Agence France-Presse
TOKYO // The former Australia coach Robbie Deans is to take charge of Japan's Top League and national champions Panasonic Wild Knights on May 1.
The New Zealander who has also coached the Christchurch-based Crusaders and was an assistant with the New Zealand national team, will take over from Norifumi Nakajima, who is transferring to another part of the giant electronics firm.
Nakajima spent three seasons in charge at Panasonic, leading the club to the double honour in his final season.
Deans, 54, parted company with the Australian Rugby Union after the Wallabies lost the British & Irish Lions Test series 2-1 last June.
He has maintained a good relationship with Panasonic as an adviser for nearly 10 years, since he began coaching the Crusaders, said the club’s spokesman Seigo Ikeda. “He has given us advice every year.”
The terms of his contract with the Top League side were not made known.
“I am very glad that I can continue the relationship this way,” Deans said.
“I am looking forward to making the team better still in this fine environment this season. We want to move further ahead.”
Another former Australia coach, Eddie Jones, who is in Japan working to develop the Asian champions into a top-10 team by the 2015 World Cup in England, praised the trend of hiring top-class foreign coaches among Japanese clubs.
“Having the likes of Robbie Deans, Rob Penney, Gary Gold [Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers] over here – all of whom have been successful in their own country and who have coached at international level – is a real boost for rugby in Japan,” he said.
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