Add Category
Rugby Australia (RA) has announced the appointment of a women's high-performance manager, two days after coming under fire from Wallaroos players.
- RA names Jamie Fernandez as its women's high-performance manager
- The Wallaroos claim there are inequalities in program funding and resourcing
- Fernandez previously worked for Rowing Australia
The Wallaroos — Australia's 15-a-side women's national team — on Sunday presented a united front in taking to social media with a statement lashing RA.
They claimed there were inequities between the investment and resources in the women's and men's national programs and said their team had been lied to by RA.
In response to the criticism, RA admitted on Monday they had a "way to go" to improve conditions for the Wallaroos and pledged to keep players involved in their plans.
Loading Instagram content
On Tuesday, RA announced it had partnered with World Rugby to welcome three-time Olympic rower and Sydney 2000 silver medallist Jaime Fernandez into the newly created women's high-performance manager role.
Fernandez was most recently deputy performance director at Rowing Australia, where he achieved global excellence in his development of pathway and Olympic athletes alike during 11 years with the organisation.
The retired Olympic rower – who won silver in the men's eight at the Sydney 2000 Games — will work across the Wallaroos, Super W and women's pathways programs.
"Jaime has a proven track record over more than a decade at Rowing Australia," RA chief executive Phil Waugh said in a statement.
"We look forward to drawing on his exceptional experience to further improve our national women's programs."
Fernandez will officially start on September 11.
RA is the first union to partner with World Rugby on Accelerate, a new global framework for growth and targeted investment that will fast track the development of women's rugby both on and off the field.
As part of this investment under the Accelerate program, RA said it was also committed to recruiting a full-time Wallaroos head coach for the 2024 season.
AAP/ABC