Jake keeps Wallaby option open

Jake White would not turn his back on the Wallaby job if it was offered to him, but he is certainly not going to ask for it either.

The World Cup-winning former Springbok coach, White, has been the centre of attention since his Sharks team arrived in Australia last week.

Even before their encounter with the Rebels last week, which resulted in a 22-16 win for the visitors, the Australian media's obsession with White's return to Canberra hogged the headlines.

White, who coached South Africa to victory at the 2007 World Cup, was regarded as a shoo-in to take over from New Zealander Robbie Deans as Australia coach last year, but missed out to Ewen McKenzie.

Disillusioned, he walked out of his job as coach at the Canberra-based Brumbies, halfway through his four-year contract.

He headed to Durban, where he joined up with his former Bok captain, John Smit, who is now the Chief Executive of the Sharks.

The past fortnight his departure from Canberra – in the wake of losing out to McKenzie – has been a recurring theme at every media opportunity with the Sharks' Director of Rugby.

It was no different on Thursday, when his team finally arrived in Canberra, ahead of Saturday's crucial Round 13 Super Rugby encounter with the Brumbies.

How does it feel to be back in Canberra? Does he still want to coach the Wallabies?

White, as forthright as ever, made no secret of the fact that he still want to coach at international level and, yes, the Wallabies remain an option.

"I've thought about it long and hard. I would love the Wallabies job. I just wouldn't send my CV in again," White told a media gathering in Canberra.

"I'd have to get tapped on the shoulder this time," he added.

"I've said it many times to many journalists while I was here [in Canberra]: I'd love to coach internationally again and the mere fact that it wasn't an opportunity and another opportunity presented itself – rightly or wrongly, selfishly, whichever way you look at it – I just decided it was time for me to be back closer to my family, my network, based on the fact that the landscape had significantly changed.

"I'm the first to admit when I arrived here under John O'Neill as the incumbent (Australian Rugby Union) CEO the landscape was different," he said.

"There were opportunities in Australia for foreign coaches to ply their trade and coach internationally – Mickey Arthur at cricket, Robbie Deans at rugby.

"That landscape changed in the two years that I was here – no-one's fault – and that means that you've got to reboot and rethink about where you want to be as a coach."

* Meanwhile White said the Sharks are determined to knock over the Brumbies on Saturday, but it has nothing to do with his much-hyped return to the Australian capital.

"This game was always going to be a massive game," White told the media scrum.

"From the day I signed with the Sharks, this was going to be the game for them – and it's not because I'm coaching the Sharks.

"The Brumbies hammered the Sharks last year. They [the Sharks] were booed in their stadium after 30 minutes by their crowd because they conceded four tries in 30 minutes."

The Sharks were unbeaten in four games and leading the competition when White's Brumbies ambushed them in Durban in 2013.

"The Brumbies had travelled all the way from Australia; it was a no-brainer the Sharks were going to win comfortably and they ended up getting pumped," White said.

Nevertheless, White understands why his return to Canberra is attracting all the attention and says that's why he chose to base the Sharks in Sydney instead of Canberra for most of the week leading up to the game.

After dramatically transforming the Brumbies from cellar-dwellers in 2012 to runners-up last year, White accepts he may encounter some resentment from the Canberra faithful for walking out on the franchise.

But he's not fussed.

"If there is hostility, that's because I'm sure people would be a little disappointed that I didn't stay and that's not a bad thing," he said.

"Not many coaches in the world get hostility shown at them by the fact that they left.

"Coaches, it's a tough gig and most times you leave when you don't want to and when you do leave when it's suits you, it's not wrong. Sometimes it's better."

Sources: AAP, AFP & Reuters