Wallaroos new coach Jo Yapp should close the gap on Black Ferns - Alice Soper

New Australian women's rugby coach Jo Yapp. Photo / Getty

OPINION

News has broken that Rugby Australia has locked in their next head coach. Forget the woeful Wallabies, it’s the Wallaroos who have struck gold with the signing of former England captain, Jo Yapp.

With this announcement, the Aussies are confidently zigging to everyone else’s zag. England had followed New Zealand’s lead by recruiting John Mitchell from the men’s game. Whereas Australia is instead scouting an emerging coaching talent within the women’s game to take them through to the next World Cup.

Yapp may not have coached internationally yet but she is a big get. A decorated halfback, she attended three World Cups for England, captaining the side in 2006. Yapp was named England player of the year in 2003 and sevens player of the year in 2009. She also spent a season playing club rugby here in New Zealand so has first hand experience of the Southern Hemisphere style of play.

In retirement, she worked as a mentor for young athletes and has built up her coaching credentials. She has been in the England development pipeline, coaching their Under 20s side and led the Barbarians women’s team to a win over Wales and the Springboks. Most recently, she has been the Director of Women’s Rugby at her home club, the Worcester Warriors. Valiantly holding her side together in the midst of financial turmoil. The women’s side successfully fielded a team last year before folding just before kick off this season.

It’s through her time at Worcester that she has established her reputation as a players coach. She is beloved by all those that have been through her programme, many naming her as the reason they signed with this Premier club that hadn’t yet reached the top of the table. Yapp was also the person Lydia Thompson named as a lifeline that kept her in the game after receiving that red card in the 2021 World Cup final.

Yapp coaches with that much sought after balance of high standards and high empathy. She comes equipped with the most valuable asset in the women’s game right now, having extensive experience on the transition from amateur to professional rugby. It’s a pathway she walked herself as a player, being amongst the first group of Red Roses to receive funding as the first step towards professional contracts. It’s one she’s walked again as a coach in the English Premiership, balancing a squad of aspiring amateurs and contracted internationals.

It’s for all of these reasons that Jo Yapp was at the top of many people’s shortlists, when England was looking for Simon Middleton’s replacement. But it now seems that the Aussies have cut their lunch.

The reporting this week has Jo Yapp signed for two years leading up to the Rugby World Cup being played in England. Australia had their first wave of semi-professional contracts for the Wallaroos this year, with promises of extension in the future. These meagre pay cheques have already paid dividends for Rugby Australia, with the Wallaroos finishing ahead of the Black Ferns in the inaugural WXV. It’s not hard to imagine that with this coach signing and the proper player payments, that the Wallaroos could pick up their first ever win over New Zealand.

This signing of the next Wallaroos coach needed to be a game changer for the Aussies. Long time residents of the number five position in the World Rankings, their wins against sides higher on the ladder are few and far between. Any pressure we’ve felt from the NRLW scouts here in Aotearoa are inescapable for union players over the ditch. They needed to signal their ambition for fifteen aside rugby and who better than one of the shining examples of emerging women coaches to answer that call. The Laurie O’Reilly Cup just got a heck of a lot more interesting.