'It will all be wrapped up': Wallaroos offer update on head coach search

Rugby Australia have confirmed that a full-time Wallaroos head coach will be appointed after the team’s Pacific Four Series campaign.

For this year’s edition 0f the Pacific Four Series the Wallaroos will be led by Sam Needs on an interim basis.

Formerly an assistant coach under Jo Yapp, Needs has ambitions to remain involved with the team beyond his tenure as interim boss.

Jilly Collins, Rugby Australia’s GM of Women’s High Performance, confirmed that an appointment will be made before their clash with the Black Ferns in August and ahead of the highly-anticipated first edition of the WXV Global Series.

“We always communicated that the interim group would be in place until post-PAC4, so we’ll begin that recruitment process for the permanent head coach during the start of the Super Rugby Women’s season (in June),” Collins said.

“The plan is that it will all be wrapped up ahead our second O’Reilly Cup game in Auckland in August.”

Last week Needs announced his first squad as interim head coach. The 30-player squad included 19 players that competed at last year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup and 10 uncapped players.

Ahead of this year’s Pacific Four Series, which will be primarily hosted in the USA, the Wallaroos will play the Fijiana on Friday 27 March.

Needs believes his side may have an advantage heading into the Pacific Four Series.

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Because while the USA, Canada and New Zealand have high volumes of players playing their club rugby across the world, his squad are all based in Australia.

Although some of his players may not have played a game of 15-a-side rugby since Australia’s quarter-final exit to Canada at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup and following a change in calendar which sees the Pacific Four Series played earlier in the year, the extra time together could ultimately help the Wallaroos.

“We’re looking at it like we’re getting more time together as a team to work on our stuff,” Needs said.

“We’re missing the actual individual time on feet and the match fitness, but we think it’s going to allow us the advantage of more time compared to the Canadians and teams like that who have their players playing all over the shop in different teams.

“We think we’ve got the advantage there, around having our group together for a bit longer.

“We have the training game that we’ve got coming up next Saturday and then the Fiji test will really set us up for where we’re at going into those three PAC4 Tests.”

Australia start their Pacific Four Series campaign against Canada in Sacramento, California, a week later the side take on the USA in Kansas City, Missouri, and finish their campaign on home soil against Australia in the first O’Reilly Cup clash of the year.