South Africa’s World Cup-winning coach Jake White has shown interest in the vacant Wallabies post via his agent, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said on Tuesday.
ARU high-performance manager Pat Howard confirmed that agent Craig Livingstone contacted him on White’s behalf last week, but he had heard nothing further.
”I’ve outlined the process to him and that’s all that had happened,” Howard said.
White may be interested in swapping national jobs after he told South Africa that he did not want to make a quick decision on his coaching future.
He has also been linked to the England and Wales coaching positions and has until Friday to apply for the Australian post.
”I interviewed Jake White a year ago for the Leicester head coaching position and I appreciate that he will have a lot of decisions to make,” Howard said. ”I am more in the wait-and-see mentality at the moment. We’ve got a lot of good candidates that we are considering and I can only move forward on the guys we’ve got.”
The list of candidates includes Canterbury Crusaders Super rugby title-winning coach Robbie Deans, former ACT Brumbies Super 12 winner and current Auckland Blues coach David Nucifora, Wallabies assistant coaches John Muggleton and Scott Johnson, New South Wales Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie and Brumbies mentor Laurie Fisher.
Last week, ARU chief executive John O’Neill said if White applied, the ARU would ”certainly consider his application”.
Howard said White has a very impressive record that also includes a Tri-Nations title. ”He’s had a very successful period, I’m sure that we’d have to look at it if it came across our desk,” he said.
The ARU is to conduct formal interviews on November 9, with the board to discuss the candidates before a final announcement is made by the end of next month.
The Springboks were crowned champions for the second time after beating holders England 15-6 in the World Cup final in Paris on October 20. — Sapa-AFP