Eddie Jones fallout: All Blacks mentor in mix to coach Wallabies
While Michael Cheika and Stephen Larkham are leading candidates to replace Eddie Jones as Wallabies coach, outgoing All Blacks coach Ian Foster is also in the mix.
Outgoing All Blacks coach Ian Foster is being considered as the next Wallabies coach, with former Australian coach Michael Cheika and Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham also being floated as replacements for Eddie Jones.
The Australian understands Foster, who took the All Blacks to the World Cup final but endured a heartbreaking one-point loss to South Africa, is in Rugby Australia’s sights.
The Wallabies failed to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time in the World Cup’s 36-year history.
The off-contract Kiwi coach gave an interview to the official All Blacks website on Monday stating he had no clear plans yet for his future.
Foster told the website that while he was offered coaching positions during the World Cup, he said he wasn‘t interested in discussing them until after.
“The team deserved to have a head coach they knew was 100 per cent committed to this team right now. That‘s what I did,” Foster told allblacks.com. ”There’s no secret plans.”
“Technically, I‘ll get home and from November 1 I will be unemployed.”
Foster, who at times endured criticism during his tenure as head coach of New Zealand, led what has been described as the “least fancied’’ All Blacks World Cup history to the tournament’s final.
The All Blacks announced back in April that highly-successful Crusaders Super Rugby coach Scott Robertson would assume the role after the World Cup.
Foster had strong support from the All Blacks playing group.
“I have the utmost respect and praise for Fozzie,” All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane said after the final in Paris on Saturday. ”He has also faced adversity not only this tournament but leading into this tournament and to lead us and produce some of the footy we were able to produce is a credit to him.”
Cheika meanwhile sensationally took Argentina to the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time and has never hidden his desire to coach the Wallabies again.
The former Wallabies coach has however been linked to a role at the NRL’s Wests Tigers.
Cheika’s contract with Argentina is due to expire with the Pumas now that their World Cup campaign is over and following their fourth place finish.
“I’ll go to Argentina later in the year and we’ll have a talk about how things went and what the future holds,” Cheika said after the Pumas final match.
Cheika, who coached the Wallabies between 2014 and 2019 and was also named World Rugby Coach of the Year in 2015.
Former Wallabies assistant coach Dan McKellar, who has an exit cause from his contract with Leicester, is also being touted as a candidate for the Wallabies job.
Larkham, who was the attacking coach under Cheika at the 2015 World Cup, also departed in 2019 and is being discussed as a possible replacement for Jones.
The former Wallabies star five-eighth also spent three years coaching Irish provincial side Munster. He returned to the Brumbies for the 2023 Super Rugby season.
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