Scott Johnson set to leave director of rugby role at Rugby Australia
Rugby Australia's director of rugby Scott Johnson will finish up at the end of the year while the men's and women's Sevens coaches will swap jobs in an organisational shake-up announced on Friday.
Tim Walsh will return to his former position overseeing the women's Sevens team, whom he steered to gold at the 2016 Olympics, while John Manenti will take jump across to the men's side.
Johnson was brought on board three years ago to oversee the Wallabies program and former coach Michael Cheika.
He has also been a Wallabies selector since 2019 and played an integral role in the recruitment of current Australia coach Dave Rennie.
RA intends bringing in a high-performance director who will work as a conduit between Super Rugby clubs and the national body.
RA boss Andy Marinos said Johnson stepped into his position at a "difficult time".
"On behalf of Australian Rugby, I want to thank Scott for his terrific contribution to the game over the last three years," Marinos said.
"He stepped into his role at a difficult time ... and leaves Australian rugby in a better place."
Meanwhile, the Sevens swap was also announced following a post-Olympics review, where both teams fell short of expectations.
The coaches have been away with their current teams in the world series, with Manenti's women's team claiming back-to-back titles in the last fortnight.
But the review decided both were better suited to the other's program, with the pair locked in until the end of 2024.
"After careful consideration, we felt they were the best two coaches to lead the respective programs forward into the future," Marinos said.
"They both have a lot to offer and we're looking forward to seeing what they can do over the next three years as we prepare not only for the Commonwealth Games and Sevens World Cup later this year but also the Olympics in Paris in 2024."
The coaches will transition in the coming weeks.
Walsh has spent the past three years with the men after his women's team won silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games when Manenti took over the role.
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Tj made a couple of try saving tackles when we were down a man or 2 ..thought it's the best game I seen from him in a long time ..pity he didn't play like that all the time ..plus he's awesome leading the Haka...I must be missing something because I reckon Dmac has a shit game every game ..didn't see him do anything grand..just stuff up Jordie and Reiko alongside him ..gd game but ..saw what this ab side can do in first 20 minutes they were awesome but then ..I reckon dmac is the problem..he just seems to drift along..anyway it's just my opinion
Go to commentsAs a Saffa, there are a few things that concern me,
1- Should we not have maybe gone with our fully experienced side? Considering, its away from home, in a stadium we never played in, I feel more experienced players would have handled it better. Secondly, we would have then come home chamlions and with little pressure.
Secondly- We have had experiences with Libbok and those pressure kicks, yes Polard is not perfect, but he thrives off those situations, Either Libbok should have played first half, or if he came on second half, Am should have come off and pollard move to 12.
3- Jerry Flennery is going to have sleepless nights, The missed tackles, especially when we needed to make them.
4- To me, Ox was the only player that seemed to have played with intent, everyone else just seemed to come along to do some sigh seeing.
5- How on earth did we loose our lead? Are we rellying on our bomb squad too much? Will we loose every match they have a bad day?
Its concerning, but I am sure we will bounce back, its just that it will now be a must win match for the Boks, when it really did not have to be.
Well done los Pumas, you really played with pasion
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