Former TSS coach Matt Taylor a hot favourite for Wallabies job

The defensive guru helped develop four of The Southport School’s latest Wallabies and helped the Queensland Reds win the 2011 Super Rugby title. Is he what Australian rugby has been missing?

THE visionary Gold Coast high school rugby coach who set Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Luke Morahan and Ben Tapuai on the path to Green and Gold is a hot favourite to join the Wallabies coaching staff in 2021.

Scotland assistant coach Matt Taylor helped steer the Queensland Reds to the 2011 Super Rugby title as a cunning defence coach, but first rose to prominence coaching The Southport School to back-to-back GPS rugby titles in 2006 and 2007.

Among Taylor’s charges in those schoolboys sides were future Wallabies Simmons, Slipper, Morahan and Tapuai, Queensland Reds Jono Lance and Jarrad Butler and 60-game Cronulla Sharks veteran Nathan Stapleton.

Coach Matt Taylor with TSS 2007 First XV stars Ben Tapuai and James Slipper, with Lisa Patterson. Picture: Supplied

Taylor left Queensland in 2012 to help Scotland reverse their woeful 1-from-17 record against the Wallabies to three wins from six, including two watershed wins on Australian soil.

With Michael Cheika out, the axe is also tipped to fall on his assistants - forwards coach Simon Raiwalui, formerly of the Gold Coast Breakers, and defence coach Nathan Grey, a TSS graduate - opening the door for Taylor’s return.

Bond University backs coach Ray Thomas served in that role under Taylor at TSS in 2007 and said the defensive guru had developed into one of world rugby’s top coaches.

Former TSS star Jono Lance and high school coach Matt Taylor return to TSS with the Reds’ Super Rugby trophy. Pic Glenn Hampson

“(Taylor) really excelled in his analysis of opposition teams, and you only need to look at the guys who came through in that time to see his talent for coaching,” Thomas said.

“His strength was in defence, and his focus on that in coaching players to be individually strong in that area, and then with his defensive strategies and structures… he was so professional, even at schoolboy level.

“Matt has got to where is by doing the hard yards and not taking any shortcuts, and that’s why he’s considered the best defensive coach running around in Australian rugby.”

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 13: Gregor Townsend, Head coach of Scotland and assistant coach Matt Taylor in discussion prior to the Rugby World Cup 2019 Group A game between Japan and Scotland at International Stadium Yokohama on October 13, 2019 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Rugby Australia’s director of rugby Scott Johnson is keenly aware of Taylor’s body of work because the pair worked side-by-side when Johnson was appointed Scotland’s interim head coach in 2013-2014.

On the head coaching front, New Zealander Dave Rennie is favoured to replace Michael Cheika.