Stephen Larkham and Nathan Grey will act as assistant coaches of the Wallabies under Michael Cheika in the 2015 Test season.
Grey is the current defensive coach of the Waratahs, while Larkham is the coach of the Brumbies, and both will fulfil their duties there before working with the national squad for the Rugby Championship and Rugby World Cup.
Grey worked with the Wallabies when Cheika took over last year and the contracts of Nick Scrivener and Jim McKay were terminated.
Both the Brumbies and Waratahs confirmed the roles wouldn’t affect either coaches’ role with the franchise in terms of their existing deals.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is also head coach of the Waratahs for the 2015 season.
Michael Cheika said the changes promised success for the team in 2015.
“At this level, it’s crucial that you have the best people and best possible high-performance program in place if you are going to deliver winning performances for the Wallabies,” Cheika said.
“I am confident we enter 2015 with an experienced and strong coaching and off-field team and I welcome the new appointments.
“Stephen is a coach and former player with incredible credentials who has a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in this environment, including playing an important role as a player for Australia in three Rugby World Cup campaigns.
“Nathan has done a remarkable job during his time in Super Rugby and his coaching was extremely well received by the entire Wallabies squad during last year’s Spring Tour, and is a big driver in the standards and culture within the team, which will be important.”
Dean Benton also returns to the coaching fold in Australian Rugby, and according to the release “will play a critical role in the players’ preparation in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup.” His role was not specified.
Simon Roberts has been appointed Wallabies team operations manager while Patrick Molihan will act as the team manager.
“We’ve also created additional roles and selected a team of experienced professionals in Dean, Simon and Patrick to complement each other and deliver what the Wallabies need both on and off the field,” Cheika said.
“I’m confident a combination of all these elements will help deliver the best possible environment to help the players perform.”
Following the loss of scrum coach Andrew Blades, the ARU are still searching for a set piece coach.
“Just as he did as a player over 30 times, Andrew has represented Australian Rugby and the Wallabies with professionalism, integrity and a genuine passion for the game.
“I’d like to thank Andrew Blades for his service in the past three years. We’re continuing our search for a new Set Piece/Forwards Coach, with an announcement to be made in due course.”
Freighter
Guest
Can we pls get a hard ass England scrum guru and flip him some coin for a 2 month contract? surely Chrika met a few he rates when coaching over there
Graeme
Guest
Actually, technically, Chieka has the worst win/loss record for a Wallaby coach.
RobC
Roar Guru
Interesting. Its a temp job from end of SR to end of RWC.
Mike
Guest
Point taken below Peter
Mike
Guest
Ah, understood. :)
Justthetip
Roar Pro
It's about the bond a coach makes with his players, especially those that have brought him success. He went overboard ensuring no one saw bias and right or wrong what he was implementing wasn't for immediate success but shouldn't have had much effect on results. It's obvious to me he was trying to make a statement that he was wallabies coach and not ex reds title winning coach. He tried to remove state lines but his execution was wrong. As a reds fan I thought he made some incumbent players wait to get a spot they had earned back, maybe that's my bias. So I see your case for him not being loyal to reds players. As a wallabies fan I thought he was trying to show all aus SR players that wallaby selection was possible no matter where you were playing.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Mike where did I say Deans forced Blades onto McKenzie? No the ARU did.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Blades started his Wallaby coach under Deans so yes he was brought by Deans, no other coach brought him in. I never said that he was Deans first choice, this was never about criticising Deans but rather Blades has had a very long time as scrum coach and never improved it substantially, if anything it went backwards. Deans had a choice under certain conditions which assistant coaches he had. Sure it was not total freedom, so yes his hands were partially tied. One condition was that they had to be australian (ostensibly so they could learn off him, probably because of the unfair and unreasonable uproar of having a foregin coach), and since aussies are not renowned for scrumming this limited his choices, the other was there was limited salary available which is always the case. Mike with Deans payout they could not afford to payout the contracts of the assistants, ARU was broke. So in that way they were forced upon McKenzie ie we cannot to get you any others. There was no dig at Deans here just very over sensitive kiwis I think.
Mike
Guest
"Another Tah, and co-opting Larkham to provide a scapegoat when Cheika fails at the RWC." Which is what you want, isn't it FOS? You would rather have the Wallabies fail if a Queenslander isn't the coach. Well that's okay - plenty of other people in the world will agree with you - South Africans, English, New Zealanders!
Mike
Guest
Give over a bit Peter - you started this one by claiming that Blades was "brought in" by Deans and "forced onto" McKenzie, boht highly questionable statements!
Mike
Guest
Which doesn't mean that Deans was responsible for bringing him in, and it certainly doesn't mean he or anyone else "forced" him on Ewen.
Justthetip
Guest
Spot on mate. An Aussies an Aussie. Unfortunately I've got a however. However the state lines do exist so it takes work to be unified. Mackenzie made wrong turns steering the ship but he also went out of his way to not favour his reds and with aru direction keep loyalty to aus rugby part of the criteria. The last part can be seen as negative or positive but he attempted to stamp the wallaby jersey above all. The current reds have limited talent to offer but in a short time that will change. I'm not suggesting reds or force or rebels players be selected for the sake of making it even cause that's crap. He does however need to realise some of his tahs have starting wallabies spots but what they bring to the table isn't what's needed to win tests. I'm primarily talking about folau and foley. Both players I like mind you. All bias aside he hasn't had much opportunity to show how he will select. His mantra of doing the simple things perfect is spot on but his selections need the right cattle so Hail Mary type play isn't needed.
grapeseed
Guest
I demand Bob Templeton is involved somehow by ouja board. But only if he also has a full time job elsewhere at the time.
grapeseed
Guest
LOL
grapeseed
Guest
As long as you are not dropping acid at the Big Pineapple, it's OK. Otherwise you might feel like you're in the land of the giants and freak out.
Nick Turnbull
Roar Guru
Is there room for Phillip "Chook' Fowler is the Wallabies set up?
Nick Turnbull
Roar Guru
Point taken Birdy and I did have a wry smile - lets pray that the Wallabies become consistently better is this aspect of their game. I am eager to see who does get the set piece coaches position. I have no criticism of Andrew Blades as I am sure he did his best to fix the issues as he saw them, and who am I to tell Andrew Blades how to scrum? I have spoken to some who did not think his efforts, as well intended as they were, were actually the best but again that is for the more educated scrummager than I.
Chris
Guest
Missing teeth, torn flanno and one thong? An easy spot. That close to Nambour you'll be conspicuous by your sartorial elegance.
YouCantBeSerious
Guest
GS, if you are going to do a drug deal at the Big Pineapple then its probably best not to tell everyone where its going down or what you will look like. Is this how K.Hunt was caught? I think in NSW they would be more sensible.
andrewt
Guest
I am sure that as much as you would like the Reds (Graham?) to be involved ... he doesn't quite have the runs on the board as yet! Let's not forget that Cheika got the role at the end of last year, and that any decent coach/assistant would have a job that they are already committed to. He has very limited options other than get those he knows he can work with (given the short prep). It is not ideal and frankly he would obviously prefer t have a full time coaching staff. If you can propose some decent coaches who are currently off contract, then it can be a worthwhile debate ... but to fall back on petty inter-state rivalry is just nonsense.