Cape Town - The Brumbies are set to announce their coach for 2012 this week, with Jake White the favourite to take over from Tony Rea, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Brumbies have won just one match in six since Andy Friend was relieved of his duties after round two of the Super Rugby season.

White, who coached the Springboks to the Tri-Nations title in 2004 and then finished off his four-year reign with a 2007 World Cup triumph, was one of three short-listed candidates interviewed for the job in the past fortnight.

However, the only stumbling block which might scupper the appointment of White is the concern from the Brumbies panel of chief executive Andrew Fagan, former Wallabies Joe Roff and Pat Howard, and Canberra businessman John Mackay that the South African might not have the ability to connect with Australian players.

According to the report, Fagan would not reveal the other candidates but confirmed an appointment, several weeks after White was first speculated as the strong favourite, was imminent.

"The drums have been beating for a little while now but we wanted to take some time to be really clear with what we've been looking for," he told AAP.

"We're now at the end of the process and hope to have an announcement at the end of the week.

"We had a really particular brief for the sort of coach we were after and that's why we took our time to nail it down to a few contenders."

The 10th-placed Brumbies are currently in Cape Town where they are preparing for the weekend's clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.