,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-149704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","9":"tag-george-ford","10":"tag-home-page","11":"tag-leicester-tigers","12":"tag-michael-cheika","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-premiership","15":"tag-rugby","16":"tag-sale-sharks","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114608685940208509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}