Foley lands Wallabies role

Michael Foley is to leave Bath and return to Australia after being appointed an assistant coach in John Connolly’s new-look Wallabies management team.

Foley will see out this season as Bath’s assistant coach and then link up with the Wallabies ahead of their two-Test series with England in the summer.

The former Australia Test hooker and forwards specialist will be tasked with beefing up the suspect Wallabies pack ahead of next year’s World Cup in France.

“This is certainly a great opportunity and a challenge I’m extremely excited about,” said Foley.

“I’ve worked with John as a player for more than a decade and more recently as a coach at Bath. I know we complement each other well.”

The Australian scrum crumbled in the autumn defeats to England and Wales, and Foley acknowledges he has his work cut out with the World Cup looming on the horizon.

“We have a lot of work to do this season and ahead of the World Cup next year,” he said.

“The Wallaby forwards came under plenty of scrutiny last year, but already in the Super 14 we’ve seen players and packs improve remarkably. That’s not to say there isn’t room for further improvement, but the early signs are pleasing.”

In four years at the Recreation Ground, 38-year-old Foley, who won the 1999 World Cup and was a member of the 2001 Wallabies side that beat the Lions, helped develop Bath’s pack into a formidable scrummaging unit.

His return to Australia had been in the pipeline since before Christmas, when Connolly quit as Bath’s director of rugby to replace Eddie Jones, who was sacked after the Wallabies’ worst run of results in 36 years.

“Michael Foley is a very good young coach, with plenty of experience and technical knowledge,” said Connolly.

“He has a strong vision for how we want to play the game, and how we need to move forward this season, as well as looking ahead to the World Cup next year.

“He will be a huge asset to the Wallabies and Australian Rugby, and it will be great to see him return home to take up this challenge.”

Connolly is attempting to put in place a management structure similar to that Graham Henry has formed with such success in New Zealand.

Foley will officially be Australia’s re-starts coach and Connolly hopes to finalise the rest of his team “in the coming weeks”.

That effectively means waiting on Scott Johnson, the skills specialist who is currently caretaker coach of Wales, to make a final decision on whether he will return to Australia.

Connolly recently flew to the UK to offer Johnson, whose 17-year-old son still lives in Australia, a position in the Wallabies set-up.

Johnson states his decision will be made on family issues alone but that he is considering Connolly’s offer.

The Welsh Rugby Union, which lost head coach Mike Ruddock in controversial circumstances less than a month ago, is determined to pull out all the stops to keep the Australian on board.

It is under pressure from the Wales squad, who uniformly describe Johnson as the best coach they have ever worked with.

Reports today suggest the WRU are chasing a compromise, with Johnson to be offered a six-month sabbatical so he can address his family issues in Australia before returning to lead Wales to the World Cup.

The WRU, however, insists no formal decision will be made on the matter until after the Six Nations Championship, when it plans on discussing the situation with Johnson.