Former Munster coach the front runner for the vacant Waratahs job - reports

Former Munster head coach Rob Penney is reportedly the front-runner to become the new NSW Waratahs head coach.

A report by the Daily Telegraph in Australia reported that Penney and former Melbourne Rebels coach Damian Hill are the two remaining candidates for the role that Darryl Gibson vacated at the end of the 2019 Super Rugby season.

If Penney gets the Super Rugby job, he would replace Gibson who quit in June while still having another year left to run on his contract.

Penney coached Canterbury to four consecutive NPC titles from 2008-11 and was seen as a mentor to then-assistant coach Scott Robertson before joining Irish club Munster and then Japan's Top League side NTT Communications Shining Arcs.

Penney spent two seasons at Munster before he left the club for Japan.

The Telegraph reported that NSW chief executive Andrew Hore has been in Japan and understood to have spoken to both Penney and Hill, who is coaching Top League club Ricoh Black Rams.