Michael Cheika has vowed to "do justice" to his roles as both Lebanon and Argentina's head coach, with the two sides set to play within 48 hours of each other.
Cheika made his name as both a player and a coach in rugby union and took over as Argentina's coach in March, having previously spent five years in charge of Australia. However, he had committed to coaching Lebanon, the country of his parent's birth, at the Rugby League World Cup which was originally due to take place in 2021.
Despite the tournament being pushed back due to the pandemic and his new role with Argentina, Cheika felt the opportunity to coach Lebanon was "too good to say no to" due to his heritage and now faces a unique challenge.
His Lebanon side are set to face Australia in a World Cup quarter-final in Huddersfield on Friday, before his Argentina side take on England less than 48 hours later at Twickenham on Sunday.
"We've just got to work out how we get it done and make sure we try to do both things really well, and I'm sure we'll find a way," Cheika said. "We've been hoping for this week for a while and now it's here, I've got to make sure I get across it and make sure I do justice to both teams."
Cheika has also been forced to rely heavily on assistant coaches Felipe Contepomi and Matt King as he splits his time between Argentina and Lebanon. "It's probably going to be one day here, one day there," he added.
"Everything has to be nailed down here first because we're in a World Cup and it's extremely important. We've done a lot of preparation work with the coaches from Argentina.
"They were here from Sunday through Wednesday with the team last week. We had permission to have a camp and I was able to spend a couple of days with them because we had days off."
Lebanon reached the quarter-finals with a comprehensive 74-12 win over Jamaica, with their victory also confirming their spot in the next World Cup in France in 2025.
