The Brumbies have unveiled their new coaching structure that sees Brumbies legend Stephen Larkham take over the reins as head coach with Laurie Fisher installed as director of rugby.
The announcement ends a month-long wait to find Jake White’s successor after White was released from the final two years of his contract.
Larkham and Fisher were assistant coaches to White and were the only two candidates to front the board for the new head coaching position. It seems they couldn’t be split and instead the new structure was put in place which is relatively new to Australia but common in Europe.
Both are well known in ACT rugby circles with Fisher a former Brumbies head coach who has been around the Brumbies organisation in various coaching roles for over ten years over two stints in the capital with three years spent in Ireland with Munster from 2008-2011.
Larkham’s coaching career is only three years long but he was part of the inaugural Brumbies side back in 1996 before moving on in 2007 to play overseas. His elevation to head coach would see him join a select group to coach in a stadium with his name on one of the grandstands.
The roles of both coaches won’t change too dramatically from their previous roles with Fisher still in charge of the forwards and Larkham the backs. Fisher will take on some additional off-field responsibilities including oversight of the high performance unit whilst Larkham will take leadership of the rugby side of the program.
The gameday setup won’t change either with Larkham happy to stay in his role on the sideline where he feels he is able to get a good sense of how the game is going and pass on the messages he thinks the team needs with Fisher perched up in the coaches box to have an extra set of eyes over the field.
Fisher revealed that after the Brumbies’ success at the World Club Sevens tournament in London earlier in the year, the pair visited clubs with similar arrangements in place including Harlequins, Saracens and London Irish to see how they operated.
The Brumbies will look to add a third coach in the near future to complete the coaching ranks that will be primarily responsible for defence, a role that was filled by former NRL coach Brian Smith on a consultancy basis in 2013.
