Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has extended his contract through to include the 2019 Rugby World Cup in a major boost for Australian rugby.
Having guided the Wallabies to the 2015 World Cup final and a maiden Rugby Championship title in his first year at the helm, Cheika has now added a further two years to his deal taking him to the end of 2019.
The reigning World Rugby coach of the year, Cheika has promised he will do his best to ensure the Wallabies play in a way Australians want to see rugby played as he sets his sights on the World Cup title in Japan in three years.
Delighted ARU CEO Bill Pulver said Cheika had put rugby back on the map in Australia in a big way with his efforts last year.
Cheika is the only coach to have won the major club competition in each hemisphere, winning a Super Rugby championship with the NSW Waratahs in 2014 and the Heineken Cup with Irish club Leinster in 2009.