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SYDNEY - Robbie Deans could take up the coaching job at either the Wallabies or the Waratahs next season according to reports in Australia.
The former All Blacks fullback and 2003 World Cup assistant coach has barely been out of the headlines since the Crusaders' one-point win over the Waratahs here on Saturday.
A Sydney Daily Telegraph report yesterday said New South Wales officials held informal talks with Deans about taking over the Waratahs job for 2008, should their current coach Ewen McKenzie usurp John Connolly as Wallabies coach post-World Cup.
Today, the Sydney Morning Herald went a step further, placing Deans on the shortlist of candidates, alongside McKenzie, for the Wallabies job.
A game of squash between Deans, the four-time Super 12/14-winning coach, and Australian Rugby Union (ARU) operations manager Pat Wilson in Sydney on Saturday added fuel to the rumours.
"I've known Robbie for a fair while, first meeting him at a Sanzar conference when I was with the NSW Rugby Union, and the squash game was a chance to catch up," Wilson told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Our conversation was nothing too serious. I was just seeing where he was at. It was pretty general stuff."
Wilson will reportedly be involved in deciding Connolly's replacement should he step down, or be sacked, after the World Cup.
The ARU last week admitted it would consider foreign candidates for the coaching job.
The Sydney Morning Herald said Deans, Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher and Wallabies assistant coach Scott Johnson were early favourites for the Wallabies' job.
McKenzie and Blues coach David Nucifora were considered among the next tier of candidates.
Deans, who comes off contract with the Crusaders after this year's Super 14, has refused to confirm or deny speculation in recent weeks but has admitted he is looking for "a new challenge" in the short term.
His only definitive statement was to say he'd turned down an offer from South Africa's Stormers.
"You don't rule anything out, you've got a great climate," Deans told AAP last week. "You've got your good footballers. Who knows, I don't know."
- NZPA
