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Australian Rugby Union supremo John O’Neill says South Africa’s World Cup-winning mentor Jake White would certainly come under consideration for the vacant Wallabies coaching job – if he applies.
O’Neill, who arrived back from the World Cup on Tuesday, said formal interviews with candidates were scheduled for November 9 with the ARU board to meet on November 16 to discuss the applications.
“If we were in a position to make a final decision by the end of November, that would be good,” he said.
“We don’t want to put ourselves under any unrealistic time frames. The end of November is the target date.”
O’Neill reiterated he wasn’t excluding anyone from contention as successor to John Connolly.
“In the an ideal world, you’d like the person to be Australian. (But) the priority for us is to get the best person for the job,” he said.
“If Jake White is an applicant, we’d certainly consider his application.
“We’ve got a very good list of candidates: Ewen McKenzie, Laurie Fisher, John Muggleton, Scott Johnson, David Nucifora and Robbie Deans.
“Maybe Jake White, maybe others. But we want the best person for the job.”
Meanwhile, O’Neill said he expected his organisation’s human resources committee to reach a resolution in the next two weeks over the complaint against ARU chairman Peter McGrath.
McGrath stood down pending an investigation into a sponsor’s complaint reportedly alleging he appeared to have difficulty speaking when he met sponsors’ representatives on the eve of the Wallabies’ quarter-final loss to England in Marseille on October 6.
McGrath has strongly denied being intoxicated.
O’Neill said that with one member of the human resources committee, Peter Cosgrove, now serving as acting ARU chairman, the other two members, Rick Lee and Bob Dalziel, would conduct the review.
“The time frame will be sooner rather than later, I expect within the next two weeks there will be a resolution to that issue,” O’Neill said.
He understood McGrath had not yet formally contacted the sponsor, Bundaberg Rum, about the nature of their complaint.
“I think it’s Peter’s intention to do that upon his return by way of letter,” O’Neill said.
Disappointed by Australia’s World Cup quarter-final elimination, O’Neill said the ARU could not just “wallpaper over the cracks” in the Wallabies setup.
“We have really to confront the issues, we clearly have some problems in the tight five, which we really need to rectify,” O’Neill said.
He confirmed there might a possibility of marquee players from overseas competing in the Super 14 tournament, though not next year.
O’Neill has previously criticised sacked former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones for taking on a role as adviser to Springboks coach White for the World Cup so soon after coaching Australia and Queensland.
But today he congratulated Jones on his contribution to South Africa’s World Cup win.
“The feedback from the South African heirachy was really positive about Eddie,” said O’Neill.
“He may well have found his niche as a sort of technical director, he really put a bit of polish on them,” O’Neill said.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.