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Waratahs take to classifieds to find new head coach

Former Waratahs chief executive Andrew Hore. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

The Waratahs have well and truly opened the door to the public as they continue their search for a new head coach.

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Former All Blacks midfielder Daryl Gibson suddenly resigned from the position last month following a dismal campaign which saw the New South Wales side finish 12th, leaving them without play-offs rugby for the third time since taking over from Michael Cheika in 2016.

Since then, NSW chief executive Andrew Hore has been on the look for his replacement, and has resorted to advertising the vacant role on the Sportspeople platform.

The closing date for applicants is July 24, and no salary has been listed.

With a raft of star players heading overseas and no head coach replacement imminent, Gibson’s exit has left the Waratahs in a tricky predicament heading into the 2020 season.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday that “all the major terms have been agreed” for Australian-born England attack coach Scott Wisemantel to take over the job next season, but he has also been linked to the same role for the Wallabies in 2020.

Waratahs forward coach Simon Cron would have been an ideal candidate to take over from Gibson, but he is joining Toyota Verblitz in the Japanese Top League, where he is set to join forces with current All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen.

He is one of many leaving the franchise, including London Irish-bound trio Sekope Kepu, Nick Phipps and Curtis Rona, while star first-five Bernard Foley is expected to land a contract in the Top League for next year.

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Veteran midfielders Adam Ashley-Cooper and Karmichael Hunt could also leave the club.

The Waratahs do have two assistant coaches on their books, but attack coach Chris Whittaker and defence coach Steve Tandy aren’t believed to be running for the head coach role.

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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