Former Springboks coach Jake White would consider coaching the Wallabies in the unlikely event the Australian Rugby Union were prepared to give the South African the top job.
White, who guided the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2007, is one of several candidates to have his name bandied around as a potential replacement for Wallabies coach Michael Cheika who has guided the Australian side to five losses in seven tests this year.
Although Cheika is contracted until the end of the 2019 World Cup, he is under extreme pressure after a run of dreadful results that has resulted in the Wallabies slipping to seventh on the World Rugby rankings list.
Jittery Australians, whether it be media commentators or fans, have expressed their misgivings about the direction the Wallabies are taking under Cheika. A 2-1 series defeat to Ireland in June was followed by the All Blacks retaining the Bledisloe Cup following victories in Sydney and Auckland.
A narrow win over the Springboks in Brisbane was followed by a defeat to Argentina on the Gold Coast last weekend. Next weekend the Wallabies meet the Boks in Port Elizabeth, on the eastern seaboard of South Africa, for their penultimate Rugby Championship match of the season.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is under pressure to keep his job after a woeful season that has seen his team slip to seventh on the World Rugby rankings.
White recently told ESPN he would had a desire to coach at test level again in the future, and would consider the Wallabies job if the chance arose.
"Obviously, I think that I've alway s said that coaching one of the top teams in the world is where you get judged," White told ESPN. "Australia is consistently always in the top teams in the world. I must say that obviously the reason I left [in 2013] was it was very, very well documented that the South African way, or style of play, wasn't the way Australia wanted to go. I'm sure things have changed, but that was the reason."
Jake White (right) was assisted by Eddie Jones when he guided the Springboks to the World Cup crown in 2007.
Although White believed it would be "highly unlikely" he would be asked to coach the Wallabies he also said "one never knows. Stranger things have happened in rugby".
He was on the shortlist to coach the Wallabies
after Robbie Deans was sacked in the wake of the 2-1 series loss to the British
and Irish Lions in in Australia in 2013 but Ewen McKenzie was preferred as the
New Zealander's successor instead
