KEY POINTS:
Blues coach David Nucifora will not apply for the Waratahs job but he is tempted by the vacancy as the Australian high performance unit director.
That public admission was a shift for Nucifora who until yesterday had offered the view that he was concentrating on his Super 14 responsibilities with the Blues.
However Nucifora conceded he had examined the HPU portfolio with the Australian Rugby Union and the Herald understands those discussions will resume this week when the Blues are in Sydney for their next game against the Waratahs.
"I have had a chat to them about it, it's been quite informal up to this point," Nucifora said yesterday.
"Again all the speculation with jobs, when you are trying to do a job here and you are in the middle of a season just with the intensity of the Super 14 season, these things are really just a distraction.
"So until this season gets out of the way I won't be able to sort of further any of those discussions even if I wanted to," he added.
However, it seems the ARU will ramp up their moves to hire Nucifora who is keen to settle his family back in Australia after four years offshore. ARU boss John O'Neill has spoken about his admiration for Nucifora and how well qualified he would be for the HPU position left vacant by Pat Howard.
Had the ARU not been able to capture Crusaders supremo Robbie Deans as the Wallaby coach, they had lined up Nucifora as the next-best candidate. Having both men on the payroll would be an extra boost for the Wallabies.
Those transtasman issues were to the fore yesterday while Nucifora would have preferred to talk about the two changes he had made to his side for Saturday. Anthony Tuitavake has replaced Rudi Wulf on the wing while Nick Williams has replaced Justin Collins in a rejigged backrow formation.
"We rested Nick last week and we feel the physical power he adds to our game with Jerome [Kaino] ... they complement Daniel [Braid]. We feel this is our best mix for the Waratahs," the coach said.
Questions returned to the transtasman vacancies as Nucifora worked hard to deflect them.
"I already have a job, I'm fine thank you," he said when quizzed about the Waratahs. "I haven't had any contact with them, I haven't thought about the job. Obviously there's speculation again. Every time there seems to be a job come up in Australia my name seems to get attached to it.
"I've got an option to go for another year here. So I have a job here if it pans out the right way I suppose.
"I'm really just trying to think about how we can beat the Waratahs on Saturday to be honest."
If anyone can empathise with McKenzie's mid-season removal it is Nucifora, who was sacked part way through the Brumbies 2004 title-winning campaign.
"He's a pretty popular fellow so I'm sure there will be a bit of 'let's do it for Link' type attitude going around over there. They still have got seven or eight weeks left in this competition. Whether he can carry that for seven or eight weeks remains to be seen."
