Castle calls off Jake White phone hook-up

AAP RUGBY Australia has resisted Jake White’s gun-for-hire offer and ruled out making a play for South Africa’s former World Cup-winning coach to take charge of the Wallabies.

RA boss Raelene Castle had agreed to a telephone hook-up with White following an approach from the former Springboks and Brumbies mentor.

But that hook-up has since been cancelled.

White’s offer is believed to have come after Sunday morning’s season-ending 37-18 loss to England at Twickenham, a defeat that prompted further calls for besieged coach Michael Cheika to be axed.

Under Cheika, the Wallabies have lost 11 of their past 15 Tests, including nine this year.

But the governing body has since opted against considering White as a potential replacement to guide Australia through to the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

Despite growing pressure to remove Cheika, Castle has continually voiced her support for the 2015 World Rugby coach of the year.

Before the Wallabies’ underwhelming spring tour of Europe – which yielded a tryless loss to Wales, a lacklustre win over Italy and a record sixth straight defeat to England – Cheika was called in to RA’s head quarters in Sydney to outline his plans for the team through to next year’s World Cup.

He convinced Castle, RA chairman Cameron Clyne and high-performance chief Ben Whitaker that no changes were needed.

But a full season review is now under way, with Castle refusing to guarantee the positions of Cheika’s assistant coaches Stephen Larkham, Nathan Grey, Simon Raiwalui and Mick Byrne.