Thursday, Rugby Australia made the announcement that Australia assistant coach Scott Wisemantel has resigned immediately to focus on his family and business interests outside of the sport.
As a result of Wisemantel’s decision, head coach Dave Rennie does not have an attack coach seven months out from the France World Cup.
After serving as an assistant coach at the previous four tournaments, Wisemantel led England to the World Cup final in Japan in 2019. He then signed a contract with Australia prior to the 2020 season.
“Due to the fact that the World Cup is the pinnacle of our sport, I’m unfortunately unable to give that kind of commitment at the moment.”
With Wisemantel’s departure, the Wallabies’ disappointing season came to an end, and their run of five victories out of 14 matches has put pressure on Rennie ahead of the World Cup.
Additionally, there are rumors that former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who was fired by England last month, will return to the Australia team in some capacity.
Rennie said that Wisemantel was a “top man” and one of the best coaches he had ever worked with.
“He’s hugely respected all over the world, has a lot of international experience, and has an incredible rapport with our players,” the New Zealander continued.
He has been such an important part of this group for the past three years, and we will miss him.
Wisemantel is the second assistant to leave in recent months after defense coach Matt Taylor left in August. He was replaced by Laurie Fisher.
(Information provided by Ian Ransom in Melbourne and Michael Church in Hong Kong; Editing by Peter Rutherford: Cody Gakpo and his new Liverpool teammates trained on Thursday. This weekend, the Dutchman might make his FA Cup debut.
The 23-year-old scored in all three of the Netherlands’ World Cup group-stage matches after signing for the Reds in January for a fee of £35 million.
Gakpo was unable to train with the team, so he did not play in Liverpool’s loss to Brentford. Jurgen Klopp’s team lost once more as a result. The Reds have lost more than half of their Premier League games this season.
Due to the fact that Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota are still out with injuries, Gakpo’s arrival provides the team with a much-needed boost. He is likely to play his first game on Saturday against Wolves. Liverpool will face Julen Lopetegui’s team in the FA Cup’s third round at Anfield as they begin their title defense.
In the Carabao Cup final this year, Liverpool and Chelsea squared off. Liverpool won on penalties over the Blues after 120 minutes of goallessness at Wembley.
Before possibly making his Premier League debut against Brighton a week later, Gakpo ought to at least make his bench debut against Wolves.