Rugby Australia is closing in on Joe Schmidt following the Eddie Jones disaster Outgoing IRFU director of rugby David Nucifora will also return to his homeland in an advisory role and is likely to have a say in the Wallabies job, despite continuing as senior Ireland manager until next year.
Rugby Australia is closing in on Joe Schmidt following the Eddie Jones disaster JOE SHOW: Joe Schmidt.
Fri 22.12.2023 – 21.19 AP OF AUSTRALIA Social participation Former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt is confirming his position as the best after Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh revealed the deadline to appoint a new Wallabies coach in March.
Waugh said the RA had stepped up its search for a successor to Eddie Jones after it was confirmed on Friday that journeyman Peter Horne had been appointed as high performance director. Outgoing IRFU director of rugby David Nucifora will also return to his homeland in an advisory role and is likely to have a say in the Wallabies job, despite continuing as senior Ireland manager until next year.
“We’ll be in the market next week with expressions of interest and ideally we’d certainly like to have a meeting in the first quarter of ’24 because the Welsh will be there in July,” Waugh said. Read more “So it’s a bit of a sprint. We understand that time is against us, but it’s still a very important process to do it.
“It’s a journey and this is the start of that journey and a really exciting road ahead of us here in Australia. We have to be very disciplined and go through the right process to get the best possible people in the organisation.
” Former Wallabies assistants Stephen Larkham and Dan McKellar and Michael Cheika, who led Australia to the 2015 World Cup finals and became available this week after the Argentina coach stepped down, were at the top of the list. But it’s clear the RA pushed hard for Schmidt, who led Ireland to the top of the international rankings before answering an SOS call from New Zealand and helping the All Blacks reach the final at this year’s World Cup in France .
Schmidt has reportedly been reluctant to join the Wallabies ranks after years of decline culminated in Australia missing the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time. But so, too, apparently was Nucifora before RA lured him home.
With Nucifora, Schmidt and Horne all tight from working so successfully together in the northern hemisphere, RA will now be hoping to secure the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle to take the Wallabies towards the 2025 home series against the British and Irish Lions and the 2027 World Cup in Australia. It certainly sounded that way when Waugh was asked on Friday if the next Wallabies coach would be signed on for four years.
“It would be dependent on the applicants (being) open to what’s going to drive immediate success, but equally how to drive sustained success,” he said. “Historically, we’ve got into that rhythm at World Cups.
You get to the World Cup and you’ve seen Ireland’s success is a really good example. They’ve never gone past the quarter-finals at a World Cup, but they’ve consistently won at provincial level and at Test match level and so that adds to it interacting with viewers, fans and the community.
“So I’m very interested in beating the Wallabies and Wallaroos who won. The sevens are on the right track for both the men and the women. “But what’s really important is winning consistently and not just having a sugar hit of a really successful World Cup and then dipping afterwards.” Tellingly, Waugh also said the next Wallabies coach didn’t need to be Australian.
“We need the best possible coach to lead the system and the culture,” he said. “What I will say is that our competitive advantage in sport is being Australian and so that Australian way and that Australian culture needs to be driven through the team. “But that can be driven through a coach not from Australia.
” While he will work with Waugh on landing a Wallabies coach, Horne will officially join RA in March after almost 14 years working in high performance for World Rugby following roles with UK club Saracens, Samoan rugby and Equestrian Australia.
Horne will be responsible for pulling together RA’s historic centralisation of Super Rugby high-performance systems, the men’s and women’s national senior programs and youth pathways.
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