Australia recruit World Rugby stalwart to shake up Wallabies

SYDNEY - Long-serving World Rugby administrator Peter Horne was appointed Friday as Australia's director of high-performance, with part of his brief to "purpose-build a new Wallabies program 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 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 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 program 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 and I look forward to working with the Australian Rugby community.”

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 he 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."