Premiership title Tigers' only target - Cheika

Michael Cheika will be replaced as Leicester Tigers head coach by Geoff Parling at the end of the season

Premiership glory or bust. Michael Cheika outlined his sole ambition for Leicester Tigers with candid brevity after they earned a home semi-final on Saturday.

Delivering a 12th Premiership title to Tigers is the one thing the Australian head coach landed in the East Midlands to do in his solitary season at the helm at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

When asked about "achieving their target" of securing a home tie against Sale Sharks after cruising to a comfortable 42-20 victory against bottom side Newcastle Falcons, the 58-year-old gave an answer that revealed a lot about how he has approached the campaign.

"I hadn't targeted anything except winning the comp - you don't come into the comp without targeting to win it," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"I never really had a premeditated idea of where to be.

"Obviously, it's a semi-final of the Premiership, it'll be a tough battle and that'll be good."

Second in the table is the highest Tigers have finished since they topped the ladder on the way to lifting their last title in 2022 under Steve Borthwick.

They went on to reach the play-offs with a third-placed finish the following season under Richard Wigglesworth, who took interim charge following Borthwick's departure for the England job midway through their title defence.

In that campaign they lost their semi-final 21-13 at Sale, a side they now host at the same stage of the competition two years later.

Home advantage in the play-offs has proved crucial in the competition over the years, with Harlequins being the only away side in the past nine seasons to win a semi-final when they got the better of Bristol on their way to the 2020-21 crown.

Cheika, however, insists he will not let that record or any form of home comfort for the last-four tie cloud Tigers' preparations.

"In my mind, the key thing is not to be pleased," Cheika said.

"If I'm pleased just to get here and to get a home semi-final and it's all good, well then I leave a little bit of room for someone else to take that place.

"We have to be determined and clear on the objectives we have as a team.

"We have an opportunity to go out and make those come true in the next couple of weeks, so I can be pleased later on when I'm sitting on a beach somewhere."