ARU boss Bill Pulver says Jake White was never promised Wallabies coaching job at any stage

JAKE White was never promised the Wallabies coaching job and his rejection for the role was not because he's South African, ARU boss Bill Pulver says.

Jake White

JAKE White was never promised the Wallabies coaching job and his rejection for the role was not because he's South African, according to Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver.

Pulver set the record straight in Africa on Thursday after the Brumbies confirmed White would be released from the final two years of his contract in Canberra and return home.

Contradicting the primarily personal reasons of White relayed by Brumbies captain Ben Mowen, miffed ACT boss Andrew Fagan said White was disappointed to miss out on the Wallabies job to Ewen McKenzie and "sees his best opportunity to further his international coaching career is from South Africa."

White already has several options, with the Durban-based Sharks confirming interest and Argentina also emerging as a strong possibility on the Test rugby front.

It's understood the Brumbies have an 18-month "no compete" clause but White could buy his freedom.

White's desire to coach at international level again has been no secret, and he almost walked on the Brumbies before he started when approached to take the England job in 2011.

The World Cup winner believed he was a strong chance to take over from Robbie Deans this year, and White supporters say the coach believed he'd been all-but promised the job by Pulver following a series of meetings.

The White camp believe it was an 11th-hour switch to appoint McKenzie based on internal pressure on Pulver.

Jake White

"Jake and Ewen were both told early on they were at the very top of a list of candidates for the job, and frankly I enjoyed the process of getting to know both of them. But Jake was never promised the role," Pulver said.

"Talk a board member was going to resign if Ewen wasn't appointed is complete nonsense."

White told journalists he believed in the wake of the Deans era, McKenzie being Australian was the primary reason he missed out; a belief Pulver also shot down.

"My personal decision did not rely on nationality at all, and Ewen was basically awarded the gig because I thought he was the best coach for the job," Pulver said.

WALLABY BRUSHING FORCED WHITE'S HAND

"I think the vast majority of Australian rugby fans feel it is very important to have an Australian coach, and I do worry about putting coaching pathways in for developing world-class Australian coaches. But in this particular case, I was most concerned about having the best coach available to them. The world's best coach available to them.

"Ewen aligned himself very well with what I thought was important but in the final analysis, there were two world-class coaches but he got the gig."

Pulver said after an exhaustive selection process McKenzie had won the job because he coached an "Australian way".

"One of his lines resonated with me. "Winning is not enough, you have to win and you have to entertain"," Pulver said.

"I remain absolutely committed to Australia playing entertaining rugby. If we don't, we will really struggle against every other code in the country because they are well run, well-funded codes."

The Brumbies in Wallaby camp dined with White in Cape Town on Wednesday night but team officials denied requests for interviews, saying the players were focussing on the Springbok Test at Newlands on Sunday morning.

Fagan said the Brumbies were looking towards assistants Stephen Larkham and Laure Fisher as White's replacement, with Larkham considered the front runner.

"To have Jake decide that he wants to pursue his international coaching ambitions from South Africa at this late stage is disappointing," Fagan said.

White's good friend and World Cup winning captain John Smit, who is now Sharks CEO, said in a statement last night: "Here at the Sharks we have a definite plan for our team. Could Jake White add value? Of course he can."