Buckle yourselves in Wallabies fans.

There’s plenty of reason for optimism about the national rugby team under new coach Michael Cheika and one thing is for certain – it won’t be dull.

Cheika has great credentials for the task of transforming an Australian team that has promised plenty but not always delivered, having steered long-term under-achievers the NSW Waratahs to their maiden Super title this year.

It took two seasons for him to complete the stunning transformation, but he will have less than a year before the World Cup to work his magic on an undeniably talented group of players, who have yet to deliver meaningful success.

Cheika this year became the first man to coach teams to the major second tier titles in both hemispheres, having guided Ireland’s Leinster to Europe’s Heineken Cup in 2009.

As a player, Cheika was a tough, uncompromising No.8 who briefly represented NSW in 1997.

He was part of a Wallaby-laden Randwick side, which won several Sydney club premierships in the 1980s and 90s.

Cheika also played club rugby in France and Italy and represented Australia at under-21 level.

He started his club coaching career in Italy, before returning home to coach Randwick, where his three-year tenure included a premiership in 2004.

Cheika then headed to Leinster, where he spent five seasons and built them into a major force in European rugby.

They won the Celtic League in his third season and the Heineken Cup in his fourth.

There followed a less productive stint with French club Stade Francais between 2010 and 2012.

NSW came ninth in Cheika’s first season in charge in 2013 and he declared he wanted a top two finish this year.

They delivered, winning the minor premiership and finishing the season with nine straight wins, culminating in a dramatic one-point final home victory over the Crusaders.

Not only did he produce a winning side, but also an entertaining one which attracted widespread acclaim for their high-scoring, free-flowing style.

Entertaining aside, Cheika put a high premium on making the Waratahs a more physically-imposing side.

Cheika has been a popular, if at times, slightly unconventional mentor for the Waratahs.

Prior to the Super final he handed out golf clubs to his players, exhorting them to give them a swing and trust their instincts.

Never one to hide his emotions, Cheika did let those emotions get the better of him on a couple of occasions on the Waratahs’ journey to achieving their holy grail of a Super title triumph.

He was given a suspended six-month ban for abusing a cameraman in Durban in March, having a couple of weeks earlier broken a glass door in the coaches box in Canberra, though the Waratahs insisted the latter incident was an accident.

One way or another, Cheika’s tenure as Wallabies coach is unlikely to be boring or uneventful.