SYDNEY (AP) — Two former teammates at Sydney club Randwick will go head-to-head on a much bigger stage in the second round of the Rugby Championship,
Eddie Jones is back from England and starting his second stint as coach of Australia. Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is now in charge of Argentina's Pumas.
The Wallabies will host the Pumas on July 15 in Sydney, marking the first match at home for returning coach Jones.
Argentina under Cheika is coming off a successful 2022 season that included a winning home series against Scotland and victories over the Wallabies, the New Zealand All Blacks and England.
Jones’ seven-year tenure in charge of England ended in December after a run of results in 2022 that included six defeats and a draw in 12 matches, a significant slump after guiding the English to three Six Nations titles and to the World Cup final in 2019.
Jones guided Australia to the 2003 World Cup final during his first tenure as head coach from 2001-2005. Cheika helped the Wallabies reach the World Cup final in 2015.
They were both schooled in the eastern Sydney club famous for running rugby. Jones and Cheika will resume their test coaching rivalry after the Wallabies begin their tournament against South Africa in Pretoria on July 8.
Two weeks after the Argentina match, the Wallabies return to Melbourne, where they lost to the All Blacks in the last minute at Marvel Stadium last year. The Bledisloe Cup returns to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the first time since 2007, with the July 29 match concluding the Rugby Championship campaign and starting the two-test Bledisloe Cup series that will conclude one week later in Dunedin, New Zealand.
The Wallabies need to win both matches to take back the Bledisloe Cup, a trophy they haven't held since 2002.
The southern hemisphere's Rugby Championship has been scaled back in 2023 to allow all four nations to prepare for the Rugby World Cup starting in France in September.
___
More AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports