Gloucester Rugby insists Laurie Fisher move is just speculation

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GLOUCESTER Rugby insist that the rumours about an imminent move to install Australian Laurie Fisher as the club’s new head coach are just speculation.

Strong media reports in Australia suggest that the ACT Brumbies Director of Rugby is poised to move to Kingsholm at the end of the current Super Rugby season.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Fisher had met with Brumbies chairman Sean Hammond on Tuesday to discuss leaving Canberra.

The report says that former Munster coach Fisher can opt out of the second year of his Brumbies deal at a month’s notice and that the Brumbies players have already been informed of the move.

However, a Gloucester Rugby spokesman said that the club will only comment once an appointment is made.

The spokesman said: “The process to appoint a head coach is ongoing and we don’t as a rule comment on speculation.

“The search for a new head coach is worldwide as we seek to appoint the very best individual at Gloucester Rugby.

“We will be linked with a number of high calibre candidates but will only issue a statement once a decision has been made.”

Fisher has garnered a reputation as one of the finest forwards coaches on the planet in a 16-year coaching career in both hemispheres.

A specialist in the breakdown and tight forward play, Fisher returned to take the top role with the Brumbies in 2012 after a four-year stint as forwards coach with Munster.

The former Munster forwards coach has also said that he was not in a position to “deny or confirm” the speculation, and that no contract had yet been signed.

The news broke in Australia the day before the Brumbies’ biggest game of the Super Rugby season, the Australian Conference derby with the New South Wales Waratahs.

Currently in fifth place in the table with two regular season games remaining, a win against their rivals will go a long way to earning a place in the top six and a spot in the knockout finals.

The regular Super Rugby season is scheduled to finish on July 12, with the finals concluding on August 2, still more than a month ahead of the start of the Premiership on September 6.

Gloucester have already overhauled their management team following the sacking of Nigel Davies at the end of a miserable season.

Former Ireland fly-half David Humphreys has been installed as the club’s new director of rugby, leaving a similar post at Ulster to take the Kingsholm reins. Ex-Australia defensive guru John Muggleton was unveiled as the new defence coach this week, while England Under-20s supremo Nick Walshe has taken up responsibility for the backs and attack coaching.

Article source: http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/rugby/vern-cotter-named-new-head-coach-of-scotland-rugby-team.1369662816

Gloucester Rugby insists Laurie Fisher move is just speculation