Aussie review gets heavy-hitters
Former Wallaby and cricket administrator Pat Howard is part of a three-person panel who will review the Wallabies’ 2019 season following their World Cup flop.
He will be joined by four-time Olympic rower Bo Hanson and 116-Test Wallabies forward Nathan Sharpe.
Rugby Australia Director Scott Johnson will also work alongside the group to deliver the review over the next month, which will be run separately to the process of appointing a new Wallabies coach.
The review will involve interviewing all Test players and staff and encompass the World Cup campaign as well as other internationals.
It will consider coaching, planning, athletic performance, campaign preparation, team cohesion and selection processes.
A former Wallabies playmaker with 20 Test caps, Howard led Rugby Australia’s High-Performance Unit before joining Cricket Australia in 2011.
His most recent position there was as Executive General Manager of team performance, responsible for the Australian team’s high-performance unit.
He was asked to step down late last year following a critical review into Cricket Australia and the ball-tampering affair among a purge of senior administrators.
Hanson, who won three Olympic medals from his four campaigns between 1996 and 2004, is a director of an international business called Athlete Assessments.
He describes himself as an “international coaching consultant” and has worked previously with the Queensland Reds and Australian Sevens teams.
Sharpe, a former Wallabies captain and dual John Eales-medallist, remains connected to the game following his retirement in 2012 and has worked as a television commentator.
RA chief executive Raelene Castle says the panel “will offer significant expertise and experience from both within and outside the sport and from both an on and off-field perspective”.
“Having these three individuals leading the process will provide a well-rounded perspective on the Wallabies program and enable us to take forward any key learnings for delivery into the major tournament preparations of all of our national teams over the next four-year cycle.”
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