New Zealand-born former Wallabies wing Curtis Rona has opened up on his falling out with controversial coach Michael Cheika.
Rona, 29, took his game to Britain, after enduring the frustrations of igniting his brief international career under Australian coach Cheika.
Having played 57 NRL games for the North Queensland Cowboys and Canterbury Bulldogs between 2014 and 2016, Rona switched to rugby with the Western Force and did enough to make the Wallabies in 2017.
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He played just three Tests, including one against the All Blacks where he scored a try, before falling out of favour with Cheika.
Rona questioned his demise and that seemingly made things worse with Cheika who was in charge of the Wallabies from 2014 to 2019.
“I was actually speaking to my wife about it this week, I felt like I didn’t get a fair crack, a fair opportunity, and you know with Cheika, he plays his mind games in everything he asks,” Rona told Rugby Pass in a lengthy interview.
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“He stuck to what he knew and he played who he thought should be playing, and I disagreed with him and we had a bit of a fall-out, and then he didn’t pick me again to come into the camp.
“I thought I should have got more opportunities. I tested him and he didn’t like it, and before you knew it I wasn’t selected again and that was my Wallabies career done.”
Communication lines with Cheika were cut as Rona switched to the Waratahs for two seasons before deciding to shift to the UK in 2019 where he is happily plying his trade with unfashionable London Irish in the English Premiership.
“No, I haven’t spoken to him since. I remember clearly I thought I was in a good opportunity, a good position at the time where I was playing. He actually gave me a few quotas to match in terms of my running, my playing in Super Rugby, and I matched if not bettered those, and he still didn’t pick me. That is why I confronted him, and it is what it is,” Rona said.
“That is just how things go sometimes. Sometimes coaches just won’t pick you, or they don’t like you, or you are out of favour and that is the way life is with selections and whatnot. There are a few people who have had a fall out with him [Cheika]. It is just a common thing with any coach… it’s the circle of rugby life.”
Taranaki-born Rona moved to Australia with his family when he was eight but still has links to New Zealand where he played for the Junior Kiwis and New Zealand Maori in rugby league.
“We had group meetings and used to do a lot of Maori traditions, like songs and speaking a little bit of the language. Not being in New Zealand but keeping the tradition going, which my parents did for me, was good,” father of three Rona told Rugby Pass.
“It is hard with my family now as they have lived most of their lives in the UK at the moment. Hopefully, one day I can give them an opportunity to get back to the Maori tradition and maybe go back to New Zealand and live there, so they can experience some of that.”
This article was originally published on stuff.co.nz and is reproduced with permission