Penney tipped for Pivac’s job at Scarlets

Former Canterbury coach Rob Penney is being tipped to take over from Kiwi compatriot Wayne Pivac at Welsh club Scarlets.

Pivac – who guided the Scarlets to the Pro12 title two years ago – will replace Warren Gatland as Wales national team coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Scarlets are close to naming a replacement and with Pivac’s assistant Stephen Jones also moving onto the national team staff, Wales Online has reported Japanbased Penney is the favourite.

Jon Daniels, Scarlets’ chief executive, has confirmed the club has a strong shortlist of six candidates.

Wales Online claimed Penney ‘‘is at the top of that list and a final decision will be made over the next fortnight’’.

Penney, who played 100 games for Canterbury as a back row forward and later served as the Marlborough Rugby Union’s general manager, had a successful coaching career in New Zealand.

The 54-year-old guided Canterbury to four successive NPC titles and mentored some up-and-coming coaches, including Scott Robertson and Tabai Matson. He also coached the New Zealand under-20 team and led Canterbury to Ranfurly Shield success, but was surprisingly overlooked for Super Rugby coaching jobs in his homeland.

Penney has northern hemisphere coaching experience after two years at Munster from 2012 to 2014.