Reds’ forwards coach Fisher out to reel in top Aussie job

MUNSTER forwards coach Laurie Fisher has hinted that he’d like to become the next Wallabies coach after 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Fisher quit Super Rugby in the summer to take up the vacant forwards role at Munster, and working under fellow Australian Tony McGahan, the formidable Aussie duo have overseen an unbeaten run so far this season with the Reds.

Fisher, who coached at the ACT Brumbies for eight years, was overlooked for the Australian job when John ‘Knuckles’ Connolly vacated the role after a humbling 2007 RWC experience. The ARU opted to look outside Australia for their next head coach, and plumped for Super Rugby’s most successful coach, New Zealander Robbie Deans.

“When the opportunities come, I’d love to coach a national team and I’d love that team to be the Wallabies,” said Fisher. “The coaching world will open up again after the 2011 Rugby World Cup and what I’ve got to do is knuckle down, help Munster move forward and become a better coach.”

He added: “It’s a global game in a global market. If we were only allowed to work in our country of nationality then I wouldn’t be here with this wonderful opportunity with Munster. I thought that I would have done a more than capable job (with Australia). That said, I wasn’t disappointed to lose out to Robbie Deans, who will take Australian rugby forward, not just the Wallabies.”

Fisher has described his last few months in Munster as “growth period” in coaching terms, adding that he needed to move to the Northern Hemisphere to “get out of the comfort zone”.

Though he has come under fire as the Munster lineout continues to creak — albeit one that must adapt to the new ELVs — the scrum has looked solid, especially against Leinster last Sunday.

“Super 14 can be a comfort zone. There are a lot of similarities between how sides play and as a coach you know the competition well,” Fisher said. “So I’ve come here to get out of my comfort zone, learn from the way rugby is played here. Different coaches, different players, different ideas. So it’s a real growth period for me.”

Meanwhile, Ronan O’Gara has described the impact new head Tony McGahan has made on Munster as “unbelievable”.

O’Gara gave a tour de force in the Reds’ 18-0 win over Leinster, orchestrating the game to perfection from outhalf, but the Ireland international was high on praise for Munster’s 36-year-old head coach.

“Tony has come in and this fellow is immense — an unbelievable coach — and when you come across someone like that, you’re struck by him immediately.

“The impact this fellow will have on the game in the next 10 years will be incredible — that’s how good he is. There’s someone like Laurie Fisher there as well — he’s new and I’m trying to impress him: I don’t know if he even rates me as a player.

“The fascinating thing for me is that the new coaching ticket in Munster is one that we’re all challenged by. A lot of us are in our 30s and it was the right time for a change.”