Raelene Castle won’t be part of Rugby Australia’s review panel

A fortnight after the Wallabies were tipped out of the World Cup, Rugby Australia has not finalised the panel to review their performances.

Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle will not be part of the review panel. Picture: AAP

Almost a fortnight after the Wallabies were tipped out of the World Cup, Rugby Australia still has not finalised the panel to review their performances this year but one thing has been confirmed – chief executive Raelene Castle will not be overseeing herself.

The wheels grind slowly in RA and it is not expected that the review panel will be finalised before next Tuesday.

Yet all indications are that the mood of the rugby community has been heeded and the committee will be made up of senior but independent rugby figures. The exception will be RA’s director of rugby, Scott Johnson, but his presence arguably makes sense given that he will need to implement most of the outcomes. Castle, however, will be kept at arm’s length.

There are no signs, however, that the review committee will play any part in identifying or recruiting a new Wallabies coach to replace Michael Cheika. The intention is to name the new coach before Christmas, with Kiwi Dave Rennie still apparently the frontrunner for the job.

New Zealand, by contrast, are expected to draft World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry into the panel to select the man to replace Steve Hansen, who will stand down as All Blacks coach on Friday night after taking the NZ side to the World Cup bronze medal playoff against Wales.

Given that Henry in 2011 passed the baton to Hansen, who in turn has groomed Ian Foster as his successor, his presence on the selection panel could work in Foster’s favour. Still, that whole orderly process has been entirely undone by NZ’s loss to England in the semi-finals last weekend.

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Whatever hopes Australia might have been entertaining of enticing former NZ Test five-eighth and Jamie Joseph’s offsider with the Japanese national side, Tony Brown, across the ditch to work with the Wallabies look certain to be dashed. Foster and his chief rival for the NZ head coaching role, Scott Robertson, both are understood to have approached Brown to be part of their prospective All Black coaching teams.

According to NZ media reports, Foster is also attempting to persuade Ireland’s Kiwi coach Joe Schmidt to come on board as an assistant coach, despite Schmidt’s insistence that he wants to spend more time with his family after coaching Ireland for the past six years.

Meanwhile, a SANZAAR press release issued on Thursday has baffled everyone in rugby.

“The SANZAAR Executive Committee met in Tokyo prior to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals on Friday, 25 October,” it began. “An agenda item dealing with the future of SANZAAR’s rugby structure reconfirmed the organisation’s commitment to the establishment of international and domestic pathways for Emerging Nations. SANZAAR will continue to engage with all the stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region.”

It is understood, however, that the SANZAAR ExCo confirmed at the meeting that the Sunwolves, Japan’s entry in Super Rugby, would not continue in the competition beyond the 2020 season. Although there had been speculation the decision to cull them was being reviewed, nothing has changed.

Although SANZAAR has taken the bulk of the criticism for ditching the side, the reality is the Japanese Rugby Football Union showed little interest in continuing to fund them, preferring to bolster the existing company-based Top League competition.

Japan and Fiji appear to be still on the outer as far as admission to The Rugby Championship are concerned but SANZAAR is believed to be looking at scheduling more Tests against Tier Two nations before and after, and possibly even during, The Rugby Championship.