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Crusaders rugby supremo Robbie Deans is just one step away from coaching Australia.
In an announcement that will send shudders through New Zealand rugby's halls of power, the Australian Rugby Union today said it would interview Deans for the position on Thursday after the 48-year-old sent it an expression of interest.
Two days after being beaten to the All Blacks post by Graham Henry, Deans is now the red-hot favourite to fill the green and gold post vacated by John Connolly after the rugby World Cup.
If successful, Deans and Henry would lock horns on the international stage for the first time in Sydney on July 26 when Australia host the All Blacks in what would be a hugely-anticipated Tri-Nations test.
In an ARU statement today, chairman Peter McGrath said the selection panel would go through the same interview process with Deans, 48, as it did with five Australian candidates last month.
Those candidates are Laurie Fisher, Alan Jones, Ewen McKenzie, John Muggleton and David Nucifora.
Thursday's interview will precede an ARU board meeting where the coaching position will be discussed.
The ARU statement said a comprehensive report from the interview panel would be submitted to the board for its consideration.
McGrath said the ARU was committed to finding "the best person for the job".
"This in no way derails or affects the timing of the process already under way," McGrath said.
"If late in the day a coach with a record worth considering comes forward, then we should avail ourselves of the opportunity to interview him and include him in the process along with the other candidates.
"The direction from the board to the selection panel was to find the best person and the ARU remains committed to that position.
"The Australian rugby public would demand, and should expect, nothing less from us.
"As a result, it is incumbent on the selection panel to interview any interested person that might be considered a genuine candidate for the position as Wallabies coach."
McGrath said there were no barriers to offering a non-Australian an interview.
"The policy that stated only an Australian could coach the Wallabies was changed well before we went to the market to find a coach for next year," McGrath said.
"It was changed because the ARU board agreed our aim for the future had to be: always find the best person.
"Effectively, that is the brief the board has passed down to the selection panel."
Meanwhile, veteran Wallabies fullback Chris Latham has called for the ARU to contract Deans, even if it meant up setting the five Australian contenders for the job.
"Every Wallaby wants the best man for the job and that man is Robbie Deans," Latham told the Sunday News newspaper.
"You only have to look at his record and the style of play of the teams that he has coached and is coaching.
"They play an attractive brand of rugby, an attacking style of rugby, where he used pretty much all 15 players on the field.
"He obviously has a very high emphasis on skill level - that's evident. I think he would be very suited to getting us to achieve the standards we've been striving to achieve."
Latham believed Deans wouldn't suffer any backlash from the Australian players because he was a New Zealander.
"It's not an issue," he said.
"Rugby is a professional sport and we're at the elite end of that.
"And when you are at that elite end you need the coach with the greatest credentials and with the greatest ability to bring out the best in the team.
"If that's Robbie Deans and he happens to be a New Zealander it doesn't really matter.
"I am sure Robbie would do everything he could to ensure that we reached our full potential even if it meant beating the All Blacks. So there'd be no dramas there whatsoever.
"I'm surprised the All Blacks passed on him. But it's given Australian rugby a great opportunity."
- NZPA
