Larkham commits to Brumbies

Canberra - Former Australia flyhalf Stephen Larkham has committed to coaching the Brumbies for another three years, taking him through to the end of the 2017 Super Rugby season, the team said on Sunday.

A former attack coach at the Brumbies under Jake White, Larkham has shared coaching duties with Laurie Fisher this season, but Fisher has confirmed he will leave the Canberra side to take a role with English Premiership team Gloucester.

"It's a huge moment in my career to be extending my position here," 40-year-old Larkham, one of the club's favourite sons, said in a statement.

"We've been able to retain the bulk of our squad and the future is looking bright. While I'm looking forward to the future, the most important thing for our group at the moment is to regroup and prepare for a big match against the Western Force in two weeks' time."

Super Rugby finalists last year under former South Africa coach White, the Brumbies' hopes of reaching the playoffs are on a knife-edge with two rounds left in the regular season following their 39-8 demolition by the high-flying Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday.

The side lie a tenuous sixth in the championship, and have a bye next week, meaning they will need to beat the Perth-based Force and hope other results go their way.

With Fisher departing, Larkham's role will revert back to a "traditional" head coaching position, the team said.

One of the game's greatest flyhalves, Larkham played for the Brumbies in the inaugural Super 12 competition in 1996 and was a member of the championship teams in 2001 and 2004.

He won a World Cup in 1999 in a glittering 102-cap career for the Wallabies before bowing out after his third global tournament in 2007.

"Stephen has turned a backline of club players into Wallabies in the last two years," Brumbies chairman Sean Hammond said.

"We are excited by the prospect of having one of the Brumbies greatest ever players at the helm for the foreseeable future."