The “unsung hero” of the Wallabies’ revival is set to bow out this weekend, with Mike Cron poised to call time on his association with Rugby Australia following Saturday’s second Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth.

The Roar can reveal that Brumbies scrum coach John Ulugia, the former Brumbies and Waratahs hooker who spent a decade playing in the French Top 14, is set to take over Cron for the end-of-year Tests.

It’s believed the rising coach is in camp with the Wallabies this week to start the transition.

It won’t just be a coaching transition either, with the Wallabies preparing to farewell the nation’s most capped Test player, prop James Slipper, who is likely to bow out a week after becoming the third player in international rugby to bring up 150 Tests.

The loss of Cron is a big one and his influence on the group was singled out on New Zealand radio ahead of the Bledisloe opener at Eden Park.

“Mike Cron is the guy who’s probably an unsung hero, because he is a very much a behind the scenes man,” former Wallaby Phil Kearns said in an interview with Ian Smith and Riccardo Ball on Sport Nation.

“What he’s been able to do with the Australian scrum has been absolutely fantastic and we actually have a scrum now that’s got a solid footing.

“Guys like James Slipper, you know, despite his age, and I don’t mean that disrespectfully, is scrummaging as well as I’ve ever seen him…

“Joe Schmidt is a very humble man, but what he’s been able to do, to instil that confidence and that belief in the team, is something that we haven’t seen for a couple of decades.”

Wallabies great James Slipper isn’t the only one set to retire this weekend, with Mike Cron poised to step away as scrum coach. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Affectionally known as the “scrum doctor”, Cron, who was a key part of the All Blacks’ coaching group when the nation won the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, chalked up his 250th Test as a tier-one assistant coach against his home nation last weekend in the Bledisloe opener.

But after decades on the road, the 70-year-old is understood to have settled on finishing up, having had his arm twisted once more to continue beyond the Lions series for this year’s Rugby Championship.

It comes after Schmidt managed to lure Cron out of retirement to join him on his mission to rebuild the Wallabies.

Not that it was particularly hard, having famously said he would retire following the All Blacks’ home World Cup triumph in 2011 and, again, repeated his desire to put the whistle and clipboard away ahead of the 2019 tournament in Japan.

“If you see me hanging around after that (2019 Rugby World Cup), put a pillow over my head and get rid of me,” Cron said while with the All Blacks in 2017.

The experience and expertise of Schmidt’s coaching team have played a key role in the Wallabies’ rise over the past 15 months.

That much is certainly true of the Wallabies’ scrum, which for the most part has gone from one that was well beaten last year to a pack that has more than held its own in 2025.

Indeed, having gained scrum dominance in Sydney against the Lions, the Wallabies’ scrum also managed to hold its own in South Africa.

And while the Wallabies’ scrum was penalised late in their loss to the All Blacks in Auckland last weekend, that’s been the exception rather than the norm.

Prop Angus Bell said it would be a “massive loss” if Cron called time on his coaching tenure with the Wallabies after The Rugby Championship.

“The experience he brings, the players he’s coached, most have been world class, so he’s exceptional,” Bell said.

“And it’s been really good for me, and a lot of the younger boys. You see Billy Pollard now, really nailing down his set-piece, he’s been awesome for us over the past two months. Crono will be a massive loss if he pulls stumps.

“I hope he doesn’t, but with what they’ve created – the foundation of, I guess what the team is, what we stand for, and our habits, which has been a real big focus point – will hold us in great stead heading into the future.”

Mike Cron gets a close-up look at the All Blacks scrum during a training session at Sophia Gardens on November 20, 2008 in Cardiff. (Photo by Ross Land/Getty Images)

The world-renowned coach’s work-ethic and pursuit of excellence has been far reaching.

Cron has travelled to Japan to study sumo wrestling and swapped notes in the United States with New York’s Yankees (baseball), Knicks (basketball) and Giants (NFL) – as well as ice hockey’s Pittsburgh Penguins.

He has also studied the lifting techniques of The Royal New Zealand Ballet and the dark arts of cage fighters on the Gold Coast.

“Every year you have to be better than last year otherwise you shouldn’t be here,” he said in 2022.

“I see my role as having two main functions. There’s hands on coaching, reviewing games, analysing coaching style and providing feedback in those areas. Then there’s the mentoring side, where I look to help grow and develop these guys. I really enjoy using different sporting examples as another way of getting a message across.

“Naturally when you combine rugby with ballet or cage fighting it grabs people’s attention and keeps them engaged.

“I always look at training a rugby player like training a race horse, you can’t flatten them, you give them one short sharp gallop during the week and then put them out on Saturday, keep them fresh in the mind.”

Bell, who has developed into one of the best loose-head props in the world, said the secret to Cron’s coaching was his simplicity and ability to hit the nail on the head.

“As a coach, he’s super simple, which always helps, he doesn’t overcomplicate things,” Bell said.

“But also he’s very technical when you need it. Individually, he puts a lot of time into separate players and he’s not just in the front row, he’s the whole forward pack. He’s seen so much through the years, his wealth of experience and knowledge has been gold for us as a forward pack and really helped us become an efficient pack.

“There is still so much to learn and get better at, so it’s exciting.”

Brumbies forwards coaches Ben Mowen (R) and John Ulugia joined the franchise ahead of the 2024 season.

That there is, but for the Wallabies it will be under the tutelage of a new face with Ulugia to take the reins.

It’s a huge call from RA to turn to Ulugia, who only started his coaching journey in recent years.

But Ulugia, who spent time with the Junior Wallabies last year, is well regarded and the Brumbies assistant is expected to return to the Super Rugby franchise later this year.

Whether he is signed on to the 2027 World Cup could come down to how the Wallabies’ scrum performs up north later this year.

It’s believed Rugby Australia turned to the 39-year-old after Zane Hilton rejected an approach to replace Cron.

The highly regarded Reds forwards coach is considered one of the best forwards coaches in the country, but after spending years away, including in Japan, it’s understood the assistant coach wanted to stay put in Queensland.

The fact that Les Kiss will join the Wallabies next August and the Reds are on the hunt for his replacement also played a role in his thinking to stay with the Super Rugby franchise.