Jake White says he would love to coach the Wallabies as he returns to Canberra to face Brumbies

JAKE White is back in town, and he hasn’t held back his strong opinion — on coaching the Wallabies, facing the Brumbies and more. Read what he had to say.

JAKE White is back in town, and he hasn’t held back his strong opinion on a number of subjects.

Ben Mowen shouldn’t be in the Wallabies team. He wasn’t picked as Wallabies coach because he is a foreigner. He won’t coach at next year’s World Cup.

In a candid and forthright media interview on Thursday in Sydney, White also spoke about his top-of-the-table Sharks side, the looming clash on Saturday against his former club the Brumbies in Canberra, his controversial exit from Australian rugby, and much more.

Should Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie pick Brumbies captain and incumbent Australian skipper Ben Mowen now that he has signed a contract with French rugby?

WHITE: “I think he’s made it quite clear that he’s not [going to pick Mowen] with [Scott] Higginbotham and Wycliff Palu playing well.

“The chances of Ben getting a gig, to be fair his mind’s not in it.

“Either you want to be in, or you want to be out. You can’t be half in.

Ben Mowen shouldn’t play for the Wallabies, says Jake White.

“If he’s made up his mind that he’d like to go to greener pastures, you’ve got to afford him that.

“You can’t then expect him to give you 100 per cent if you need him sometimes.

“That’s Ewen’s call, he’s obviously got a make-up of a team in mind that he wants to play.

“He’s obviously got a team in mind that he feels, with or without Ben Mowen, is obviously going to be competitive not only now but through to the World Cup.”

Did you walk out because you didn’t get the Wallabies job?

WHITE: “That’s true.

“Ben Mowen has decided to go and play overseas, I’m not using him for any other reason than the fact he’s the incumbent Wallabies captain whose decided to move on.

“Does that mean he’s not loyal to the Brumbies, does that mean his time at the Brumbies was meaningless, does that mean they now need to discard him as a captain this season because he’s moving on?

“What happens is, opportunities come.

“I’m the first to admit that when I arrived here, with John O’Neill as the incumbent CEO, the landscape was different, there were opportunities for foreign coaches to ply their trade and coach internationally.

“Micky Arthur at cricket, Robbie Deans at rugby; that landscaped changed in the two years I was here.

See what Jake White has to say when he appears on Rugby HQ, 8.30pm EST Thursday on Fox Sports 1HD!

“It’s no one’s fault. But that means you’ve got to reboot and rethink about where you want to be as a coach.

“I know there was a lot of talk about family, but families can talk to their older siblings and say it’s time to move on. It doesn’t mean you’ve jumped the family, it means it’s a genuine feel about moving on.

“I would love the Wallabies job, I would love to coach internationally again.

“The mere fact that it wasn’t an opportunity, and another opportunity presented itself, rightly or wrongly, selfishly, whichever way you look at it, I just decided it was time for me to be closer to my family and network, based on the fact the landscape had significantly changed.

“Again, I don’t blame anybody, that’s how sport works.”

Would you consider coaching the Wallabies in future?

WHITE: “I just wouldn’t send my CV in again, I would have to be tapped on the shoulder.”

Is there any chance of you coaching at the 2015 World Cup?

WHITE: “There’s no chance of that.

“One of the things I spoke to John Smit about, he knows that when I came back from Australia, the ambitions and desires for me to coach at international level again are very high.

“I’d like an opportunity again to measure myself against the best at international level, but between now and the World Cup there is basically only this Super Rugby campaign and the next Super Rugby campaign for me to see how the lie of the land goes coming into the World Cup.

“So for now, my focus is on Super Rugby now and Super Rugby next year, and when the World Cup starts, whatever is meant to be, we can decide then.”

White contacted ARU chief executive Bill Pulver this week.

WHITE: “I’ve had contact with him again, and not for any other reason than I think rugby is one of those games where I don’t want burn any bridges.

“I’m sure if he knows I’m in town and I can catch up with him as the CEO of Australian rugby, I can get to talk to him not only about myself but rugby in general.

“If there is hostility I’m sure it’s because people would be a little bit disappointed that I didn’t stay. And that’s not a bad thing, because not many coaches get hostility shown at them because they’ve left.

“Many times in the jobs we do, you often leave when you don’t want to.”

Have you told your players this game is not about you?

WHITE: “There’s been a lot of talk about me going home and wearing white, it was always inevitable with my link to that union.

“But my message to the players is quite simple; it’s not about me, it’s another rugby game, it just happens to be the No. 1 team playing the No. 2 team.”

Jake White calls the shots during a Sharks training session.

How do you regard the Brumbies’ evolution after your departure?

WHITE: “People must never underestimate that when I sit at home in South Africa and I watch the evolvement of the Brumbies and I see them winning, let’s rewind three years ago, they were a disaster.

“I think any coach takes pride in not only the Sharks doing well, but the Brumbies have continued that success.

“I was fully aware that the club was in a good space, that the systems were good enough to continue, I was fully aware that the player roster was settled.

“It wasn’t just a light decision about moving on.

“I get really excited and overjoyed seeing the Brumbies develop.”

What differences do you see in their game?

WHITE: “I don’t think they’re playing differently, I think the nuances to their game they were inevitably going to add.

“In your third year some of those changes and adaptations to your game happen by the mere fact that you’ve been together for such a long time and you understand each other.

“That was always going to happen anyway, but I have no doubt Laurie and Stephen have worked hard with this group, and have added as they did in the time that I was there as well.”

On the Brumbies’ playmakers.

WHITE: “If Nic White, Matt Toomua and Christian Lealiifano are going to play 9, 10 and 12 together for the next few seasons, it’s almost identical to when Kafer played with Larkham or Gregan.

“They get to know each other, they know the calls, they know what the strengths and weaknesses are.

“They almost look each other in the eye and know what the call is going to be before the ball comes out.

“That comes with the evolution of that team anyway.

“The way they played against the Chiefs, that was one of the top, top performances in the last couple of years of Brumbies rugby.

“That’s the current holders of the tournament, two trophies in a row, and the Brumbies looked as though they were the only team on the field.”

Jake White during his time with the Brumbies.

You planned to get the Brumbies to the final in three years and did it in two. Can you win the competition with the Sharks in your first year?

WHITE: “It was always my dream that in three years I would get them to the finals, and obviously we did it in two.

“I know that they’re still good enough to win this competition, the Brumbies. There is no doubt that when they’re on song they can beat anybody.

“In terms of the Sharks, it’s a different beast altogether.

“It’s not a bunch of no-name brands that I inherited at the Brumbies two and a half seasons ago.

“There’s a huge expectation, we get 35,000-40,000 people to our games, so the dynamic is different.

“But does that mean I think this team can win?

“I’ve only been with this team for six months, I don’t know what they’re like when they’re under pressure. I don’t know what they’re like when the play away from home, or how they play when they’re under pressure, when we lose two games in a row.

“I can understand it from a Brumbies perspective because I’ve been in that change-room, I can understand how the whole mindset works in their change-room.

“The only time I’ll actually know and have a feel of where this team can get to is the more I stay with them and experience those sort of things with them.”

What will it be like sitting in the opposition coaches box at Canberra Stadium?

WHITE: “I just hope the door is fixed.”

Originally published as Jake White says he would love to coach the Wallabies as he returns to Canberra to face Brumbies