SYDNEY – Long-serving World Rugby administrator Peter Horne was appointed on Dec 22 as Australia’s director of high performance, with part of his brief to “purpose-build a new Wallabies programme from scratch”.
Horne, an Australian, spent nearly 14 years working for the sport’s world governing body, most recently as its high-performance director after a stint as general manager at Saracens.
He was hired by Rugby Australia after the Wallabies’ abysmal September-October World Cup campaign under coach Eddie Jones, where they failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
Jones has since quit and taken over at Japan, with a successor yet to be appointed.
Horne’s remit will cover coaching, strength and conditioning and player development among both men and women and also the Sevens team.
In particular, he will help develop a new Wallabies staff, while aligning Super Rugby clubs to better prepare players for international duty.
“We have an opportunity to purpose-build a new Wallabies programme from scratch,” he said.
“And there is universal agreement across the Super Rugby clubs that the high-performance systems and pathways need a major overhaul to ensure everyone is pushing in the same direction; to deliver sustainable success for our Wallabies, Wallaroos and Sevens teams. To have this sort of agreement and understanding on the path forward is exciting.”
Alongside Horne, David Nucifora will return home from his role as high-performance director with Ireland to take on an advisory role with Rugby Australia.
“Peter understands Australian rugby and has a keen sense for what we need to do to get everyone working towards the same goals,” said Rugby Australia chief Phil Waugh.
“Combine that understanding with strong expertise of high-performance environments and he is clearly the right person for the job – all five Super Rugby clubs agree.”
Meanwhile, neighbours New Zealand Rugby (NZR) will proceed with a NZ$62.5 million (S$52.1 million) capital raise under its existing Silver Lake underwrite after sealing agreement with its voting members and 26 provincial unions.
The capital raise will lift Silver Lake’s stake in NZR’s commercial arm, known as NZR Commercial, to 7.5 per cent from 5.71 per cent, NZR said in a statement on Dec 22.
NZR agreed to sell the initial stake to Silver Lake for NZ$200 million in February after securing agreement from the players’ union.
“NZR will now conclude the capital raise process which has already seen investment provided to NZR Commercial and stakeholders, including over 450 community rugby clubs, as well as the rebuilding of NZR reserves post Covid-19,” NZR said. AFP, REUTERS
