He's faced the All Blacks and now Michael Cheika will get the chance to face the Kiwis with the former Wallabies boss to take charge of Lebanon's rugby league side.
Cheika, who coached the Wallabies for five years until he stepped down in 2019 after a quarter-final exit at the World Cup, will now prepare the Cedars for next year's Rugby League World Cup in England, where they'll face New Zealand, Ireland and Jamaica in pool play.
The role is Cheika's first head coaching gig since stepping down as Wallabies coach.
This year, Cheika worked with the Sydney Roosters in an assistant coach role and he's currently an adviser to the Argentina rugby team in the Tri Nations, playing a key role in helping the Puma's beat the All Blacks for the first time.
Cheika's parents are both migrants from Lebanon, and speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he can't wait to represent his family heritage on the world stage next year.
"It's an unbelievable opportunity for me to do something that represents the land where my parents came from," he says.
"That tournament was a chance to show a little bit of the Lebanese culture not to just Australians but for everyone who was watching on TV.
"Sport has the ability to bring people together, it brings out the best in people. I was watching those games, jumping up and down cheering and crying at times.
"There is something about being Lebanese, you can never put your finger on it. I'm born here but when I went there as an adult the first time we landed in Beirut, I really felt a strong connection to the place."
At the 2017 World Cup in New Zealand, Lebanon reached the quarter-finals before losing to Tonga.
New Zealand and Lebanon have only met once in a rugby league test, which came at the 2000 World Cup where the Kiwis won 64-0.
Cheika isn't the only coach from last year's Rugby World Cup to switch to the 13-man code with former All Blacks boss Sir Steve Hansen taking an advisory role at the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Current England coach Eddie Jones has previously spoken of his ambitions to one day coach in rugby league.
Lebanese Rugby League Football president Assaad Feghali welcomed the appointment of Cheika.
"We welcome the appointment as a positive outcome not only for the Cedars' World Cup campaign but also the continuing improvement of the game in Lebanon," he says.
"The opportunity to provide knowledge to assist Lebanon further develop their well-established local programs will be well-received amongst local stakeholders."
Cheika, 53, says he still has a huge ambition for coaching.
"I'm still ambitious as a coach because I love it, I can't help it," says Cheika.
"I'm here with Argentina now because I love it. I just want it to unfold naturally. Being with the Roosters, it's been insightful but I'm going to take every day as it comes and see what happens from there."
