Canterbury's hopes of retaining Robbie Deans are fading after he met Australian Rugby Union officials on Friday to discuss the soon-to-be-vacant Wallabies job.
Deans, who has an opt-out clause on his Crusaders contract, has now met ARU executives twice in recent months to discuss taking over from Wallabies
incumbent John Connolly after the World Cup.
New ARU boss John O'Neill is adamant the Wallabies must find the right man for the job, regardless of nationality and the national union will next month begin a global search.
Deans has enjoyed unparalleled success with the Crusaders and he has a strong knowledge of Australian rugby. He has also previously been an assistant coach of the All Blacks.
The ARU's high performance general manager Pat Wilson is a close friend of Deans and the pair try to play squash together whenever Deans is in Australia. They did so in March when Deans was in Sydney for the Crusaders clash with the Waratahs, when it's understood they held discussions about the Wallaby job.
In explaining why Deans was at ARU headquarters in Sydney on Friday, Wilson told The Australian: "He [Deans] was in town anyway with his wife and son and going to the [Australia-South Africa] game as one of the punters, so he took advantage of the opportunity to drop in."
Deans supposedly sat in on a meeting about proposed law changes to the game. Wilson was reluctant to say much about the Wallabies job other than: "We've had informal chats but we've discussed it with a number of people in a very preliminary sense. The key criteria is to get the best candidate."
While the Australian press have made Deans favourite, there's still hope he will see out the final year of his Crusaders contract.
After losing in this year's semifinal, Deans suggested he was keen to finish on a high note and have one last crack at the title in 2008.
There are also other strong candidates likely to be interested, including Connolly's assistants, Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie and Blues coach David Nucifora.
Deans could also come into the All Black frame with Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith all off contract after the World Cup.
