‘Huge loss’: McKellar resignation plunges World Cup plans into chaos

The resignation of the Wallabies’ most senior assistant coach has left Eddie Jones’ World Cup preparations in chaos and left Test players in shock.

Forwards coach Dan McKellar quit with immediate effect on Wednesday after landing the head coaching role at top English Premiership side Leicester, while Rugby Australia announced Wallabies scrum coach Petrus du Plessis had also resigned.

Jones now has a coaching team of one just six months out from the World Cup in France, after sending breakdown coach Laurie Fisher back to his full-time job at the Brumbies.

Defence coach Matt Taylor quit the Wallabies under Dave Rennie at the start of the Test season last year and was followed by attack coach Scott Wisemantel and top athletic performance coaches Dean Benton and John Pryor.

The news came as a body blow to Waratahs and Wallabies prop Angus Bell, who only this week re-signed in Australia for four years.

“Dan is a big loss, he is a great forwards coach and a great coach. He is a massive loss for Australia,” Bell said.

“I believe [this] will make me a better coach and hopefully allow me to return home and contribute ... to Australian rugby in the future.”

New Leicester coach Dan McKellar

“Dan, for me personally, has taught me so much of that tight stuff and how to play tight rugby. I have always been that prop that played a bit wider and needed to narrow down my craft as being a loosehead, and Dan was a massive teacher in that, and believer. That’s a huge loss. I didn’t know that, so it’s a surprise to me.”

McKellar said it was a difficult decision to make but also flagged a return to Australia in the future.

“I firmly believe my next challenge will make me a better coach and hopefully allow me to return home and contribute in a positive fashion to Australian rugby in the future,” McKellar said.

“I’d like to thank [chief executive] Andy Marinos, Eddie and Dave Rennie for their support and giving me the opportunity to be part of the Wallabies coaching staff over the past two years.

Petrus du Plessis (left) and Dan McKellar in action with the Wallabies last year. Credit: Getty

“I’d also like to thank the players and I wish them and Eddie all the best in what’s a massive year ahead.”

The development is a result of Jones’ shock return as Wallabies coach in January.

McKellar, who was in charge of the Brumbies between 2018 and 2022, had been considered the heir apparent to former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie and was unsettled when RA pounced on Jones after his sacking in England.

Jones also pitched a succession plan to McKellar, but it was unsuccessful, leaving the Wallabies coach under immense pressure to assemble a quality coaching line-up before the side’s opening Rugby Championship Test in Pretoria in July.

Eddie Jones is on the hunt for Wallabies assistants after the departure of two key staff members. Credit: Getty

McKellar reportedly beat Michael Cheika and Rassie Erasmus to the Leicester job. Reports also said Tigers officials had consulted Borthwick on who he believed should get the job.

McKellar and Borthwick have a relationship and the forward-oriented style of the ex-Brumbies coach is seen as a good fit for Leicester, one of the historically dominant clubs in England.

Jones is left with the task of replacing him as a forwards and set-piece coach. The Wallabies coach said last week he wasn’t concerned he had not signed anyone yet and would contemplate recruiting Super Rugby coaches for a “smash and grab” mission at the World Cup.

Current Brumbies forwards coach Laurie Fisher last week revealed he would not continue in an assistant coach role with the Wallabies.

Rennie’s former staff have now all moved on, with Matt Taylor and Scott Wisemantel leaving last year. Wisemantel has agreed to help Jones as a consultant, and former Wallabies back Berrick Barnes is set to join RA as a skills coach.

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