SYDNEY (Reuters) - Former All Blacks assistant coach Mike Cron will take charge of the Wallabies scrum under new coach Joe Schmidt, Rugby Australia announced on Tuesday.
The New Zealander, widely known as the "scrum doctor" for his set-piece expertise, helped prepare the All Blacks pack for more than 200 tests and most recently worked as a consultant for global governing body World Rugby.
Cron joins former ACT Brumbies defence coach Laurie Fisher in an experienced backroom team to help prepare Australia for their first tests of the year against Wales and Georgia in July.
Former Ireland coach Schmidt has also raided the Brumbies staff room for team manager Chris Thomson, a former high performance manager for World Rugby.
"Mike has added tremendous value in every programme he has been involved with and brings a wealth of knowledge to our coaching group," Schmidt said in a news release.
"Knowing Chris from his time at World Rugby, he will work extremely hard behind the scenes to make sure we are well organised from an off-field perspective."
Schmidt is expected to appoint a lineout coach but take charge of the Wallabies attack himself.
His tight group of assistants contrasts with the plethora of staff hired by his predecessor Eddie Jones for last year's calamitous World Cup campaign in France, where the Wallabies exited in the pool stage for the first time.
Only two wins from nine tests under Jones in 2023 saw the Wallabies drop to an all-time low of 10th in the world rankings last month, although they moved back up to ninth after Wales took the wooden spoon in the Six Nations.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Costas Pitas)
