Ireland coach heads to Super Rugby Pacific franchise

NEWS: The Waratahs have hired former English international Mike Catt as their new attack coach.

Catt, one of the stars of England’s 2003 World Cup Final triumph over Australia, joins a new-look Waratahs coaching team headed up by Dan McKellar.

The South African-born 52-year-old was capped 75 times as well as making one appearance for the British and Irish Lions.

Since retiring from playing, Catt has enhanced the attack for London Irish, England, Italy, and Ireland.

Former Wallabies prop Dan Palmer is the Waratahs’ new set-piece coach after previously working with McKellar at the Brumbies and the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership.

Palmer played for both the Waratahs and Brumbies.

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We’re excited to announce the formation and structure of our coaching and high performance team for 2025.

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— NSW Waratahs (@NSWWaratahs) August 5, 2024

Another former Waratah, Lachlan McCaffrey, has been named defence coach after playing stints at the Brumbies, the UK, Japan and the USA.

Since transitioning into coaching, McCaffrey has been an assistant for Otago and the head coach of the Gungahlin Eagles.

The Waratahs’ high performance team has also been restructured, with former Tahs centre Tom Carter taking over as head of athletic performance after overseeing the athletic performance program for the hugely-successful Australian women’s Sevens team for the last five years.

All coaching and high-performance staff have signed on for at least three years.

“We’re thrilled to have acquired such a well-credentialed and experienced group of individuals to lead our team forward,” said Director of High Performance Simon Raiwalui.

The new assistant coaches replace Chris Whitaker, Pauli Taumoepeau and Nick Lumley.

The 2024 Super Rugby Pacific wooden spooners’ coaching appointments follow a series of player signings over the past week, including the snaring of Wallabies trio Taniela Tupou, Rob Leota and Darby Lancaster.