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Johannesburg - Rugby World Cup-winning coach Jake White is set to be appointed the new coach for French Top 14 club side Bayonne as from next season.
White is in Bayonne for high-level talks with the team’s Director of Rugby, former French national coach Bernard Laporte over the possibility of taking over the coaching role for the team as from next season.
According to sources close to the club, White is there “to negotiate the terms of a deal” and is visiting the club with his agent – ProSport International’s European agent Christian Abt – to discuss the conditions of a deal.
White recently announced he would be applying for the English RFU’s Director of Rugby coaching job, left vacant after Rob Andrew was sidelined by a purge at Twickenham, and has been linked to several other positions over the years.
Despite an overworked publicity machine, White has never taken up a coaching position since his 2007 World Cup victory, rather concentrating on a series of coaching clinics.
His first foray into this - Jake White's Winning Ways - was not successful after the Lions used his services to try and turn around the union. White’s company then split in the High Court after a fall-out with partner Mark Keohane which resulted in its dirty laundry being aired in public.
White’s agent Craig Livingstone, confirmed his client was in France at the moment.
“Jake is, like a number of other coaches, exploring his options for the next season and beyond. There have been a number of interesting offers but nothing has been finalised yet,” Livingstone said.
“He is in France at Bayonne, but Bernard Laporte is a close friend of his, and he is meeting him. What may come from that I have no idea.”
White has also helped Varsity Cup side, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in their preparations for this year’s competition.
