Serial winner commits to emerging Rugby World Cup force

Leadership guru and renowned coaching mentor Craig White, a long-serving World Rugby High Performance consultant, has committed himself to working with Chile in the build-up to Rugby World Cup 2027.

White assisted Chile ahead of their Rugby World Cup debut in France in 2023, where Los Condores put in credible performances against Japan and Samoa before suffering two blowout scorelines against England and Argentina.

“I’m excited to share that I’ll be supporting Chile Rugby as they build towards the World Cup in Australia next year,” he wrote in a recent post on LinkedIn.

“It’s been around 12 months since I last worked with the team, so it’s great to be reunited. My focus will be on strengthening team culture and leadership, adding depth to what is already a very efficient high-performance programme.

“There’s something that really matters to me about working with underdogs: Teams with hunger. Teams with heart. Teams who want to shock the world.

“So much so that I recently chose to say no to working with a Top 6 international team in a similar capacity. Not because the opportunity wasn’t attractive, but because it didn’t fit the way I want to live, and that’s what I’m prioritising this year.

“Can’t wait to reconnect with friends on this side of the world and be part of the Condores’ journey again.”

The 54-year-old from Wigan has never been short of offers of work, since the moment he helped Warren Gatland to mastermind Wasps’ rise to the top of English and European rugby.

From 2002 and 2005, White was an influential member of Gatland’s backroom team at the serial winners, and he went on to enjoy more club silverware with Leicester under Pat Howard, before hooking up with Gatland again, as Physical Performance Manager for Wales (2008-11).

White has also gone on a Lions tour, to South Africa in 2009, and been involved with Ireland in the past, as well as Sale Sharks. But went on record to say that being involved with the Uruguay team who defeated Fiji 30-27 at RWC 2019 ranks as highly as any other achievement on his glittering CV.

“Wasps turned around English rugby and set systems and structures that everyone copied so that was really good at the time, but I’m only a year away from being 50 and, at this stage of my life, this is just incredible and is definitely equally as good as anything I’ve experienced in my career in terms of personal gratification,” he told this writer the day after the shock victory.

Uruguay had conceded 68 points to Fiji only the year before, but the confidence and connection instilled in them by White helped them overturn a team nine places higher than them in the rankings.