RFU yet to contact Kiwi coach
New Zealand’s Wayne Smith on Friday claimed he has yet to be contacted by the Rugby Football Union about filling the vacant England backs coaching job.
The RFU have been forced to widen their search for a backs coach after Andy Farrell decided to remain with Premiership champions Saracens instead of resuming the role he played in Stuart Lancaster’s England backroom staff during the Six Nations.
Smith, the attack specialist who was part of New Zealand’s World Cup-winning coaching team, is widely considered to be the best in the global game and the RFU have been linked with a move for the Waikato Chiefs coach.
If Lancaster wants Smith then the RFU would have to convince the former Northampton Director of Rugby to leave New Zealand.
But Smith hasn’t heard from them yet.
“I’m really happy here [in New Zealand] at the moment. I’m close to family and enjoying the game,” he said.
“The NZRU have been great to me and I’m not desperate to coach overseas although one day I’d like to be in the Test arena again.”
Unless circumstances change, Smith would not be available for England’s mid-year tour of South Africa due to his commitments with the Chiefs.
That would mean the RFU having to appoint another interim backs coach for the three-Test tour, with Mike Catt from London Irish and Clermont Auvergne’s Alex King both potential candidates.
AFP
