Peter Horne appointed Rugby Australia's new High Performance Director, David Nucifora joins as advisor

Rugby Australia has announced the appointment of Peter Horne as the new Director of High Performance of Rugby.

It comes as RA confirms David Nucifora will return to Australia to serve as a High Performance advisor.

Horne will join RA in February after 11 years working with World Rugby, last serving as their Director of High Performance.

He will tasked with looking after all aspects of high performance, including the Wallabies, Wallaroos and Sevens along with the alignment of Super Rugby's high performance programs and pathways.

Horne has also served as the GM of UK club Saracens along with working in high performance in Samoa Rugby Union, Equestrian Federation of Australia, and Australian Canoeing.

“There are some really positive things going on in Australian Rugby,” said Horne. “Our Women’s Sevens team has won the first two rounds of the world series, and the men’s team showed great progress over those first two weekends – it’s obviously a huge year for them with the Olympics in July.

“The Wallaroos finished the year on a high, finishing third in World Rugby’s WXV competition – they have made great strides, and RA is strengthening that program with a new full-time head coach and dedicated HP manager. We are seeing growth in participation at the community level – especially with women and girls, which shows the extent of the opportunity in Women’s Rugby.

“We have an opportunity to purpose-build a new Wallabies program from scratch. There is universal agreement across the Super Rugby clubs that the high-performance systems and pathways need a major overhaul to ensure everyone is pushing in the same direction; to deliver sustainable success for our Wallabies, Wallaroos and Sevens teams.

“To have this sort of agreement and understanding on the path forward is exciting and I look forward to working with the Australian Rugby community.”

Along with this, former Brumbies coach and Wallabies hooker Nucifora will join RA as a High-Performance Advisor in March, with his involvement increasing after next year's Olympics.

Nucifora is credited as the architect behind Ireland's success in becoming the number one men's XV side in the world.

"As a proud Australian I'm excited by the opportunity to advise Australian Rugby as it embarks on what is a critical time for the game in our country,” said Nucifora.

“The necessary reform of the high-performance model is long overdue and my experience with Ireland gives me great hope for what can be achieved in the game in Australia.

"I look forward to working with Peter, Phil and the Australian Super Rugby Pacific clubs to help rugby in Australia realise its potential and I would like to thank the IRFU for their considered support in allowing me to assist Australian Rugby at this very important time.

“I still have much to achieve with Irish Rugby over the coming seven months before returning home to Australia in August.”

Horne's first major role will be scouting the new-look Wallabies coach after the departure of Eddie Jones.

The appointment comes after the announcement of Women’s High-Performance Manager Jamie Fernandez and Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp.