Nucifora turns his back on Wallabies to work with rival

Rugby Australia are likely to lose one of their key advisors David Nucifora at the end of November, when the former performance director of Irish rugby will turn his attention to Scotland.

Nucifora was one of the key architects of Ireland’s recent success and it was announced that he would be working with RA as an advisor in December, after finishing working with Ireland’s sevens teams at the Olympics. There is likely be a brief overlap in Nucifora’s roles given the Wallabies will play Scotland in Edinburgh in the third game of their spring tour on 24 November.

RA chief executive Phil Waugh has stated that given Nucifora’s role as a global consultant, there was no expectation that the former Brumbies’ coach and Test hooker would be exclusive to Australia.

Waugh also revealed that Nucifora has been already working with RA for the past six months providing counsel on a variety of projects in tandem with Director of High Performance Peter Horne and Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt.

“We were never under the illusion that David would be exclusive to Rugby Australia,” Waugh said.

“We have been working together for the last six months or so on leveraging the right expertise for establishing the best possible aligned high-performance system for Australia. David has been working closely with Peter Horne who is leading the project and also Joe Schmidt.

Former Brumbies coach David Nucifora is likely to end his work with Australia in November to work for Scotland from NovemberCredit: Stuff

“This is consistent with the planning we have in place and we strongly believe we are well-placed to continue to execute on our high-performance plan.

“The two other major projects that we’re discussing with David are the finalisation of the national contracting model, and also the National pathways for men’s and women’s. It’s likely that our official engagement with David will finish by the end of November.”

BBC Sport Scotland has reported that the former Brumbies coach will work as a part-time advisor with Scottish Rugby for the next two seasons, either starting in late October or early November.

It also reported that Nucifora has already unofficially started the preparation work for his new role with Scottish Rugby.

Scotland are likely to provide several members of the British and Irish Lions squad and backroom staff that will tour Australia next July.

Nucifora, 62, was performance director of Irish rugby for ten years from 2014 and was instrumental in helping the men’s side achieve the No.1 ranking for the first time in 2019 before the World Cup.

Last December, Rugby Australia announced that Nucifora would return home to Australia to work as an advisor after completing his duties with Ireland’s sevens teams at the Olympics.

Nucifora was general manager of RA’s high-performance unit from 2008 to 2013 and has a close working relationship with Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, given their highly successful time together in Ireland where the New Zealander coached from 2013 until 2019.

Nucifora oversaw a structural rebuild of Irish Rugby under a centralised system that has helped drive the country to one of the strongest teams world rugby.

Given the Waratahs and the Brumbies have both signed a partnership agreement with RA that is designed to have greater alignment between club and country similar to the Irish system, the combination of current RA Director of High-Performance Rugby Peter Horne, Schmidt and Nucifora was seen as the perfect triumvirate to drive Australian rugby ahead of next year’s Lions tour.

“He is coming back to live in Australia and is really interested, being a proud Australian, to see Australian rugby do well,” Waugh said in December.

“Clearly where we are at, he sees that as a massive opportunity and like Peter, feels like he can influence on the success going forward. It is a really important role he will play.”

Meanwhile, Wallabies five-eighth Noah Lolesio has spoken about Schmidt’s ability to bring the best out of him as a playmaker while also dealing with high expectations.

“Playing flyhalf for the Wallabies is up there pressure wise,” Lolesio said ahead of Saturday’s first Test against Argentina in La Plata. “It’s just keeping it real simple for myself, putting things into perspective that it is just a game of footy at the end of the day.

“Joe has been great, too, he just keeps harping on to keep backing myself in whatever I do on the field. He’s been real supportive individually...but I know myself and the team that we need to be better going forward.”

Watch all the action from The Rugby Championship with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport. Round 3 kicks off Sunday, September 1 with South Africa v All Blacks (12:30am AEST) and Argentina v Wallabies (7:50am AEST).