The 1999 World Cup winner has been elected as the new president of Australian rugby’s highest body.
Former Wallabies star Daniel Herbert has been elected as the new president of the Australian Rugby Union, replacing Hamish McLennan ousted following the historic fiasco of the Australian XV at the World Cup in France.
Herbert, a World Cup winner in 1999, took over as president of the governing body following an emergency board meeting late Sunday. The former three-quarter center, who has 67 test matches for the Wallabies, takes over from Hamish McLennan, who resigned after six of the eight national associations declared they had withdrawn their confidence in him. McLennan had worked for the return of Eddie Jones at the head of the selection in January, a fiasco.
A huge challenge to take on
Aged 49, Herbert will have to relaunch Australian rugby which has not yet recovered from the shock wave caused by the elimination of the Wallabies in the group stage of the World Cup, the worst performance in their history in the World Cup. Once a major power in international rugby, two-time world champions Australia have been going through a period of turmoil since Jones left in October, ten months before the end of his five-year contract. In a press release, the brand new boss of Rugby Australia called for working with the associations to put in place the reforms necessary to create a more centralized structure “for an aligned high performance system”.
Rugby Australia is also looking for a new Wallabies coach to replace Jones. Dan McKellar, currently in charge of English club Leicester, and former Wallabies flyhalf Stephen Larkham are considered leading candidates. Australia will host the next World Cup in 2027.
