What’s the story with Stephen Larkham?

The Brumbies coach is the biggest riddle in Australian rugby. He’s a former Wallabies great and coaches the best side in Australian rugby, yet he can’t seem to find a cheerleader who’ll advance his chances of coaching the Wallabies.

Stephen Larkham just can’t see to get at look-in at the Wallabies.Credit: Getty Images

It is an oddity because his playing peers are now prominent at the top of Rugby Australia and in influential media positions. Even a Brumbies win against incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss and the Reds on Saturday is unlikely to move the needle.

If you were a betting man, Waratahs coach Dan McKellar would be the next in line for the Wallabies job, and that will become a certainty if he can turn the Waratahs’ encouraging signs into a full-blown revival.

By contrast, Larkham appears to be seen as something of a rugby SIM card - compatible in some locations but not others, and only with particular operating systems.

Perhaps the Brumbies’ machine is so strong that it would work with any number of coaches in charge. The blueprint in Canberra is so well embedded that players and coaches can come and go without any appreciable decline in performance.

‘If you were a betting man, Dan McKellar [Waratahs] would be the next in line for the Wallabies job.’

‘If you were a betting man, Dan McKellar [Waratahs] would be the next in line for the Wallabies job.’

As an example, put your hand up if you thought the absences of Len Ikitau, Noah Lolesio, Tom Hooper and Tom Wright would hurt the Brumbies this season? Yet, the quartet of first-choice Wallabies hasn’t been mentioned.

If there is a suspicion inside RA that Larkham is a Brumbies coach and not a Wallabies coach, events across the ditch will have strengthened it.

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